These institutions may, I think, be looked upon as fairly representative of the hospitals of this country. Based on their official reports an analysis has been made of over seventy thousand consecutive first admissions.
There is no disposition on the part of the writer to overestimate the value of statistical studies. Our conclusions should, however, be based as fully as possible on facts rather than on abstract theories or individual observations alone. The social, economic and clinical aspects of mental diseases must all be given adequate consideration if psychiatry is to fulfill its obligation to the community and assume a dignified rôle in the advancement of modern medicine.
James V. May.
Boston, Mass.,
December 15, 1921.
PART I
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS