Notes on Asylums and the Insane in France and Belgium. (July and August, 1861)

Abstract

At a time when so much public interest is manifested in lunatic asylums and their inmates, it scarcely requires the memory of the illustrious Pinel, Esquirol, and Guislain, or the knowledge of what has been done by the present Morel, Baillarger, Falret, Moreau, &c., to tempt one over the Channel, more especially when a visit to the far-famed Gheel is contemplated. So in July and August last, having leave of absence from my duties to spend some weeks in rest and recreation, I resolved to find both in a visit to the French and Belgian asylums, having learned by experience that to travel without an object is neither profitable nor pleasant. Believing that what interested me, and regarding which my curiosity had sometimes been excited at home, might not be devoid of interest to others, I made “notes” regularly of what I observed, recording facts and impressions on the spot and on the day, rather in the order of observation than of coherence, and striving only to observe well, and to state the exact truth.

Death and the dead-house in Victorian asylums: necroscopy versus mourning at the Royal Edinburgh Asylum,c. 1832–1901

“…In cases where no post-mortem is procured, the cast of the face only is obtained. (McIntosh, 1862: 8–9) It was morbid anatomy rather than phrenology which furnished the primary clinical relevance for patients’ deaths, however. By the late 1840s, professional doubts about phrenology’s claims were emerging with vigour (Barfoot, 2009; Cooter, 1984).…”

“…In cases where no post-mortem is procured, the cast of the face only is obtained. (McIntosh, 1862: 8–9)…”