Abstract
While considerable scholarly attention has been devoted to the Treatise on Insanity (1835) by James Cowles Prichard (1786–1848) and his theory of ‘moral insanity’, Prichard’s assessment of mortality among the insane which formed one succinct section of his Treatise – and comprises this Classic Text – has been largely ignored. It is significant for its generally upbeat prognostics, for its significant challenge to competing professional ascription of deaths associated with insanity to brain disease, and for its espousal of an aetiological model foregrounding non-cerebral, especially visceral, somatic morbidity.
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