ABSTRACT
People vary greatly in their interest in history. There are some persons who find everything about the lives and circumstances of people in times past to be of very great interest. There are others whose concern for history is almost entirely circumscribed to a particular subject or era. The professional historian may evince an attitude of quiet assurance that the study of history is an acceptable end in itself, a scholarly pursuit which has the justification of all searches after knowledge for knowledge’s sake. Many primitive men were certainly confronted by environments that demanded constant hard work and continued vigilance. Neurosis is not peculiar to modern man. Problems and pressures, the threat of large-scale disaster and the torment of doubt about ultimate values are not a special heritage of twentieth-century man. Earliest history suggests that mental illness has probably been coexistent with mental life.
