The Art of Medicine: Clinic and Compassion in Nineteenth-Century Psychiatry

The article discusses the work of 19th century psychiatrist and public health researcher Bénédict-Augustin Morel. Topics include Morel's beliefs about the heritability of health problems, the professionalization of psychiatry, and the emergence of Christian socialism in France. Also addressed are Morel's relation to the history of eugenics, his clinical research regarding dementia among asylum patients, and his compassion toward the poor masses of European cities. It is said that Morel's views on health were influenced by positivism