Dementia

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of psychiatric classification throughout pre-modern times, though the precise meaning of the word is often unclear (Pitt, 1987).

Nineteenth Century

It can be argued that the origins of the scientific study of dementia date back to the early nineteenth century. The initial steps were undertaken by the great French psychiatrist Pinel at the beginning of that century. Pinel's observations led him to the conclusion that the term dementia should be applied in relation to the "progressive mental changes seen in some idiots" (Pitt,3). Furthermore, Pinel thought that dementia was a distinct abnormal entity, and thus he used the term dementia to designate one of the five classes of mental derangement. However, by applying the term dementia to 'idiots', Pinel failed to differentiate between dementia and mental subnormality. This was accomplished by Pinel's student Esquirol in his 1838 textbook Mental maladies-A treatise on insanity. Esquirol summed up the difference between the demented and the mentally handicapped in the following epigram: "The...