I had the honour of receiving the Carlson Award in the memory of Dr Eric T. Carlson (1922-1992), who taught at Department of Psychiatry of Cornell University Medical College and established the basis of the research of history of psychiatry at Cornell. A handsome plaque was handed by Dr George Makari, the Director of The Institute for the History of Psychiatry at Cornell, whose Revolution in Mind (2008) has been an inspiring scholarly model for me. It is a particular pleasure to receive an award with the name of late Dr Carlson, for his works introduced the world of the history of psychiatry when I was an undergraduate student. I dag out the papers by Dr Carlson and smiled at myself consulting rather easy English words. I would also like to thank Professor Jack Barchas, the Chair of Psychiatry at Cornell, for his generosity and his kind encouragement. Carlson lecturers include the late Roy Porter and my respected friend Sonu Shamdasani. I am particularly proud of joining them.