Preamble
Thomas A. Ban’s Letter to Jean Thuillier, one of the founders of CINP, after he received from him a copy of the English translation of his book, Ten Years That Changed the Face of Mental Illness, with David Healy’s translation.
Toronto May 26, 2005
To: Prof. Jean Thuillier
From Tom Ban
Dear Professor Thuillier,
Thank you so much for your letter of May 3, 2005, and for your book, “Ten Years that Changed the Face of Mental Illness” in English translation. I am treasuring in my library its French original, you kindly sent me many years ago.
Thank you also for your recommendation to organize a symposium on the 50th anniversary of the founding of CINP. I think there are plans to have a round table discussion of the founders which in addition to you will probably include Philip Bradley, Hanns Hippius, Abram Hoffer, Pedro Tellez-Carrasco and Cornelis Van Rhijn. It might be possible to record it on videotape. There will probably be a history committee stand at the Congress and one might be able to arrange that the attendees could meet and talk to the founders there.
I made a note of the points you indicated with green marks in your book relevant to the founding of CINP for our historical record: Joel Elkes’ experimental psychiatry unit in Birmingham with Willy Mayer-Gross (p. 139); events in Milan during the Milan symposium on Psychotropic Drugs organized by Emilio Trabucchi and Silvio Garattini, (p. 144); Rothlin’s role in the founding; and the Pope’s addressing the 1st CINP Congress in Rome. You might have noted that in The Rise of Psychopharmacology, the first volume of CINP’s autobiographic accounts series we presented in English a shortened version of the Pope’s address.
I hope, as one of the founders you will be interested in participating in the activities of our History Committee.
Under separate cover I will be mailing you a manuscript on The History of CINP I wrote last year. I would be very much interested in having your comments.
Kind regards,
Tom Ban