GINZBERG, ELI. A Pattern for Hospital Care. Final Report of the New York State Hospital Study. Pp. xxi, 368. New York: Columbia University Press, 1949. $4.50

• Author: P.F. Lucchesi
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625127400181
• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Date: 01 March 1951
• Subject Matter: Articles

249

terests

are

concerned,

far

too

much

atten-

tion

is

paid

to

psychopathology-partic-

ularly

to

what

each

test

will

do

in

diagnostic

classification

of

emotionally

dis-

turbed

subjects.

On

reflection,

however,

I

realize

that

the

objections

I

have

raised

refer

to

(probably

very

temporary)

shortcomings

in

the

whole

field

of

projective

testing

as

such,

and

these

should

not

be

leveled

at

the

particular

editors

and

authors

of

this

symposium

at

all.

These

people

have done

a

good

job.

This

book

ought

to

be

widely

read

among

social

scientists.

We

social

sci-

entists

ought,

however,

to

construct

our

own

tests

of

indirect

expression

in

ways

consistent

with

our

theory

of

social

inter-

action,

and

we

ought

to

use

our

findings

as

corroborative

checks

against

the

bales

of

evidence

we

already

have

collected

on

direct

expression-particularly

our

findings

from

attitude

testing.

Incidentally

the

bibliographies

which

ac-

company

each

paper

in

this

volume

are

ex-

cellent-invaluable

to

the

social

scientist

who

wishes

to

acquaint

himself

more

thor-

oughly

with

this

field.

MANFORD

H.

KUHN

State

University

of

Iowa

FISCHER,

SIEGFRIED.

Principles

of

General

Psychopathology.

Pp.

xxi,

327.

New

York:

Philosophical

Library,

1950.

$4.75.

This

book

differs

from

most

texts

used

in

the

United

States

in

that

the

emphasis

is

put

on

&dquo;problems

rather

than

on

present

solutions

and

facts.&dquo;

This

statement

taken

from

the

preface,

for

all

its

frankness,

will

be

somewhat

surprising

to

the

American

reader.

As

to

the

organization

of

the

book,

there

is

a

first

part

dealing

with

fundamentals

of

psychopathology;

a

second

part:

Un-

derstandable

and

Causal

Connections;

a

third

part:

Syndromes;

and

a

fourth

part:

Normal,

Neurotic

and

Psychopathic

per-

sonalities

and

the

Relations

Between

Per-

sonality

and

Psychosis.

The

book

is

based

on

the

German

school

in

psychology

and

psychopathology.

The

names

Karl

Bueliler,

Karl

Jaspers,

(causal

and

understandable

connections),

and

Ernst

Kretschmer

stand

out,

certainly

in

the

general

orientation

of

the

book,

if

not

in

the

number

of

the

quotations.

The

descriptions

and

analyses

of

the

immediate

facts

are

too

short,

and

there

is

little,

if

any,

reference

to

projective

tests

and

ex-

perimental

work.

Particularly

unsatisfac-

tory

are

the

paragraphs

on

the

relationship

between

the

psychopathological

facts

and

their

social

background.

Two

pages

in

all

are

devoted

to

social

psychopathology.

Whatever

other

interests

may

be

satisfied

by

this

book,

the

sociologist

will

find

little

meat

in

it.

It

should

also

be

said

that

the

bibliography

is

very

short

and

leaves

out

a

good

number

of

those

authors

best

known

in

this

field

in

the

United

States,

England,

and

France.

W.

ELIASBERG

New

York

City

GINZBERG,

ELI. A

Pattern

for

Hospital

Care.

Final

Report

of

the

New

York

State

Hospital

Study.

Pp.

xxi,

368.

New

York:

Columbia

University

Press,

1949.

$4.50.

Hospital

administrators

are

frequently

on

the

lookout

for

material

on

health

subjects

which

may

be

recommended

to

professional

and

to

lay

groups

in

the

community.

&dquo;A

Pattern

for

Hospital

Care&dquo;

meets

this

need

commendably.

The

Specific

recommendations-suggested

alternatives-cover

most

of

the

major

ques-

tions

of

hospital

care

as

they

affect

the

patient,

the

doctor,

the

hospital,

and

both

the

local

and

state

governments.

Lay

ad-

ministrators,

as

well

as

the

professional,

will

find

the

presentation

comprehensive

and

a

source

of

helpful

ihformation

on

the

varied

aspects

of

hospital

operation.

A

study

of

the

current

practices

of

hospitals

with

regard

to

chest

X-rays

of

patients

on

admission

is

noteworthy.

Such

a

program

is

under

way

at

the

Philadelphia

General

Hospital.

There

is

supporting

evi-

dence

to

conclude

that

this

system

results

in

finding

a

significant

percentage

of

other-

wise

undetected

cases

of

tuberculosis.

Depreciation

of

the

hospital

plant

re-

ceives

an

important

acknowledgment

in

the

section

on

financial

aspects

of

the

hospital.

Too

often

this

subject

has

had

only

feeble

support

from

authors

and

authorities

who

set

it

off

until

another

time.