Syllabus of Psychiatry, A Guide to General Orientation. By Leland E. Hinsie, M.D., with a Foreword by Clarence O. Cheney, M.D. Published by  State Hospitals Press, Utica, N. Y., 1933. Pp.  348, including Selected References and Indices.

This book of Hinsie's is rather unusual in that it presents its subject matter in a somewhat different way from that to which we are accustomed. It is evidently the outgrowth of courses of lectures and the book is therefore to be considered, as its name implies, rather as a syllabus for use in connection with lectures than as an orderly presentation of the material, although the syllabus form has been used as a basis for such presentation.

Briefly, the author discusses the matter under four main heads: Constitutional, Psychical, Psychophysical and Sociological aspects of mental disease. The presentation, therefore, is from the standpoint of these various concepts rather than from the standpoint more usually employed of the rather artificial and misleading disease entities that we are accustomed to use as centers of orientation. The discussion is measured and informative; and in particular some of the tabulated presentations with regard to the psychoses, and especially the one dealing with the evolution of the instincts, are very helpful. The book as a whole is an excellent presentation of the fundamental attitudes which are at present employed in approaching the problems presented by mental disorders and can be highly recommended to the student, especially for orientation purposes. It will present to him a valuable means for acquainting himself with the concepts and ways of thinking about psychological situations which are so different from those ordinarily employed in dealing with situations involving the bodily structures and functions.

White