Abstract
The revolutions in France, so disturbing to mental balance, were to have a long career as imputed etiological factors for insanity. For the statistics of lunacy, however, the more fateful date in the year of revolution was not July 14 but January 7, 1789, when a Committee of the House of Commons assembled to inquire into George III’ mental state. Disagreement about the king’s condition and the proper treatment had caused a furor among his physicians, spreading to the Parliament and the nation. Who, if anyone, was qualified to treat the royal patient, and who could say whether he would recover in time to forestall the need to appoint a regent? What confidence could be placed in the irregular regime of Reverend Dr. Francis Willis? The committee interrogated its experts:
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Porter, T.M. (2011). Quantity and Polity: Asylum Statistics and the Drive for Medical Evidence. In: Buchwald, J. (eds) A Master of Science History. Archimedes, vol 30. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2627-7_18
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