Within the field marked out by this tripartite division of psychological
laculties
will be inserted the clinical varieties differing
?
?
Foucault-Psychiatric-Power-1973-74
At any rate, what were the intermediaries?
I think the intermediary is easily found and is basi- cally the psychiatrization of abnormal children, and more precisely the psychiatrization of idiots.
It is when the mad were separated from idiots within the asylum that a kind of institution began to take shape in which psychiatric power was put to work in the archaic form I have just been describing.
39 For years, we can say for almost a century, this archaic form remained what it was at the beginning.
I think it is on the basis of this mixed form, between psychiatry and pedagogy, on the basis of this
? psychlatrization of the abnormal, of the feeble minded, mentally defective, etcetera, that the system of dissemination took place that allowed psychol- ogy to become that kind of permanent doubling of the functioning of every institution. So, next week I would like to say something about this organization and establishment of the psychiatrization of idiots.
Then I would also like to pick out other phenomena based on this proto-psychiatry. The other series of phenomena is this: whereas in the psychiatrization of idiots the psychiatric power I have described contin- ues to advance within the asylum almost without change, on the other hand, a number of utterly fundamental and essential things take place, a double process in which (as in every battle) it is very difficult to know who started it, who takes the initiative and even who gams the upper hand in the end. What were these two twin processes?
First, the appearance of neurology, or more precisely, of neuropathol ogy, was a fundamental event in the history of medicine, that is to say, when certain disorders began to be dissociated from madness and it became possible to assign them a neurological seat and neuropathologi- cal etiology that made it possible to distinguish those who were really ill at the level of their body from those for whom one could assign no eti ology at the level of organic lesions. ,0 This raised the question of the seriousness, of the authenticity, of mental illness, which generated the suspicion that, after all, should a mental illness without any anatomical correlation really be taken seriously?
And, opposite this--correlative to this kind oi suspicion that neurol- ogy began to cast over the whole world of mental illness--there was the game of patients who never ceased to respond to psychiatric power in terms of truth and falsehood. To psychiatric power, which said "I am only a power, and you must accept my knowledge solely at the level of its tokens, without ever seeing the effects ol its content," patients responded with the game of simulation. When, with neuropathology, doctors finally introduced a new content of knowledge, patients responded with another type of simulation, which was, broadly speak ing, the hysterics' great simulation of nervous illnesses like epilepsy, paralysis, and so on. And the game, the kind of endless pursuit between patients, who constantly trapped medical knowledge in the name of a certain truth and in a game of lies, and doctors, who endlessly tried to
9 January 1974 191
? 192 PSYCHIATRIC POWER
recapture patients in the trap of a neurological knowledge of pathological signs, of a serious medical knowledge, finally permeated the whole history of nineteenth century psychiatry as a real struggle between doctors and patients.
Finally, the last point is how the principal elements we saw taking shape within psychiatric power, and which were its main supports, were taken up outside the asylum institution. That is to say, how were those elements of reality--the law of the power of the other, the prestige given to the doctor's words, the law of identity, the obligation of anamnesis, the attempt to drive out the mad desire that constitutes the reality of madness, and the problem of money, etcetera--brought into play within a practice like psychoanalysis that claims it is not psychiatric, and yet in which one sees how its different elements were inscribed within the game of psychiatric power that isolated them and brought them out? '1
So, if you like, psychiatric power will have a triple destiny. We will find it persisting for a long time in its archaic form, after the period 18/|0 to i 8 6 0 , in the pedagogy of mental deficiency. You will find it being re-elaborated and transformed in the asylum through the inter play of neurology and simulation. And then, a third destiny will be its take up within a practice that puts itself forward however as a practice that is not exactly psychiatric.
? I. Apart from the many occurrences of the term "direction" (diriger) in his Traile medico-philosophique (pp. xlv, 46, 50, 52, 194, 195, and 200), Pinel devotes two passages to the direction of the insane: section II, ? vi: "Advantages of the art of directing (diriger) the insane in order to promote the effect of medicines" pp. 57-58; and ? xxii: "Skill in direct mg (diriger) the insane by seeming to go along with their imaginary ideas" pp. 92-95;
A Treatise on Insanity, pp. 59 60 and pp. 95 98 (the English translation generally renders diriger as "management"; G. B. ). For his part, Esquirol defines moral treatment as "the art of directing (diriger) the intelligence and passions of the insane" Des maladies mentales, vol. I, p. 134; Mental Maladies, p. 79. Leuret states that "it is necessary to direct (diriger) the intel ligence of the insane and to excite passions in them which can divert their delirium" Du traitement moral de lajolie, p. 185-
2. The practice of "direction" or "conduct" was instituted on the basis of the pastoral ol Carlo Borromeo (1538 1584), Pastoruminstructions ad concionandum, conjessionisque el eucharistiae sacramenta ministrandum utilissimae (Antwerp: C. Plantini, 1586), and in connection with Catholic reform and the development ol "retreats. " Among those who laid down its rules,
we can reler to (a) Ignace de Loyola, Exercilia spirititalia (Rome: A. Bladum, 1548); English translation, Ignatius Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises of Si. Ignatius Loyola, trans. Elisabeth Meier Tetlow (Lanham and London: University Press of America, 1987). See, P. Dudon, Saint Ignace de Loyola(Paris: Beauchesne, 1934); P. Doncceur, "Saint Ignace et la direction des ames" in La Vie Spirituelle, vol. 48, Paris, 1936, pp. 48 54; M. Olphe Galliard, "Direction spirituelle," III: "Penode moderne" in Dictionnaire de spiritualite ascetique et mystique. Doctrine et histoirc, vol. Ill (Paris: Beauchesne, 1957) col. 1115-1117. ( b ) Francois de Sales (1567 1622) Introduction a la vie devote ( 1 6 0 8 ) , of which chapter 4 became the direc tors' bible: "De la necessile d'un directeur pour entrer et lair progres en la devotion" in (Euvres, vol. Ill (Annecy: Nierat, 1893) pp. 22 25; English translation, St. Francis de Sales, Introductionto the Devout Life, trans. Michael Day (Wheathampstead: Anthony Clarke, 1990), "The necessity ol a guide," pp. 12 15. See F. Vincent, Francois de Sales, directeur d'dmes. L'education de la volonte (Paris: Beauchesne, 1923). And (c) Jean Jacques Olier (1608 1657), founder ol the Saint-Sulpice seminary, "L'esprit d'un directeur des ames" in (Euvres completes (Paris: J. -P . Migne, 1856) col. 1183-1240.
On "direction" we can refer to the following works: E. M. Caro, "Les direction des ames
au XVIIC siecle" in Nouvelles Etudes morales sur le temps present (Paris: Hachette, 1869) pp. 145 203; H. Huvelin, Quelques directeurs d'dmes au XVII' siecle: saint Francois de Sales, M. Olier, saint Vincent de Paul, Vabbe de Ranee (Paris: Gabalda, 1911 )? Foucault returns to the notion o( "direction" in his lectures at the College de France o( 1974 1975, Les Anormaux, lectures of 19 February and 26 February 1975, pp. 170 171 and pp. 187 189; Abnormal, pp. 182-184 and pp. 201-204; of 1977-1978, Securite, Territoire, Population, ed. Michel Senellart (Paris: Gallimard/Seuil, 2 0 0 4 ) lecture of 28 February 1978; and 1981-1982, L'Hermeneutique du sujet, ed. F. Gros (Paris: Gallimard/Seuil, 2001) lectures ol
3 and 10 March, pp. 315-393; English translation, The Hermeneutics of the Subject. Lectures at the College de France 1981-82, ed. Frederic Gros, English series ed. Arnold I. Davidson, trans. Graham Burchell (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) pp. 331-412; and in his lecture at the University of Stanford, 10 October 1979, " 'Omnes et singulatim': Towards a Critique of Political Reason" in The Essential Works of Michel Foucault 195/\-198/\, vol. } : Power, ed. James D. Faubion, trans. Robert Hurley and others (New York: New Press,
2 0 0 0 ) pp. 310 311; French translation, "'Omnes et singulatim': vers une critique de la raison politique" trans. P. E. Dauzat, Dits et Ecrits, vol. 4, pp. 146 147.
3. H. Belloc, "De la responsabilite morale chez les alienes," Annales medico-psychologiques, 3rd series, vol. Ill, July 1861, p. 422.
4. F. Leuret, Du traitement moral de lafolie, pp. 444-446. 5. Ibid. p. 441, p. 443, and p. 445.
6. Ibid. p. 431: "I direct a jet of water on his face and body, and when he seems disposed to bear everything/or his treatment, I am very careful to tell him that it is not a question of treating him, but of offending and punishing him" (Leuret's emphasis).
7. Constructed in 1634 with the view to being an asylum for poor nobility and wounded soldiers, the Bicetre chateau was incorporated in the Hopital general created by the edict
9 January 1974 193
? 194
PSYCHIATRIC POWER
of 27 April 1656, ordering that "the able bodied and disabled mendicant poor, of both sexes, be confined in a hospital to be employed in works, manulacture, and other work according to their ability. " It was in the "Saint Prix employment" [special quarters for the ill;J. L. J, created in 1660 to take in the insane, that Pinel took up the post ol "infirmary doctor" on 11 September 1793; he occupied this post until 19 April 1795- See, P. Bru, Histoire de Bicetre (hospice, prison, asi/e), d'apres des documents historiques (Paris: Ed. du Progres medical, 1890); F. Funck-Brentano and G. Marindaz, L'Hopilaf generalde Bicetre (Lyon: Laboratoires Ciba, 1938); and J. M. Surzur, "L'Hopital hospice de Bicetre. Historique, fonclions sociales jusqu'a la Revolution Irancaise," Medical Thesis, Paris, 1969, no. 9/l3 (Paris: 1969).
8. La Salpetriere owed its name to the saltpeter factory erected on the spot under Louis XIII. The edict of 27 April 1656 incorporated it in the Hopilal generale for the "confinement of
the mendicant poor" ol the town and inner suburbs of Paris, lor "incorrigible women," and
for some "mad persons. " On the suppression ol its carceral lunction in 1793, the home became the "Maison nationale des femmes," until 1823. The General Council lor hospitals and homes of the Seine, founded in 1801 by Jean Antoine Chaptal (1756 1832) by a decree
of 27 March 1802, ordered the transler to Salpetriere ol mad women hospitalized at the Hotel Dieu. See, L. Boucher, La Salpetriere. Son hisloire de 1656 a 1790. Ses origines et son fonctionnement au XVIII' siecle (Pans, Ed. du Progres medical, 1883); G. Guillain and
P. Mathieu, La Salpetriere (Lyon: Laboratoires Ciba, 1939); J. Couteaux, "L'histoire de la Salpetriere" Revue hospitaliere de France, vol. 9, 1944, pp. 106 127 and 215 242. Since then a well-documented study has become available: N. Simon and J. Franchi, La Pitie-Salpetriere (Saint Bcnoit la Forel: Ed. de PArbre a images, 1986).
9. Saint Lazare, lounded in the ninth century by the hospitaller friars of Saint Lazare for the care of lepers, was transformed by Saint Vincent de Paul on 7 January 1632 to take in "persons detained by order ol His Majesty" and the "insane poor. " In 1794 it became a prison lor streetwalkers. See, E. Pottet, Hisloire de Saint-Lazare, 1122-1912 (Paris: Societe franchise d'lmpnmeric et de libraine, 1912);J. Vie, Les Alienes et les correctionnaires a Saint- Lazare au XVII et au XVIII siecle (Paris: F. Alcan, 1930). Foucault refers to it in Histoire de lajolie, p. 62 and p. 136; Madness and Civilisation, p. 42 (page 136 of the French edition
is omitted from the English translation).
10. The Charenton home was the result of a foundation ol the King's counsellor, Sebaslien
Leblanc, in September 1641. In February 1644 it was handed over to the St Jean-de Dieu order ol hospitallers, created in 1537 by the Portuguese Jean Cindad for the service of the poor and sick. See, J. Monval, Les Freres hospitaliers de Saint-Jean-de-Dieu en France (Paris: Bernard Grasset, 1936); A. Chagny, L'Ordre hospitaller de Saint-Jean-de-Dieu, two volumes (Lyon: Lescuyer el fils, 1953). See also, P. Sevestre, "La maison de Charenton, de la londa tion a la reconstruction: 1641 1838" Histoire des sciences medicales, vol. 25,1991, pp. 61 71.
Closed in July 1795, the home was reopened and nationalized under the Directory, on
15 June 1797, to replace the quarters lor the insane at the Hotel Dieu. Its direction was then entrusted to an old member ol the regular order ol Premonstralensians, Francois de Coulmiers, and Joseph Gastaldy was appointed head doctor. See, C. F. S. Giraudy, Memoire
sur la Maison nationale de Charenton, exclusivement detinee au traitement des alienes (Pans: Imprimene de la Societe de Medecine, 1804); J. E. D. Esquirol, "Memoire historique et statislique sur la Maison Royale de Charenton" (1835) in Des maladiesmentales considerees sous les rapports medical, hygicnique et medico-legale, vol. II, 1838, pp. 539 736; and, C. Strauss, La maison nationale de Charenton (Paris: Imprimene nationale, 1900).
11. F. Leuret, Du traitement moral de la Jolie, p. 185: "In an establishment lor the insane that I could name, the number ol patients is such that in the course of a whole year the head doctor can give only thirty seven minutes to each patient, and in another, where the n-um
ber ol patients is even greater ( . . . ) each patient has the right to see the head doctor for only eighteen minutes a year. "
12. Foucault refers here to the distinction established by Esquirol in the field of madness defined as a "usually chronic cerebral affection, without fever, characterized by disorders of sensibility, intelligence, and the will" J. E. D. Esquirol, "De la lolie" (1816) in Des maladies mentales, vol. I, p. 5; Mental Maladies, p. 21.
Within the field marked out by this tripartite division of psychological laculties will be inserted the clinical varieties differing
? Irom each other in terms ol ( a ) the nature ol the disorder allecling the laculties; ( b ) the extension ol the disorder; (c) the quality of the humor which allects it. Thus, whereas mania is characterized by "disturbance and over excitement ol the sensibility, intelligence, and will" ("De la manie" [1818J, ibid. vol. II, p. 132; English, ibid. p. 378), in lypemania - a neologism created by Leuret in 1815 on the basis ol Greek root, XVTTTJ, sadness, affliction--"sensibility is painfully excited or injured; the sad, oppressive passions modily the intelligence and will" ("De la lypemanie ou melancoli" |1820|, ibid. pp. 398 481; English, ibid. pp. 199 233).
13. The criterion for the distinction between mania and monomania was the extension ol the disorder, general or partial, that is to say, localized in a facility (intellectual or instinctive monomania, etcetera), an object (erotomania), or a theme (religious or homicidal mono mania). Thus mania is characterized by the fact that "the delirium is general, all the lacul ties of the understanding are over excited and disrupted," whereas in monomania "the sad or gay, concentrated or expansive delirium is partial and circumscribed to a small number of ideas and affections" ibid. vol. II, "De la manie" p. 133; English, ibid. "Mania" p. 378.
V\. In contrast with mania characterized by "over excitement ol the laculties," the group ol dementias--with "acute," "chronic" and "senile" varieties--are distinguished by their negative aspects: "Dementia is a usually chronic cerebral allection without lever, charac tenzed by deterioration ol the sensibility, intelligence and will" ibid. "De la demence" (1814); p. 219; English, ibid. "Dementia" p. 417.
15. Cauterization or "actual cautery" consisted in the application ol an iron heated 111 the lire or in boiling water to the top of the head or the nape ol the neck. See, L. Valentin, "Memoire el observations concernant les bons ellets du cautere actuel, applique sur la tele dans plusieurs maladies," Nancy, 1815. Esquirol recommended the use ol the moxa and "red hot iron applied to the nape ol the neck in mania complicated by lury" D o maladies mentales, vol. I, "De la folie" (1816) p. 154; Mental Maladies, p. 87: "I have many limes applied the iron at a red heat to the neck, in mania complicated with lury," and ibid. , vol. II, "De la manie" p. 191 and 217; English, ibid. "Mania" pp. 400 401 and p. 411. See,
J. Guislain, Trade sur lfalienation menlale et sur les hospices des alienes, vol. II, ch. vi, "Moxa et cautere actuel" pp. 52-55.
16. "Moxas" are cylinders made Irom a material the progressive combustion ol which was supposed to excite the nervous system and have a Junction ol sensory arousal through the pain it caused. See, A. E. M. Bernardin, Dissertation sur les avantages (/u'on pent retenir de rap- plication du moxa (Paris: Lefebvre, 1803); EJ. Georget, De lafolie, p. 247: Georget recom mended its use in lorms ol insanity involving stupor and insensibility;J. Guislain, Traile sur les phrenopalhies, section IV, p. 458: "This powerful irritant acts on the physical sensibility through pain and the destruction ol living parts, but it also has a moral action through the fear it inspires. "
17.
18.
Ugo Cerletti (1877 1963), dissatisfied with the cardiazol shock used by the Milanese psychiatrist Laszlo von Meduna since 1935, perlected electroshock therapy with Lucio Bmi. On 15 April 1938, a schizophrenic was subjected to this therapy for the first time. See, U. Cerletti, "L'elettroshock" Rivista sperimentale difrenialria, Reggio Emilia, vol. XVIII, 1940, pp. 2 0 9 310; "Electroshock therapy," in A. M. Sackler and others, The Great Physiodynamic Therapies in Psychiatry: An Historical Appraisal (New York: Harper, 1956) pp. 92 94.
From the second hall ol the nineteenth century, the use of ether developed in psychiatry for both therapeutic purposes--notably for calming "states ol nervous excitement" (see, W. Griesinger, Die Pathologie und Therapie derpsychischen Krankheiten [Stuttgart: A. Krabbe, 18451 p. 544; English translation, Mental Pathology and Therapeutics, trans. C. Lockhart Robertson and James Rutherford |New York and London: Halner, 1965] p. 478)--and lor diagnosis. See, H. Bayard, "L'utilisation de Tether et le diagnostic des maladies mentales" Annales d'hygiene publique et medicate, vol. 42, no. 83,July 1849, pp. 201-214; B. A. Morel, "De l'elhcnsation dans la lolie du point de vue du diagnostic et de la medecine legale" Archives
generates de medecine, 51'1 series, vol. 3, 1, February 1854, p. 135: "In certain definite circum stances, etherisation is a precious means for modifying the unhealthy condition and for enlightening the doctor as to the real neuropathic character ol the affection"; and, H. Brochim, "Maladies nerveuses," ? "Anesthesiques: ether et chlorolorme" in Dictionnaire encyclopedujue des sciences medicates, 2mi series, vol. XII, 1877, pp. 376 377.
9 January 197yi 195
? 196
PSYCHIATRIC POWER
19-
On his return trom his travels in France, Italy, and Belgium, Esquirol opened up the dis cussion ol the construction of asylums for the insane, first in his report, Des etahlissements com acre* aux alienes en France, republished in Des maladies mentales, vol. II, pp. 339 /l31, and then 111 his article "Maisons d'alienes" in Dktionnaire des sciences medicates, vol. XXX (Paris: C. L. F. Panckoucke, 1818) pp. 47-95, republished in Des maladies mentales, vol. II, pp. 432 538.
20. Jean Baptiste Parchappe de Vinay (18OO 1866), appointed General Inspector ol the Service lor the insane in 1848, drew up plans for an asylum that would be able to separate categories ol patients and put to work a therapeutic project: Des principes a suivre dans la fon- dation ct la construction des asiles d'alienes (Paris: Masson, 1853). See J. G. H. Martel, Parchappe. Signification de son oeuvre, sa place dans devolution de Vassistance psychiatrique, Medical Thesis, Paris, 1965, no. 108 (Paris: R. Foulon and Co. , 1965).
21.
22.
23.
Henri Girard de Cailleux (1813 188-1), appointed head doctor and director of the Auxerre insane asylum on 20 June 18-10, proposed the construction of asylums in which, 111 line with the principles ol moral treatment, the insane would be isolated, classilied, and put to work. His ideas are developed in, "De I'organisation et de Padministralion des etablisse ments d'alienes" Annales medico-psychologiques, vol. II, September 1843, pp. 230 260; "De la construction, de I'organisation, et de la direction des asiles d'alienes," Annales d'hygienc
publique et de medecine legale, vol. 40, Part 2, July 1848, p. 5 and p. 241.
Appointed by Haussman in i 8 6 0 to the post ol Inspecteur general of the Service for insane for the Seine, Girard de Cailleux, within the lramework of the reorganization ol the Service ol assistance to the insane, in 1861 proposed a program for the construction ol a dozen asy lums in the Paris suburbs, modeled on the Auxerre asylum which he had transformed alter his appointment as director (see the previous note). In May 1867, Saint Anne opened, lollowed in 1868 by Ville Evrard, then Perray Vaucluse in 1869, and later by Villejuil in 1884. See, G. Daumezon, "Essai d'histonque critique de l'appareil d'assistance aux malades mentaux dans le departemenl de la Seine depuis le debut du xixc siecle" Information psychiatrique, vol. I, 1960, no. 5, pp. 6 9; and, G. Bleandonu and G. Le Gaufey, "Naissance des asiles d'alienes (Auxerre-Paris)" Annales ESC, I975, no. I, pp. 93 126.
H. Girard de Cailleux, "De la construction de I'organisation et de la direction des asiles d'alienes," p. 272.
24. J. E. D. Esquirol, "Des maisons d'alienes" (1818) in Des maladies mentales, vol. II, pp. 227 528. This metaphor is promised a fine (uture. Thus, in 1846, Paul Balvet, old director ol the Saint Alban hospital and initiator of the movement ol institutional psychiatry, stated: "The asylum is homogeneous to the psychiatrist, who is its head. Being the head is not an administrative grade: it is an organic relationship with the body that one commands ( . . . ) . He commands in the way that we say the brain commands the nerves. The asylum must therefore be conceived as the psychiatrist's body. " P. Balvet, "De l'autonomie de la profession psychiatrique" in Documents de PInformation psychiatrique, vol. I: Au-dela de I'asile d'alienes et de I'hopital psychiatrique (Paris: Desclee de Brouwer, 1946) pp. 14 15.
25. Born 28 September 1745 at Lons le Saulner, Jean Baptiste Pussin, after having been the head of the division of "confined boys" at Bicetre in 1780, was promoted to governor ol the seventh emploi, or the Saint-Prix emploi, corresponding to the "quarters lor the agitated insane. " Pinel met him there when taking up his post as hospital doctor at Bicetre on 11 September 1793 following his appointment on 6 August 1793- Appointed head doctor at the hospital of Salpetnere on 13 May 1795, Pinel obtained Pussin's transfer there on 19 May 1802, and worked with him in the section lor the mad until his death on 7 April 1811. In his "Recherches et observations sur le traitement moral des alienes" p. 220, Pinel praises Pussin and acknowledges his role in the "first developments of moral treatment. " In the 1809 edition of his Traite medico-philosophique, he declares that "fully confident of the rectitude and skill of the head ol internal police, I allowed him free exercise of the power at his command" p. 226. On Pussin, see, R. Semelaigne, "Pussin," in Alenistes et philanthropes: les Pinel et les Tuke, Appendice, pp. 501 504; E. Bixler, "A forerunner of pyschiatric nursing: Jean Baptiste Pussin" Annals of Medical History, 1936, no. 8, pp. 518 519- See also, M. Caire, "Pussin avant Pinel" Information psychiatrique, 1993, no. 6, pp. 529 538;J. Juchet, "Jean Baptiste Pussin et Philippe Pinel a Bicetre en 1793: une rencontre, une complicite, une dette" in J. Garrabe, ed. , Philippe Pinel (Paris: Les Empecheurs de penser en rond,
? 1994) pp- 55 70; and,J. Juchet and J. Postel, "Le surveillan Jean Baptiste Pussin" Histoire
des sciences medicates, vol. 30, no. 2, 1996, pp. 189-198.
26. On the basis of the law of 30 June 1838 a debate began on the nature ol the powers in
charge in the asylums. Thus, the Prefect of the Seine, the Baron Haussmann, on the
27 December i860, set up a commission for "the improvement and relorms to be carried
out in the services lor the insane" which, Irom February to June 1861, discussed whether
an administrative director should be appointed alongside the asylum doctor or whether medical and administrative powers should both be in the hands ol a doctor director, as loreseen in article 13 of the order of application of the law of 18 December 1839. On
25 November 1861, the report concluded that "a single authority would be desirable, that
every administrative or medical element work under a single impulse towards the good that
is oflered" Rapport cle la Commission institute pour la reforme el I'amenagement clu service d'alienes du departement de la Seine (Paris: 1861).
27. P. Pinel, La Medecine clinique rendue plus precise el plus exacte par ^application de I'analyse, ou Recueil el resultats d'observations sur les maladies aigues,faites a la Salpetriere (Pans: Brosson et Gabon, 1804, 2nd edition) pp. 5 6.
28. Falret, for example, puts questioning in the forefront of clinical examination by laying down as principle that "il you wish to know the tendencies, the direction ol the mind, and the dispositions of leelings which are the source of every symptom, do not reduce your duty
as observer to the passive role ol secretary to the patients, ol stenographer ol their words
or narrator ol their actions . . . The lust principle to be lollowed . . . is therelore to change one's passive role ol the observer of the patient's words and actions into an active role, and frequently seek to provoke and call forth symptoms which would never arise sponta neously" J. P. Falret, "Discours d'ouverture: De la direction a impnmer a l'observation des alienes," in Lecons cliniques de medecine menlale Jaites a I'liospice de la Salpetriere (Paris:
J. B. Bailliere, 1854) pp. 19 20.
29. Ibid. 8th Lesson, pp. 221-222: "Sometimes one must artfully lead the conversation to cer
tain subjects one supposes are related to unhealthy ideas or sentiments; these calculated interviews act as touchstones for bringing to light morbid preoccupations. Considerable experience and much art is often necessary to observe certain insane people appropriately" See also, J.
? psychlatrization of the abnormal, of the feeble minded, mentally defective, etcetera, that the system of dissemination took place that allowed psychol- ogy to become that kind of permanent doubling of the functioning of every institution. So, next week I would like to say something about this organization and establishment of the psychiatrization of idiots.
Then I would also like to pick out other phenomena based on this proto-psychiatry. The other series of phenomena is this: whereas in the psychiatrization of idiots the psychiatric power I have described contin- ues to advance within the asylum almost without change, on the other hand, a number of utterly fundamental and essential things take place, a double process in which (as in every battle) it is very difficult to know who started it, who takes the initiative and even who gams the upper hand in the end. What were these two twin processes?
First, the appearance of neurology, or more precisely, of neuropathol ogy, was a fundamental event in the history of medicine, that is to say, when certain disorders began to be dissociated from madness and it became possible to assign them a neurological seat and neuropathologi- cal etiology that made it possible to distinguish those who were really ill at the level of their body from those for whom one could assign no eti ology at the level of organic lesions. ,0 This raised the question of the seriousness, of the authenticity, of mental illness, which generated the suspicion that, after all, should a mental illness without any anatomical correlation really be taken seriously?
And, opposite this--correlative to this kind oi suspicion that neurol- ogy began to cast over the whole world of mental illness--there was the game of patients who never ceased to respond to psychiatric power in terms of truth and falsehood. To psychiatric power, which said "I am only a power, and you must accept my knowledge solely at the level of its tokens, without ever seeing the effects ol its content," patients responded with the game of simulation. When, with neuropathology, doctors finally introduced a new content of knowledge, patients responded with another type of simulation, which was, broadly speak ing, the hysterics' great simulation of nervous illnesses like epilepsy, paralysis, and so on. And the game, the kind of endless pursuit between patients, who constantly trapped medical knowledge in the name of a certain truth and in a game of lies, and doctors, who endlessly tried to
9 January 1974 191
? 192 PSYCHIATRIC POWER
recapture patients in the trap of a neurological knowledge of pathological signs, of a serious medical knowledge, finally permeated the whole history of nineteenth century psychiatry as a real struggle between doctors and patients.
Finally, the last point is how the principal elements we saw taking shape within psychiatric power, and which were its main supports, were taken up outside the asylum institution. That is to say, how were those elements of reality--the law of the power of the other, the prestige given to the doctor's words, the law of identity, the obligation of anamnesis, the attempt to drive out the mad desire that constitutes the reality of madness, and the problem of money, etcetera--brought into play within a practice like psychoanalysis that claims it is not psychiatric, and yet in which one sees how its different elements were inscribed within the game of psychiatric power that isolated them and brought them out? '1
So, if you like, psychiatric power will have a triple destiny. We will find it persisting for a long time in its archaic form, after the period 18/|0 to i 8 6 0 , in the pedagogy of mental deficiency. You will find it being re-elaborated and transformed in the asylum through the inter play of neurology and simulation. And then, a third destiny will be its take up within a practice that puts itself forward however as a practice that is not exactly psychiatric.
? I. Apart from the many occurrences of the term "direction" (diriger) in his Traile medico-philosophique (pp. xlv, 46, 50, 52, 194, 195, and 200), Pinel devotes two passages to the direction of the insane: section II, ? vi: "Advantages of the art of directing (diriger) the insane in order to promote the effect of medicines" pp. 57-58; and ? xxii: "Skill in direct mg (diriger) the insane by seeming to go along with their imaginary ideas" pp. 92-95;
A Treatise on Insanity, pp. 59 60 and pp. 95 98 (the English translation generally renders diriger as "management"; G. B. ). For his part, Esquirol defines moral treatment as "the art of directing (diriger) the intelligence and passions of the insane" Des maladies mentales, vol. I, p. 134; Mental Maladies, p. 79. Leuret states that "it is necessary to direct (diriger) the intel ligence of the insane and to excite passions in them which can divert their delirium" Du traitement moral de lajolie, p. 185-
2. The practice of "direction" or "conduct" was instituted on the basis of the pastoral ol Carlo Borromeo (1538 1584), Pastoruminstructions ad concionandum, conjessionisque el eucharistiae sacramenta ministrandum utilissimae (Antwerp: C. Plantini, 1586), and in connection with Catholic reform and the development ol "retreats. " Among those who laid down its rules,
we can reler to (a) Ignace de Loyola, Exercilia spirititalia (Rome: A. Bladum, 1548); English translation, Ignatius Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises of Si. Ignatius Loyola, trans. Elisabeth Meier Tetlow (Lanham and London: University Press of America, 1987). See, P. Dudon, Saint Ignace de Loyola(Paris: Beauchesne, 1934); P. Doncceur, "Saint Ignace et la direction des ames" in La Vie Spirituelle, vol. 48, Paris, 1936, pp. 48 54; M. Olphe Galliard, "Direction spirituelle," III: "Penode moderne" in Dictionnaire de spiritualite ascetique et mystique. Doctrine et histoirc, vol. Ill (Paris: Beauchesne, 1957) col. 1115-1117. ( b ) Francois de Sales (1567 1622) Introduction a la vie devote ( 1 6 0 8 ) , of which chapter 4 became the direc tors' bible: "De la necessile d'un directeur pour entrer et lair progres en la devotion" in (Euvres, vol. Ill (Annecy: Nierat, 1893) pp. 22 25; English translation, St. Francis de Sales, Introductionto the Devout Life, trans. Michael Day (Wheathampstead: Anthony Clarke, 1990), "The necessity ol a guide," pp. 12 15. See F. Vincent, Francois de Sales, directeur d'dmes. L'education de la volonte (Paris: Beauchesne, 1923). And (c) Jean Jacques Olier (1608 1657), founder ol the Saint-Sulpice seminary, "L'esprit d'un directeur des ames" in (Euvres completes (Paris: J. -P . Migne, 1856) col. 1183-1240.
On "direction" we can refer to the following works: E. M. Caro, "Les direction des ames
au XVIIC siecle" in Nouvelles Etudes morales sur le temps present (Paris: Hachette, 1869) pp. 145 203; H. Huvelin, Quelques directeurs d'dmes au XVII' siecle: saint Francois de Sales, M. Olier, saint Vincent de Paul, Vabbe de Ranee (Paris: Gabalda, 1911 )? Foucault returns to the notion o( "direction" in his lectures at the College de France o( 1974 1975, Les Anormaux, lectures of 19 February and 26 February 1975, pp. 170 171 and pp. 187 189; Abnormal, pp. 182-184 and pp. 201-204; of 1977-1978, Securite, Territoire, Population, ed. Michel Senellart (Paris: Gallimard/Seuil, 2 0 0 4 ) lecture of 28 February 1978; and 1981-1982, L'Hermeneutique du sujet, ed. F. Gros (Paris: Gallimard/Seuil, 2001) lectures ol
3 and 10 March, pp. 315-393; English translation, The Hermeneutics of the Subject. Lectures at the College de France 1981-82, ed. Frederic Gros, English series ed. Arnold I. Davidson, trans. Graham Burchell (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) pp. 331-412; and in his lecture at the University of Stanford, 10 October 1979, " 'Omnes et singulatim': Towards a Critique of Political Reason" in The Essential Works of Michel Foucault 195/\-198/\, vol. } : Power, ed. James D. Faubion, trans. Robert Hurley and others (New York: New Press,
2 0 0 0 ) pp. 310 311; French translation, "'Omnes et singulatim': vers une critique de la raison politique" trans. P. E. Dauzat, Dits et Ecrits, vol. 4, pp. 146 147.
3. H. Belloc, "De la responsabilite morale chez les alienes," Annales medico-psychologiques, 3rd series, vol. Ill, July 1861, p. 422.
4. F. Leuret, Du traitement moral de lafolie, pp. 444-446. 5. Ibid. p. 441, p. 443, and p. 445.
6. Ibid. p. 431: "I direct a jet of water on his face and body, and when he seems disposed to bear everything/or his treatment, I am very careful to tell him that it is not a question of treating him, but of offending and punishing him" (Leuret's emphasis).
7. Constructed in 1634 with the view to being an asylum for poor nobility and wounded soldiers, the Bicetre chateau was incorporated in the Hopital general created by the edict
9 January 1974 193
? 194
PSYCHIATRIC POWER
of 27 April 1656, ordering that "the able bodied and disabled mendicant poor, of both sexes, be confined in a hospital to be employed in works, manulacture, and other work according to their ability. " It was in the "Saint Prix employment" [special quarters for the ill;J. L. J, created in 1660 to take in the insane, that Pinel took up the post ol "infirmary doctor" on 11 September 1793; he occupied this post until 19 April 1795- See, P. Bru, Histoire de Bicetre (hospice, prison, asi/e), d'apres des documents historiques (Paris: Ed. du Progres medical, 1890); F. Funck-Brentano and G. Marindaz, L'Hopilaf generalde Bicetre (Lyon: Laboratoires Ciba, 1938); and J. M. Surzur, "L'Hopital hospice de Bicetre. Historique, fonclions sociales jusqu'a la Revolution Irancaise," Medical Thesis, Paris, 1969, no. 9/l3 (Paris: 1969).
8. La Salpetriere owed its name to the saltpeter factory erected on the spot under Louis XIII. The edict of 27 April 1656 incorporated it in the Hopilal generale for the "confinement of
the mendicant poor" ol the town and inner suburbs of Paris, lor "incorrigible women," and
for some "mad persons. " On the suppression ol its carceral lunction in 1793, the home became the "Maison nationale des femmes," until 1823. The General Council lor hospitals and homes of the Seine, founded in 1801 by Jean Antoine Chaptal (1756 1832) by a decree
of 27 March 1802, ordered the transler to Salpetriere ol mad women hospitalized at the Hotel Dieu. See, L. Boucher, La Salpetriere. Son hisloire de 1656 a 1790. Ses origines et son fonctionnement au XVIII' siecle (Pans, Ed. du Progres medical, 1883); G. Guillain and
P. Mathieu, La Salpetriere (Lyon: Laboratoires Ciba, 1939); J. Couteaux, "L'histoire de la Salpetriere" Revue hospitaliere de France, vol. 9, 1944, pp. 106 127 and 215 242. Since then a well-documented study has become available: N. Simon and J. Franchi, La Pitie-Salpetriere (Saint Bcnoit la Forel: Ed. de PArbre a images, 1986).
9. Saint Lazare, lounded in the ninth century by the hospitaller friars of Saint Lazare for the care of lepers, was transformed by Saint Vincent de Paul on 7 January 1632 to take in "persons detained by order ol His Majesty" and the "insane poor. " In 1794 it became a prison lor streetwalkers. See, E. Pottet, Hisloire de Saint-Lazare, 1122-1912 (Paris: Societe franchise d'lmpnmeric et de libraine, 1912);J. Vie, Les Alienes et les correctionnaires a Saint- Lazare au XVII et au XVIII siecle (Paris: F. Alcan, 1930). Foucault refers to it in Histoire de lajolie, p. 62 and p. 136; Madness and Civilisation, p. 42 (page 136 of the French edition
is omitted from the English translation).
10. The Charenton home was the result of a foundation ol the King's counsellor, Sebaslien
Leblanc, in September 1641. In February 1644 it was handed over to the St Jean-de Dieu order ol hospitallers, created in 1537 by the Portuguese Jean Cindad for the service of the poor and sick. See, J. Monval, Les Freres hospitaliers de Saint-Jean-de-Dieu en France (Paris: Bernard Grasset, 1936); A. Chagny, L'Ordre hospitaller de Saint-Jean-de-Dieu, two volumes (Lyon: Lescuyer el fils, 1953). See also, P. Sevestre, "La maison de Charenton, de la londa tion a la reconstruction: 1641 1838" Histoire des sciences medicales, vol. 25,1991, pp. 61 71.
Closed in July 1795, the home was reopened and nationalized under the Directory, on
15 June 1797, to replace the quarters lor the insane at the Hotel Dieu. Its direction was then entrusted to an old member ol the regular order ol Premonstralensians, Francois de Coulmiers, and Joseph Gastaldy was appointed head doctor. See, C. F. S. Giraudy, Memoire
sur la Maison nationale de Charenton, exclusivement detinee au traitement des alienes (Pans: Imprimene de la Societe de Medecine, 1804); J. E. D. Esquirol, "Memoire historique et statislique sur la Maison Royale de Charenton" (1835) in Des maladiesmentales considerees sous les rapports medical, hygicnique et medico-legale, vol. II, 1838, pp. 539 736; and, C. Strauss, La maison nationale de Charenton (Paris: Imprimene nationale, 1900).
11. F. Leuret, Du traitement moral de la Jolie, p. 185: "In an establishment lor the insane that I could name, the number ol patients is such that in the course of a whole year the head doctor can give only thirty seven minutes to each patient, and in another, where the n-um
ber ol patients is even greater ( . . . ) each patient has the right to see the head doctor for only eighteen minutes a year. "
12. Foucault refers here to the distinction established by Esquirol in the field of madness defined as a "usually chronic cerebral affection, without fever, characterized by disorders of sensibility, intelligence, and the will" J. E. D. Esquirol, "De la lolie" (1816) in Des maladies mentales, vol. I, p. 5; Mental Maladies, p. 21.
Within the field marked out by this tripartite division of psychological laculties will be inserted the clinical varieties differing
? Irom each other in terms ol ( a ) the nature ol the disorder allecling the laculties; ( b ) the extension ol the disorder; (c) the quality of the humor which allects it. Thus, whereas mania is characterized by "disturbance and over excitement ol the sensibility, intelligence, and will" ("De la manie" [1818J, ibid. vol. II, p. 132; English, ibid. p. 378), in lypemania - a neologism created by Leuret in 1815 on the basis ol Greek root, XVTTTJ, sadness, affliction--"sensibility is painfully excited or injured; the sad, oppressive passions modily the intelligence and will" ("De la lypemanie ou melancoli" |1820|, ibid. pp. 398 481; English, ibid. pp. 199 233).
13. The criterion for the distinction between mania and monomania was the extension ol the disorder, general or partial, that is to say, localized in a facility (intellectual or instinctive monomania, etcetera), an object (erotomania), or a theme (religious or homicidal mono mania). Thus mania is characterized by the fact that "the delirium is general, all the lacul ties of the understanding are over excited and disrupted," whereas in monomania "the sad or gay, concentrated or expansive delirium is partial and circumscribed to a small number of ideas and affections" ibid. vol. II, "De la manie" p. 133; English, ibid. "Mania" p. 378.
V\. In contrast with mania characterized by "over excitement ol the laculties," the group ol dementias--with "acute," "chronic" and "senile" varieties--are distinguished by their negative aspects: "Dementia is a usually chronic cerebral allection without lever, charac tenzed by deterioration ol the sensibility, intelligence and will" ibid. "De la demence" (1814); p. 219; English, ibid. "Dementia" p. 417.
15. Cauterization or "actual cautery" consisted in the application ol an iron heated 111 the lire or in boiling water to the top of the head or the nape ol the neck. See, L. Valentin, "Memoire el observations concernant les bons ellets du cautere actuel, applique sur la tele dans plusieurs maladies," Nancy, 1815. Esquirol recommended the use ol the moxa and "red hot iron applied to the nape ol the neck in mania complicated by lury" D o maladies mentales, vol. I, "De la folie" (1816) p. 154; Mental Maladies, p. 87: "I have many limes applied the iron at a red heat to the neck, in mania complicated with lury," and ibid. , vol. II, "De la manie" p. 191 and 217; English, ibid. "Mania" pp. 400 401 and p. 411. See,
J. Guislain, Trade sur lfalienation menlale et sur les hospices des alienes, vol. II, ch. vi, "Moxa et cautere actuel" pp. 52-55.
16. "Moxas" are cylinders made Irom a material the progressive combustion ol which was supposed to excite the nervous system and have a Junction ol sensory arousal through the pain it caused. See, A. E. M. Bernardin, Dissertation sur les avantages (/u'on pent retenir de rap- plication du moxa (Paris: Lefebvre, 1803); EJ. Georget, De lafolie, p. 247: Georget recom mended its use in lorms ol insanity involving stupor and insensibility;J. Guislain, Traile sur les phrenopalhies, section IV, p. 458: "This powerful irritant acts on the physical sensibility through pain and the destruction ol living parts, but it also has a moral action through the fear it inspires. "
17.
18.
Ugo Cerletti (1877 1963), dissatisfied with the cardiazol shock used by the Milanese psychiatrist Laszlo von Meduna since 1935, perlected electroshock therapy with Lucio Bmi. On 15 April 1938, a schizophrenic was subjected to this therapy for the first time. See, U. Cerletti, "L'elettroshock" Rivista sperimentale difrenialria, Reggio Emilia, vol. XVIII, 1940, pp. 2 0 9 310; "Electroshock therapy," in A. M. Sackler and others, The Great Physiodynamic Therapies in Psychiatry: An Historical Appraisal (New York: Harper, 1956) pp. 92 94.
From the second hall ol the nineteenth century, the use of ether developed in psychiatry for both therapeutic purposes--notably for calming "states ol nervous excitement" (see, W. Griesinger, Die Pathologie und Therapie derpsychischen Krankheiten [Stuttgart: A. Krabbe, 18451 p. 544; English translation, Mental Pathology and Therapeutics, trans. C. Lockhart Robertson and James Rutherford |New York and London: Halner, 1965] p. 478)--and lor diagnosis. See, H. Bayard, "L'utilisation de Tether et le diagnostic des maladies mentales" Annales d'hygiene publique et medicate, vol. 42, no. 83,July 1849, pp. 201-214; B. A. Morel, "De l'elhcnsation dans la lolie du point de vue du diagnostic et de la medecine legale" Archives
generates de medecine, 51'1 series, vol. 3, 1, February 1854, p. 135: "In certain definite circum stances, etherisation is a precious means for modifying the unhealthy condition and for enlightening the doctor as to the real neuropathic character ol the affection"; and, H. Brochim, "Maladies nerveuses," ? "Anesthesiques: ether et chlorolorme" in Dictionnaire encyclopedujue des sciences medicates, 2mi series, vol. XII, 1877, pp. 376 377.
9 January 197yi 195
? 196
PSYCHIATRIC POWER
19-
On his return trom his travels in France, Italy, and Belgium, Esquirol opened up the dis cussion ol the construction of asylums for the insane, first in his report, Des etahlissements com acre* aux alienes en France, republished in Des maladies mentales, vol. II, pp. 339 /l31, and then 111 his article "Maisons d'alienes" in Dktionnaire des sciences medicates, vol. XXX (Paris: C. L. F. Panckoucke, 1818) pp. 47-95, republished in Des maladies mentales, vol. II, pp. 432 538.
20. Jean Baptiste Parchappe de Vinay (18OO 1866), appointed General Inspector ol the Service lor the insane in 1848, drew up plans for an asylum that would be able to separate categories ol patients and put to work a therapeutic project: Des principes a suivre dans la fon- dation ct la construction des asiles d'alienes (Paris: Masson, 1853). See J. G. H. Martel, Parchappe. Signification de son oeuvre, sa place dans devolution de Vassistance psychiatrique, Medical Thesis, Paris, 1965, no. 108 (Paris: R. Foulon and Co. , 1965).
21.
22.
23.
Henri Girard de Cailleux (1813 188-1), appointed head doctor and director of the Auxerre insane asylum on 20 June 18-10, proposed the construction of asylums in which, 111 line with the principles ol moral treatment, the insane would be isolated, classilied, and put to work. His ideas are developed in, "De I'organisation et de Padministralion des etablisse ments d'alienes" Annales medico-psychologiques, vol. II, September 1843, pp. 230 260; "De la construction, de I'organisation, et de la direction des asiles d'alienes," Annales d'hygienc
publique et de medecine legale, vol. 40, Part 2, July 1848, p. 5 and p. 241.
Appointed by Haussman in i 8 6 0 to the post ol Inspecteur general of the Service for insane for the Seine, Girard de Cailleux, within the lramework of the reorganization ol the Service ol assistance to the insane, in 1861 proposed a program for the construction ol a dozen asy lums in the Paris suburbs, modeled on the Auxerre asylum which he had transformed alter his appointment as director (see the previous note). In May 1867, Saint Anne opened, lollowed in 1868 by Ville Evrard, then Perray Vaucluse in 1869, and later by Villejuil in 1884. See, G. Daumezon, "Essai d'histonque critique de l'appareil d'assistance aux malades mentaux dans le departemenl de la Seine depuis le debut du xixc siecle" Information psychiatrique, vol. I, 1960, no. 5, pp. 6 9; and, G. Bleandonu and G. Le Gaufey, "Naissance des asiles d'alienes (Auxerre-Paris)" Annales ESC, I975, no. I, pp. 93 126.
H. Girard de Cailleux, "De la construction de I'organisation et de la direction des asiles d'alienes," p. 272.
24. J. E. D. Esquirol, "Des maisons d'alienes" (1818) in Des maladies mentales, vol. II, pp. 227 528. This metaphor is promised a fine (uture. Thus, in 1846, Paul Balvet, old director ol the Saint Alban hospital and initiator of the movement ol institutional psychiatry, stated: "The asylum is homogeneous to the psychiatrist, who is its head. Being the head is not an administrative grade: it is an organic relationship with the body that one commands ( . . . ) . He commands in the way that we say the brain commands the nerves. The asylum must therefore be conceived as the psychiatrist's body. " P. Balvet, "De l'autonomie de la profession psychiatrique" in Documents de PInformation psychiatrique, vol. I: Au-dela de I'asile d'alienes et de I'hopital psychiatrique (Paris: Desclee de Brouwer, 1946) pp. 14 15.
25. Born 28 September 1745 at Lons le Saulner, Jean Baptiste Pussin, after having been the head of the division of "confined boys" at Bicetre in 1780, was promoted to governor ol the seventh emploi, or the Saint-Prix emploi, corresponding to the "quarters lor the agitated insane. " Pinel met him there when taking up his post as hospital doctor at Bicetre on 11 September 1793 following his appointment on 6 August 1793- Appointed head doctor at the hospital of Salpetnere on 13 May 1795, Pinel obtained Pussin's transfer there on 19 May 1802, and worked with him in the section lor the mad until his death on 7 April 1811. In his "Recherches et observations sur le traitement moral des alienes" p. 220, Pinel praises Pussin and acknowledges his role in the "first developments of moral treatment. " In the 1809 edition of his Traite medico-philosophique, he declares that "fully confident of the rectitude and skill of the head ol internal police, I allowed him free exercise of the power at his command" p. 226. On Pussin, see, R. Semelaigne, "Pussin," in Alenistes et philanthropes: les Pinel et les Tuke, Appendice, pp. 501 504; E. Bixler, "A forerunner of pyschiatric nursing: Jean Baptiste Pussin" Annals of Medical History, 1936, no. 8, pp. 518 519- See also, M. Caire, "Pussin avant Pinel" Information psychiatrique, 1993, no. 6, pp. 529 538;J. Juchet, "Jean Baptiste Pussin et Philippe Pinel a Bicetre en 1793: une rencontre, une complicite, une dette" in J. Garrabe, ed. , Philippe Pinel (Paris: Les Empecheurs de penser en rond,
? 1994) pp- 55 70; and,J. Juchet and J. Postel, "Le surveillan Jean Baptiste Pussin" Histoire
des sciences medicates, vol. 30, no. 2, 1996, pp. 189-198.
26. On the basis of the law of 30 June 1838 a debate began on the nature ol the powers in
charge in the asylums. Thus, the Prefect of the Seine, the Baron Haussmann, on the
27 December i860, set up a commission for "the improvement and relorms to be carried
out in the services lor the insane" which, Irom February to June 1861, discussed whether
an administrative director should be appointed alongside the asylum doctor or whether medical and administrative powers should both be in the hands ol a doctor director, as loreseen in article 13 of the order of application of the law of 18 December 1839. On
25 November 1861, the report concluded that "a single authority would be desirable, that
every administrative or medical element work under a single impulse towards the good that
is oflered" Rapport cle la Commission institute pour la reforme el I'amenagement clu service d'alienes du departement de la Seine (Paris: 1861).
27. P. Pinel, La Medecine clinique rendue plus precise el plus exacte par ^application de I'analyse, ou Recueil el resultats d'observations sur les maladies aigues,faites a la Salpetriere (Pans: Brosson et Gabon, 1804, 2nd edition) pp. 5 6.
28. Falret, for example, puts questioning in the forefront of clinical examination by laying down as principle that "il you wish to know the tendencies, the direction ol the mind, and the dispositions of leelings which are the source of every symptom, do not reduce your duty
as observer to the passive role ol secretary to the patients, ol stenographer ol their words
or narrator ol their actions . . . The lust principle to be lollowed . . . is therelore to change one's passive role ol the observer of the patient's words and actions into an active role, and frequently seek to provoke and call forth symptoms which would never arise sponta neously" J. P. Falret, "Discours d'ouverture: De la direction a impnmer a l'observation des alienes," in Lecons cliniques de medecine menlale Jaites a I'liospice de la Salpetriere (Paris:
J. B. Bailliere, 1854) pp. 19 20.
29. Ibid. 8th Lesson, pp. 221-222: "Sometimes one must artfully lead the conversation to cer
tain subjects one supposes are related to unhealthy ideas or sentiments; these calculated interviews act as touchstones for bringing to light morbid preoccupations. Considerable experience and much art is often necessary to observe certain insane people appropriately" See also, J.
