501454 2013
HPY24410.1177/0957154X13501454History of PsychiatryMcNally
News and Notes
Dementia praecox revisited
History of Psychiatry 24(4) 507–509 © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0957154X13501454 hpy.sagepub.com
Kieran McNally Independent Scholar
Richard Noll (2012) usefully noted in this journal that Heinrich Schüle (1840–1916) appears to have been the first alienist to use the Latin term dementia praecox in the third edition of his textbook, Klinische Psychiatrie: Specielle Pathology und Therapie der Geisteskrankheiten (1886). Noll (2012) also wondered if the French alienist Bénédict-Augustin Morel (1809–73) influenced Schüle. Readers of this journal may be interested in a number of further developments on this subject. To begin with, it is worth observing that Schüle also used the term dementia praecox in the second edition of his Handbuch der Geisteskrankheiten (1880). Here we find clear evidence for the influence of Morel on Schüle. Schüle’s fifteenth chapter has a single paragraph discussing him; the opening line notes how Morel had shown the various transformations of hereditary insanity as a progressive development to more severe and finally incurable conditions (‘Morel hat die verschiedenen Umbildungen des hereditären Irreseins als eine fortschreitende Entwicklung zu immer schwereren und schliesslich unheilbaren Zuständen dargestellt’; Schüle 1880: 237). Accompanying this sentence is a footnote citing Morel’s Traité (1860: 513ff.); this is a chapter on ‘Aliénations ou Folies Héréditaires’, and the term démence précoce appears on p. 516. Schüle (1880: 237–8), in the same paragraph, observes that Morel distinguished four stages; in the fourth stage, Schüle uses the Latin term dementia praecox: ‘4. Generation: mutism, congenital mental weakness and Dementia praecox [Generation: Taubstummheit, angeborene Geistesschwäche, Dementia praecox]’ (Schüle, 1880: 238). In the following line, Schüle declares Morel to be an ingenious author. Thus, we have Morel lauded, his work summarized and cited, and the Latin dementia praecox all linked in one paragraph. Later we also find the statement that dementia praecox is one of the most common sequelae of hereditary degeneration (‘Die Dementia praecox, einer der häufigsten Folgezustände der erblichen Entartung…’; Schüle, 1880: 345). Additionally, Morel is heavily referenced throughout Schüle’s textbook. Therefore there seems to be clear evidence that Morel influenced Schüle at least as early as 1880. Second, when Schüle’s 1886 edition of Klinische Psychiatrie was translated into French two years later by Dagonet and Duhamel, the term dementia praecox is repeatedly translated back into French as démence précoce. For example, the following line discusses the tendency to Corresponding author: Kieran McNally, 20 Vernon Gardens, Clontarf, Dublin 3, Ireland. Email: [email protected]
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History of Psychiatry 24(4)
premature mental stoppage: ‘Hier endlich vielfache Neigung zu verfrühten psychischen Stillstand (Dementia praecox)’ (Schüle, 1886: 14); this is translated into French as: ‘Ici, enfin, on trouve une disposition à l’épuisement prématuré de l’organe psychique (démence précoce)’ (Schüle, 1888: 12). Such translation accurately reflects Schüle’s derivation of the term from Morel, and sometimes it occurs in close conjunction with the word hebephrenia. The fact that the French equated dementia praecox and démence précoce therefore predates Kraepelin’s work and has little to do with ‘French chauvinism’ as suggested elsewhere (Berrios, Luque and Villagrán, 2003). Hence, how Schüle’s work, with its various discussions on dementia praecox, hebephrenia and catatonia (we even find the term démence catatonique), may have impacted on the French conceptualization of dementia praecox now needs investigating. (This is in addition to the line of inquiry suggested by Noll re Kraepelin.) Finally, it should be noted that Schüle was acutely conscious that his contribution to the development of the term dementia praecox had been overlooked. In England in 1909, following the presentation of a paper on dementia praecox by Thomas Johnstone, one Dr Bond (most likely Charles Hubert Bond) noted that he had recently received a letter from Schüle correcting a recent comment by A.R. Urquhart concerning Kraepelin’s use of the term dementia praecox: Dr. Schule [sic] writes that he should like to correct Dr. Urquhart’s statement(1) that Kraepelin adopted the term “dementia praecox” at the suggestion of Pick, and points out that the expression has been used in France by Morel (‘Traité des malades mentales’) and in Germany by himself… (Johnstone, 1909: 89)
(Bond’s note 1 reads: ‘The reference is given in Defendorf’s Clinical Psychiatry, 1902, p. 152. “Dementia praecox is the name first applied by A. Pick, Prager med. Wochenschr., 1891.”’) Schüle therefore appears to have been irked that his contribution to psychiatry had been passed over by Urquhart (but not necessarily Kraepelin, who cited Schüle on numerous occasions), and he was willing to write a letter to his English colleagues pointing out the fact. It is worth investigating if, indirectly or directly, Schüle’s actions may have prompted the belated acknowledgement by Kraepelin of Morel’s influence (Berrios, Luque and Villagrán, 2003). That said, Schüle was not the only person to use the Latin dementia praecox prior to Kraepelin. In 1882, a passing reference to the term was made by J. Van Deventer in a Dutch article on moral insanity: ‘For mild degrees of dementia, such as dementia praecox … [Bij lichte graden van dementie bijv. dementia praecox…]’ (Van Deventer, 1882: 698). He goes on to point out that such cases did not apparently suffer from mental weakness. Van Deventer does not appear to reference Morel or Schüle, and the origins of his usage of the term and its subsequent influence, if any, remain to be ascertained. All this goes to confirm that, however attractive it may be to use the metaphor of biography towards psychiatric concepts, and irrespective of who names them, we must bear in mind that the formation of scientific concepts is typically, if not fundamentally, a social process. The conceptualization of dementia praecox is one such social process – and its historiography is another. References Berrios GE, Luque R and Villagrán JM (2003) Schizophrenia: a conceptual history. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy 3(2): 111–140. Johnstone T (1909) The case for dementia praecox. Journal of Mental Science 55: 64–92. Morel BA (1860) Traité des maladies mentales, 2 vols, 2nd edn. Paris: Masson. Noll R (2012) Dementia praecox, 1886: a new turning point? History of Psychiatry 23(2): 255–256. Schüle H (1880) Handbuch der Geisteskrankheiten, 2nd edn. Leipzig: F.C.W. Vogel.
News and Notes
509
Schüle H (1886) Klinische Psychiatrie:Specielle Pathologie und Therapie der Geisteskrankheiten, 3rd edn. Leipzig: F.C.W. Vogel. Schüle H (1888) Traité clinique des maladies mentales, translated from 3rd German edn. by J Dagonet and G Duhamel. Paris: Lecrosnier et Babé. Van Deventer J (1882) Bijdrage tot de diagnostiek van insania moralis. Weekblad Van Het Nederlandsch Tijdschrift Voor Geneeskunde 38: 693–706.
Copyright of History of Psychiatry is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
HPY24410.1177/0957154X13501454History of PsychiatryMcNally
News and Notes
Dementia praecox revisited
History of Psychiatry 24(4) 507–509 © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0957154X13501454 hpy.sagepub.com
Kieran McNally Independent Scholar
Richard Noll (2012) usefully noted in this journal that Heinrich Schüle (1840–1916) appears to have been the first alienist to use the Latin term dementia praecox in the third edition of his textbook, Klinische Psychiatrie: Specielle Pathology und Therapie der Geisteskrankheiten (1886). Noll (2012) also wondered if the French alienist Bénédict-Augustin Morel (1809–73) influenced Schüle. Readers of this journal may be interested in a number of further developments on this subject. To begin with, it is worth observing that Schüle also used the term dementia praecox in the second edition of his Handbuch der Geisteskrankheiten (1880). Here we find clear evidence for the influence of Morel on Schüle. Schüle’s fifteenth chapter has a single paragraph discussing him; the opening line notes how Morel had shown the various transformations of hereditary insanity as a progressive development to more severe and finally incurable conditions (‘Morel hat die verschiedenen Umbildungen des hereditären Irreseins als eine fortschreitende Entwicklung zu immer schwereren und schliesslich unheilbaren Zuständen dargestellt’; Schüle 1880: 237). Accompanying this sentence is a footnote citing Morel’s Traité (1860: 513ff.); this is a chapter on ‘Aliénations ou Folies Héréditaires’, and the term démence précoce appears on p. 516. Schüle (1880: 237–8), in the same paragraph, observes that Morel distinguished four stages; in the fourth stage, Schüle uses the Latin term dementia praecox: ‘4. Generation: mutism, congenital mental weakness and Dementia praecox [Generation: Taubstummheit, angeborene Geistesschwäche, Dementia praecox]’ (Schüle, 1880: 238). In the following line, Schüle declares Morel to be an ingenious author. Thus, we have Morel lauded, his work summarized and cited, and the Latin dementia praecox all linked in one paragraph. Later we also find the statement that dementia praecox is one of the most common sequelae of hereditary degeneration (‘Die Dementia praecox, einer der häufigsten Folgezustände der erblichen Entartung…’; Schüle, 1880: 345). Additionally, Morel is heavily referenced throughout Schüle’s textbook. Therefore there seems to be clear evidence that Morel influenced Schüle at least as early as 1880. Second, when Schüle’s 1886 edition of Klinische Psychiatrie was translated into French two years later by Dagonet and Duhamel, the term dementia praecox is repeatedly translated back into French as démence précoce. For example, the following line discusses the tendency to Corresponding author: Kieran McNally, 20 Vernon Gardens, Clontarf, Dublin 3, Ireland. Email: [email protected]
508
History of Psychiatry 24(4)
premature mental stoppage: ‘Hier endlich vielfache Neigung zu verfrühten psychischen Stillstand (Dementia praecox)’ (Schüle, 1886: 14); this is translated into French as: ‘Ici, enfin, on trouve une disposition à l’épuisement prématuré de l’organe psychique (démence précoce)’ (Schüle, 1888: 12). Such translation accurately reflects Schüle’s derivation of the term from Morel, and sometimes it occurs in close conjunction with the word hebephrenia. The fact that the French equated dementia praecox and démence précoce therefore predates Kraepelin’s work and has little to do with ‘French chauvinism’ as suggested elsewhere (Berrios, Luque and Villagrán, 2003). Hence, how Schüle’s work, with its various discussions on dementia praecox, hebephrenia and catatonia (we even find the term démence catatonique), may have impacted on the French conceptualization of dementia praecox now needs investigating. (This is in addition to the line of inquiry suggested by Noll re Kraepelin.) Finally, it should be noted that Schüle was acutely conscious that his contribution to the development of the term dementia praecox had been overlooked. In England in 1909, following the presentation of a paper on dementia praecox by Thomas Johnstone, one Dr Bond (most likely Charles Hubert Bond) noted that he had recently received a letter from Schüle correcting a recent comment by A.R. Urquhart concerning Kraepelin’s use of the term dementia praecox: Dr. Schule [sic] writes that he should like to correct Dr. Urquhart’s statement(1) that Kraepelin adopted the term “dementia praecox” at the suggestion of Pick, and points out that the expression has been used in France by Morel (‘Traité des malades mentales’) and in Germany by himself… (Johnstone, 1909: 89)
(Bond’s note 1 reads: ‘The reference is given in Defendorf’s Clinical Psychiatry, 1902, p. 152. “Dementia praecox is the name first applied by A. Pick, Prager med. Wochenschr., 1891.”’) Schüle therefore appears to have been irked that his contribution to psychiatry had been passed over by Urquhart (but not necessarily Kraepelin, who cited Schüle on numerous occasions), and he was willing to write a letter to his English colleagues pointing out the fact. It is worth investigating if, indirectly or directly, Schüle’s actions may have prompted the belated acknowledgement by Kraepelin of Morel’s influence (Berrios, Luque and Villagrán, 2003). That said, Schüle was not the only person to use the Latin dementia praecox prior to Kraepelin. In 1882, a passing reference to the term was made by J. Van Deventer in a Dutch article on moral insanity: ‘For mild degrees of dementia, such as dementia praecox … [Bij lichte graden van dementie bijv. dementia praecox…]’ (Van Deventer, 1882: 698). He goes on to point out that such cases did not apparently suffer from mental weakness. Van Deventer does not appear to reference Morel or Schüle, and the origins of his usage of the term and its subsequent influence, if any, remain to be ascertained. All this goes to confirm that, however attractive it may be to use the metaphor of biography towards psychiatric concepts, and irrespective of who names them, we must bear in mind that the formation of scientific concepts is typically, if not fundamentally, a social process. The conceptualization of dementia praecox is one such social process – and its historiography is another. References Berrios GE, Luque R and Villagrán JM (2003) Schizophrenia: a conceptual history. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy 3(2): 111–140. Johnstone T (1909) The case for dementia praecox. Journal of Mental Science 55: 64–92. Morel BA (1860) Traité des maladies mentales, 2 vols, 2nd edn. Paris: Masson. Noll R (2012) Dementia praecox, 1886: a new turning point? History of Psychiatry 23(2): 255–256. Schüle H (1880) Handbuch der Geisteskrankheiten, 2nd edn. Leipzig: F.C.W. Vogel.
News and Notes
509
Schüle H (1886) Klinische Psychiatrie:Specielle Pathologie und Therapie der Geisteskrankheiten, 3rd edn. Leipzig: F.C.W. Vogel. Schüle H (1888) Traité clinique des maladies mentales, translated from 3rd German edn. by J Dagonet and G Duhamel. Paris: Lecrosnier et Babé. Van Deventer J (1882) Bijdrage tot de diagnostiek van insania moralis. Weekblad Van Het Nederlandsch Tijdschrift Voor Geneeskunde 38: 693–706.
Copyright of History of Psychiatry is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
