Presumed Curable: An Illustrated Casebook of Victorian Psychiatric Patients in Bethlem Hospital

doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7399.1150

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Sean A Spence, reader in general adult psychiatry (S.A.Spence@Sheffield.ac.uk)

University of Sheffield

Bethlem is one of the most prestigious institutions in the history of psychiatry, its antecedents dating from the 13th century. Between 1886 and 1895 some 300 photographs were taken of its inpatients. At that time, evolution and its ugly sister, eugenics, were on the rise, and one can only speculate on the purpose of these images (though they were probably used for teaching).