Dickens and medicine : an exhibition of books, manuscripts and prints to mark the centenary of his death; with an introduction and bibliography.

  • Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine
Date:
1970
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Dickens and medicine : an exhibition of books, manuscripts and prints to mark the centenary of his death; with an introduction and bibliography. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    regime of 'non restraint' in vogue there and so favourably inclined to the hospital management that he willingly gave his permission for the article to be reprinted as a promotional pamphlet. Its effect on the public was no doubt enhanced by the contrast which it drew between the new regime and the old (see Dickens's almost verbatim quotation from a textbook of the bad old days, John Haslam's Observations on Madness and Melancholia, 2nd ed., 1809). This visit, incidentally, was only one of many paid to St Luke's where Dickens hoped to find (and probably did find) material for his books. Nor, in this same connection, should we fail to mention his trip to a similar institution (Park House Asy- lum, Highgate), described in an article entitled 'Idiots' Household Words, 4th June, 1853) written in collaboration with W. D. Wills. It is here that Dickens reveals his knowledge of progressive institu- tions in foreign countries, notably the Bicetre Hospital in Paris and Dr Guggenbuhl's pioneer establishment for cretins in Switzerland. 'Non-restraint' was a convenient term coined in the early 19th century for a more free and easy regime in asylums. It implies the freedom for patients (who had been previously shackled and chained) to move around their hospital quarters in an atmosphere of relaxed discipline. One of the foremost supporters of this re- volutionary development in psychiatric practice was Dr John Conolly, a friend of Dickens and a great humanitarian doctor who had been responsible for introducing important reforms into Hanwell Asylum during the 1830's. Inexplicably this most kindly of men was pilloried (under the name Dr Wycherley), as were the Lunacy Commissioners of the mid-1860's, in Charles Reade's novel Hard Cash, 1863, which Dickens had first serialized in his periodical All the Year Round under the title Very Hard Cash. Not surprisingly both Dickens and Reade were attacked most venomously in the columns of the leading medical journals for their alleged irresponsibility. They had, said th3 British Medical Journal, 'cast diabolical charges upon the character of all medical men connected with the management of lunatics and . . . insulted the whole profession'. A retraction from Dickens was called for and duly appeared in the form of a notice disclaiming respons- ibility for the views of his contributor. He nevertheless continued to publish Reade's novel week by week until completion. This unfortunate episode in the relations of Dickens with the medical profession is completely out of character and rather hard to explain. Normally speaking the medical journals had the great- est admiration for him, in particular for his knack of being able to write about disease with accuracy and perception. On this occa- sion, however, the British Medical Journal was less kind, indeed downright cruel, protesting that the 'medical profession [had] long looked with an evil eye on a good deal of his instruction'— notably on the 'mesmeric novels' (see Bulwer Lytton's 'A strange story' published in Household Words); on his ghost stories (Christmas Carol)', and on his account of spontaneous combus- tion (Bleak House).