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GABRIEL MOYAL–SCIENTIFIC TRANSLATION IN THE 19 TH CENTURY: P. PINEL
II. INTERPRETATION
Finding meaning in phenomena as extreme as ravings and delirium implies
recognizing these as inherent to human experience –rather than as instances of possession
and other forms of supernatural events. Seen in this light, Pinel’s endeavour bears clearer
analogy to Freud’s, to the latter’s attempts to make systematic sense out of events as
common as dreams. In both cases the process begins with translation, with the faith that
equivalent meaning is to be found. Such faith is evident in innumerable passages of
Freud’s Interpretation of dreams, such as this one:
The dream-thoughts and the dream-content lie before us like two versions of the
same content in two different languages, or rather, the dream-content looks to us like a
translation of the dream-thoughts into another form of expression, and we are supposed to
get to know its signs and laws of grammatical construction by comparing the original and the
translation (Freud 1999).
Michel Foucault’s critique of Pinel focuses on Pinel’s attempts to “normalize”
insanity, to turn the maniacs in his care into productive citizens by, for example, the
integration of a work ethic into his moral treatment, by the incorporation of small profitmaking
industries into the asylums, etc. Such criticism is valid enough so long as it is
situated in relation to Foucault’s ideology, that is to say, insofar as Pinel can be seen to
endorse the confinement of the insane and to determine their recovery by the degree to
which they end up aping the workaday routines of the general population (Foucault 1972:
483-530). It loses some of its edge however when one considers the alternatives to the
“moral treatment” that were prevalent at the time. at the turn of the nineteenth century
was, for all intents and purposes, identical to the treatment obtained if one were to be
incarcerated for a criminal offense. It generally meant and other forms of maltreatment
were common. The chances of surviving in a state institution in France more than five
years in such institutions were very small.
To be interned as insane For indefinite confinement, being chained as well in
extremely poor, insalubrious conditions, getting little if any medical attention, and sparse
nourishment. Beatings, abuse the wealthy, a few private institutions provided somewhat
more attentive care 2 . On the whole, no serious attempts were made to cure or attenuate
the patients’ symptoms.
Pinel’s theory and practice were a radical departure from this dominant discourse
on madness which resolved itself in confinement and abandonment. If today the measure
of the actual therapeutic success his methods obtained is uncertain and open to
controversy, there is no question as to the innovative nature of his ideas. How much
Pinel’s treatment differed from the conditions of treatment of the insane is consecrated in
the statues, engravings and paintings to be found in various medical institutions in France
to this day. In them Pinel is always shown as ordering the liberation of the insane from
their chains. This element of iconography has become cliché in the representations of
Pinel and in France’s claim to being the site of the founding of modern psychiatry. In fact,
as some recent studies have shown –aided by Pinel’s own accounts– the actual origin of
the idea of unchaining the mad was very likely that of Pinel’s assistant, Pussin 3 .
Pinel, as well as studying the Classical languages –requisites for all medical
students at the time– had also acquired a working knowledge of English from one of his
2
Pinel himself worked at one such private institution in Paris, the Maison Belhomme, before his being assigned his
first directorship of a state institution at Bicêtre.
3
For a discussion of this question, see Weiner (1994: 95-116), as well as other articles in that collection.
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