Since its first edition in 1908, this book has been considered authoritative. This edition is a revision and enlargement of previous editions in the light of "the great advances which have taken place in the last thirty to forty years."
The first 300 pages are devoted to a description of amentia. Its causes and frequency are discussed, and there is consideration of the specific varieties of amentia, such as the microcephalic, the mongolian and the cretin type and types due to trauma and infection. There is also a description of the degenerative diseases of the nervous system, including Schilder's disease, Wilson's disease and amaurotic family idiocy.
Moral deficiency and disorders of conduct are discussed; the author thinks they are due to lack of normal emotional growth. Chapters are devoted to psychoses, mental tests, methods of mental examination, and education and treatment cf the defective child.
This edition, like the preceding