—We agree1,2 with Weinberger that it is more appropriate to regard some schizophrenias as a remote consequence of an early brain lesion with subsequent neurodevelop mental deviance rather than as the result of an adult onset of a neurodegenerative disorder. However, we would like to discuss two points.
1. An early brain lesion is probably only one of a number of routes to the syndrome we currently call schizophrenia. To claim that it underlies all schizophrenia is to run the risk that the hypothesis will be discounted because not all schizophrenics conform to its predictions. The neurodevelopmental model is certainly compatible with recent neuropathologic findings and with those computed tomographic (CT) scan studies that demonstrate an association between a complicated pregnancy and birth, later schizophrenia, and enlarged cerebral ven tricles.1,3,4 It also provides an explanation for the deviant childhood behavior found in a proportion of schizophrenics and for