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In this little book an attempt was made to summarize and analyze available data pertaining to the relation existing between mental disease and such factors as age, urbanization, race, and social levels. The facts relevant to the possible inheritance of mental disease were examined, and the effects of various environmental stresses such as war and economic depression upon the incidence of hospitalization were investigated.
As to the significance of age in mental disease the analysis brought to light that the incidence of mental illness is higher in the older age groups. The relationship between age and mental disease is strikingly uniform, and for the principal psychoses the average age of onset is quite consistent from one country to another.
The incidence of hospitalized mental cases is much higher for urban than for rural communities. If it were possible to control the factors favoring greater hospitalization of the urban patients most, if not all, of the urban-rural differences would probably be eliminated.
Of practical importance is the chapter on heredity and sterilization. The problem of heredity in mental disease is concerned with dementia praecox and manic-depressive psychosis, which combined constitute about one-third the annual number of new admissions. The literature as to the rǒle of heredity as an etiological factor in dementia praecox is contradictory, but the findings have been consistent on two points: The relatives of dementia praecox patients succumb more frequently to dementia praecox than do other members of the general population, and the probability of developing dementia praecox is greater in those families in which more than one member is a dementia praecox patient than in those families in which only one member is affected. The research of Luxenburger indicates that 0.85 per cent of the general population may be expected to develop dementia praecox, and 0.44 per cent have the probability of developing manic-depressive psychosis. With respect to