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It is generally agreed that the science of psychiatry had its beginnings among a somewhat obscure school of physicians who flourished during the last half of the nineteenth century, most of them French. These men clearly felt a common understanding; they continually refer to one another in their studies, seldom critically. Yet they were never able to find the convenient label, either for themselves or for their work. They were variously known as “mental pathologists,” “alienists,” and “psychiatrists.”1 Freud came to France to study in their midst and to examine their work before formulating his own philosophy. Freud cannot be said to have deduced his psychology and technique from their scientific principles and practices, for in any acceptable sense of the term “science,” these did not exist. Yet Freud was undoubtedly stimulated by their investigation of the non-logical, frequently pathological, characteristics of the human mind. These men were largely engaged in the “fact-finding” which is commonly the prehistory of any science.2 Partly for the convenience of a term, and partly in recognition of their contribution toward the education of Freud, we shall call the group the early psychiatrists. In the course of this paper, we shall organize their facts and ideas to suit our present purpose, which is namely to discover what they had to say about deviations from accepted or acceptable standards of “normal” behavior among the most advanced, as well as the most delinquent, elements in the population. True, modern psychiatry is no longer preoccupied with the terms of “degeneracy” and “genius” as such, but it can scarcely be denied that the controversial issues which these words call to mind are far from resolved.