Since the appearance of von Baer's work on animal development in 1828 (1), the mode of origin and development of the nerves has been continuously under discussion. A vast number of observations has been made concerning the visible evidences presented by fixed and sectioned material, and very many experiments have been performed to elucidate the nature of the processes at work. Yet no account of nerve development has so far received general assent, and for some time the advantages ensuing from the adoption of an agreed opinion appear to have been allowed to work in favour of its acceptance. These advantages have been found to be academic rather than real. While the formulation of hypotheses is not a proceeding which can be stigmatized as unscientific or unsound, in the absence of useful developments their retention discourages inquiry. This discouragement is the more likely to occur when, as in neurology, more than a century of effort by many workers has not succeeded in establishing beyond question facts which are of fundamental importance. It is a reason why the central problems of neurogenesis have come to occupy a field not wholly favourable to fruitful discussion.

Numerous workers have experimented with thyroid treatment in mental disorder ever since this drug was first introduced into therapeutics. While some of them have reported success in a small proportion of their cases, others have remained quite unconvinced of its efficacy, except in mental disorder secondary to recognizable myxódema, and have attributed the changes observed to the known tendency of psychotic patients to periodic fluctuations or spontaneous recovery. Thyroid has been used in a variety of ways. Doses ranging from 1 gr. up to 70 gr. of the thyroideum siccum a day have been prescribed, and as a result it has been found that many schizophrenic patients have an abnormal tolerance for thyroid. For instance, Hoskins (1929) reported the administration of 48 gr. of thyroideum siccum a day for six months to a schizophrenic patient who showed apparent improvement and no toxic effects; but he has pointed out that not all schizophrenics can tolerate these enormous dosages without being intoxicated and made worse. It has, however, been the deliberate aim of some workers in the past to produce an intoxication, but this method has now largely been abandoned.

Psychiatry, during the past fifty years, has had a phenomenal but in some respects a rather unfortunate growth. Long in what Auguste Comte called the mystical state of the evolution of a science, psychiatry rapidly entered into its taxonomic phase when, as one of the later repercussions of the romantic reaction to eighteenth century materialism, the rightful place of psychiatry among the sciences of the humanities began to be appreciated. Almost simultaneously, however, premature efforts began to be made by students in the field to achieve higher levels of scientific development, with the result that the facts of psychiatry soon became almost lost in rigid and increasingly complex systems of classification. Fortunately, in recent years there has arisen a salutary tendency among psychiatrists to review the data of their discipline, and to re-examine the pragmatic and heuristic validity of certain formulations that too readily, perhaps, had been taken for granted. Among these attempts at re-orientation may be mentioned: as to ætiology and psychopathology, the work of Freud and the psycho-analytic school; as to a valid nosology, the statistical researches of T. V. Moore and others; and as to clinical application, the objective, critical studies of the results of various methods of diagnosis and therapy appearing with increasing frequency in the recent literature. We hope that the present work will be a contribution to the movement of fundamental reorganization now evident in psychiatry and its related fields of study.

In 1927 Parsons published his Introduction to the Theory of Perception with a view to formulating a working hypothesis. This book has played a large part in moulding my outlook upon psychological matters, and I should like to take this opportunity of making a few observations, even although they may not be wholly in accord with Parsons's opinions. But before going on to consider his view-point, perhaps it would be best if we started off by considering what is stated in a standard psychiatry text-book upon the subject of perception.

I. Males.

(i) Object of the Inquiry.

This paper gives some first results of an investigation into types of physique and into the alleged relation between physique and temperament. The problem here is to try to discover a method of measuring the tendencies to a particular bodily build that may be present in certain individuals.

Of fundamental importance in the problem of symptom-formation in schizophrenia is the question of the relationship of given symptoms to specific aspects of the personality. The present paper bears on this question in that it is concerned with the investigation of the imagery of the schizophrenic, and the relationship of certain symptoms to specific imagery characteristics. More specifically stated, interest here is in the questions of (1) whether or not the imagery of schizophrenics is different from that of normal individuals, and of (2) the relationships of the imagery of schizophrenics to such symptoms as hallucinations, delusions, and activity disturbances. It is believed that these observations may serve the psychiatrist in understanding the nature of the schizophrenic process by its indication of the importance of imagery in schizophrenic symptom-formation.