(1933). Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 2:615-618 A contemporary book owes its immediate reputation to its contemporary critics; hence the value of an initial criticism in the form of a foreword by an eminent contemporary godfather. An old book, however, is sponsored so to say by godsons, by later men who discover in the older writer elements on which to base an identification. Whytt's book is called to our attention by certain psychiatrists of the nineteenth century who share with him a neurophysiological point of view concerning the neuroses. These psychiatrists, Krafft-Ebing, Schüle, Arndt, rate Whytt's view of "the Disorders which have been common called nervous, hypochondriac, or hysteric" very highly, as the forerunner of Beard's and the modern (to them) neuro-physiological conception of neurasthenia. Krafft-Ebing singles Whytt out from among a round dozen other older writers to credit him with the first attempt to differentiate neurasthenia from the vapores, as the nervous disorders had been vaguely termed. " [This is a summary or excerpt from the full text of the book or article. The full text of the document is available to subscribers.] |
