Madmen and Poor Wretches: Changing Perceptions of Madness in Early Nineteenth-Century London

Women, Economic Instability, and Poverty in London During the Nineteenth Century

During the nineteenth century in London, the focus of attention came to be on the “existence of great poverty in the midst of plenty.” 1 Opinions of the origin of this poverty varied. A popular opinion among the upper classes of society was that a lack of morality among the poor had bred a culture of poverty, and that poor relief promoted this pauperism. 2 However, a culture of poverty was not ...

Madness and morals. Ideas on insanity in the nineteenth century

The Role of the German Researchers in the Formation of Islamic Art Studies

In the beginning of the nineteenth century, with the increasing interest of the Europeans in the culture of the East, the first articles on the Islamic art and culture were appeared in German-speaking countries. In the mid nineteenth century, some entries in German encyclopedias were devoted to Islamic art, and from the end of the century, the first monographs on Islamic architecture and orname...

‘No “Sane” Person Would Have Any Idea’: Patients’ Involvement in Late Nineteenth-century British Asylum Psychiatry

In his 1895 textbook, Mental Physiology, Bethlem Royal Hospital physician Theo Hyslop acknowledged the assistance of three fellow hospital residents. One was a junior colleague. The other two were both patients: Walter Abraham Haigh and Henry Francis Harding. Haigh was also thanked in former superintendent George Savage's book Insanity and Allied Neuroses (1884). In neither instance were the pa...

Thomas Beddoes and the German psychological tradition.

This paper considers Thomas Beddoes's role in disseminating German psychological ideas in Britain. It describes the German tradition as inaugurated by Karl Philipp Moritz (1756-93) and considers the chief differences between this tradition and the English one stemming from David Hartley. It is suggested that Beddoes found strong support for his convictions about human interiority in writings by...