The Times of London, November 13, 1841.
Notes on the Text
Society of Friends: Quakers
Moral insanity: Definition of "moral insanity" by James Coweles Prichard (1786-1848), author of "Treatise of Insanity" which turned it into a standard psychiatric term:
"a form of mental derangement in which the intellectual faculties appear to have sustained little or no injury, while the disorder is manifested principally or alone, in the state of the feelings, temper, or habits. In some cases of this description the moral and active principles of the mind are strangely perverted and depraved; the power of self-government is lost or greatly impaired, and the individual is found to be incapable, not of talking or reasoning upon any subject proposed to him, for this he will often do with great shrewdness and volubility, but of conducting himself with decency and propriety in the business of life."
In other words, to be morally insane means being able to think logically to justify their mad behavior, often manifesting in the form of paranoia, larceny, or sexual obsession.
Commentary on the Text
Published in the London Times on November 13, 1841, this is an article that in many ways shows the culmination of the advances in the schools of thought surrounding the concept of madness that took place during the 18th and 19th centuries. The article seeks to accomplish several things at once: it begins with a sharp criticism of the misguided, outdated public view of insanity (that has only recently begun to be redefined in professional circles as “mental illness”) that leads to insufficient treatment, overhasty commitment to asylums, and a sense of shame from the surrounding family of the afflicted person. It paints asylums and those who own them as indifferent and greedy, seeking to fill their rooms with inmates and keep them there, and that it is “folly” to suggest that a person cannot recover from insanity outside of an asylum, showing empathy for the lunatic in question.
Afterwards, it goes on to list statistics and data collected from the Retreat of York, a mental institution founded by William Tuke in 1792 for the treatment of lunatics in the “Society of Friends”, otherwise known as the Quakers. Created as a response to the death of a Quaker woman within the York County Asylum, his institution emphasized the moral treatment of its patients, guided principally by pacific Quaker concerns and restricted the use of chains or flogging. In 1813 Tuke’s grandson Samuel published the Description of the Retreat, which led to the redefinition of “insanity” to “mental illness”, which in turn led to the upcoming policy of treatments appealing to the mind. It also painted a sharp contrast to the environment of the Asylum, which underwent a committee of inquiry and a wholesale dismissal of staff as a result.
In the Victorian times there was also a romantic concept of madness developing that is apparent in the art and literature of its time; the idea that madness was stemmed from emotional causes rather than intellectual ones. This also ties in to the idea developing around this time that women were more prone to lunancy due to their “weak nerves”; in 1845 there were roughly ten thousand women confined in asylums and in twenty years this number had nearly doubled. This idea had a profound effect on the literature and art of this time, much of it revolving around portrayals of women being driven mad. Though doubtlessly exaggerated in what was the popular media of the time, the statistics listed in the article do seem to at least partially reflect this, with more gentlewomen being committed than gentlemen at an over three to one ratio.
The final section of the article praises the advances made in terms of the ethical treatment of patients, specifically the lack of physical restraints, one of whose main proponents was Dr. James Connolly, the physician at the Pauper Lunatic Museum in Hanwell, who is praised as “completing the work” of Tuke and Pinel, another sharp critic of the current treatment for the mentally ill. It puts forth the argument that those mentally unsound are in fact more sensitive to both physical and mental stimuli provided by the outside world, so humane treatment is actually of paramount importance. The Retreat of York, the article puts forth, has procured the “happiest results” with this method of care.
Works Cited/For Additional Reading
Clark, Robert A. Mental Illness in Perspective. Pacific Grove: Boxwood P, 1973.
Rafter, Nicole. "The Unrepentant Horse-Slasher: Moral Insanity." Criminology 42 (2004): 979-1009. ProQuest. 13 Feb. 2008.
Ripa, Yannick. Women and Madness. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota P, 1990.
Scull, Andrew, Charlotte Mackenzie, and Nicholas Hervey. Masters of Bedlam. 1st ed. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1996.
Thompson, C., ed. The Origins of Modern Psychology. London: John Wiley and Sons, 1987.
Torrey, E. Fuller, and Judy Miller. The Invisible Plague. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 2001.
Project Group Members
Member Name
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University
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Course
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Kristin Burkepile |
Western Washington University |
Love and Money in the Nineteenth-Century British Novel |
Adam Brickett |
Western Washington University |
Love and Money in the Nineteenth-Century British Novel |
Megan Berquist |
Western Washington University |
Love and Money in the Nineteenth-Century British Novel |
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Project Completed: Winter 2008
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