• West Riding Lunatic Asylum

“Few subjects in medicine are so intimately connected with the history and philosophy of the human mind as insanity. There are still fewer, where there are so many errors to rectify, and so many prejudices to remove. Derangement of the understanding is generally considered as an effect of an organic lesion of the brain, consequently as incurable; a supposition that is, in a great number of instances, contrary to anatomical fact.” Philippe Pinel, Treatise on Insanity, 1801

Until the second half of the 19th century, the study of the brain and its interplay with the mind was beset by mysticism and confusion. Speculation was rife and constituted little better than a repository for the guesswork of ignorance. In varying degree, both neurology and psychology were culpable. In his book, The metaphysical foundations of modern physical science, EA Burtt described the concept of mind as “a convenient receptacle for the refuse, the chips and whittlings of science, rather than a possible object …