In this article, we trace Argentine psychiatrists’ understanding of Emil Kraeplin’s theory of dementia praecox and Eugene Bleuler’s theory of schizophrenia, during the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. In this period, the theories and prac- tices related to both conditions overlapped significantly. We focus on articles in psychiatric journals because they reflect the theoretical knowledge of these psychiatrists and their local interpretations of foreign texts. This research offers a novel approach to understanding the formation of the «clinical eye» of psychiatrists in the country’s capital during the first decades of the twentieth century.