Bone

Abstract

In ‘Bone’ Wallis shows how late-Victorian asylum doctors discussed and investigated bone fracture among asylum patients. Recounting the key contemporary explanations offered for such injuries, including violence by asylum attendants and the behaviour of patients themselves, this chapter goes on to explore how bones became the object of pathological investigation. It discusses the role of the coroner’s inquest and the post-mortem, as well as the role of new technologies that aimed to quantify the strength of bones. This chapter demonstrates that many asylum doctors found it difficult to conclusively prove that the bodies of asylum patients were fundamentally different to those of other people. The attention given to fractures in the asylum, though, is shown to have had practical effects on asylum care and administration.