Genetics in the madhouse: the unknown history of human heredity

Long before Gregore Mendel first scientifically considered the trait inheritance of the humble pea plant, physicians within insane asylums were utilising the concept of human heredity and deficit to report reasons for madness in their diagnostic records. In Genetics in the Madhouse, Theodore M. Porter explores the handwritten narratives of patient accounts of madness, as well as international manuscripts, graphs and charts, to explore the development of human heredity science from nineteenth-century asylums, prisons and special schools through to more contemporary modes of genetic enquiry. In addition, the book delivers a detailed investigation of records translated primarily from France, Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States, to convey how notable ‘men of science’ became obsessed with the identification of ‘weak or tainted’ families and grossly exploited humans with mental and/or physical impairments in their quest for statistical reasoning.

The main body of text, which is laid out in 14 chapters, engages its audience in a journey through the annals of biostatistics, its predictions and the underlying values which have provided the prologue to the global advancement of genetic studies. As Professor Porter recognises in his text, in the nineteenth century the data collected regarding human heredity largely came from two sources, insane asylums and special schools where the children were referred to as ‘feebleminded’. Therefore, the science behind human heredity arose from hidden institutions, where, amongst the filth and despair, human biological inheritance was being recorded, combined and systematically studied as probabilities and markers in correlation matrices. Hence, Porter’s analytical examination of statistical inference across heredity science has been thoughtfully discussed and presented chronologically across each of the chapters.

As Porter argues throughout the early part of his analysis, the growth of mental hospitals and institutions across Europe and the United States was regularly capitalised on by statisticians to prepare a super-abundance of information regarding the high percentage of ‘insanity’ causation and its proposed link to biological inheritance. Therefore, the isolated communities of asylum physicians amassed an enormous body of ‘madness data’ on heredity traits to compare the heavily theorised biological influences of maternal and paternal bloodlines, and to assume the patterns of mental impairment in their descendants. Hence, this growth in and reliance on biostatistical data was not only an attempt to position critical scientific questions and seek distinct variables to determine the probability of ‘heredity transmissions’ but, crucially, a determining factor to accentuate a ‘need’ to restrict the reproductive and marital rights of those deemed ‘insane’.

I believe Porter has adequately navigated his way through the illustrative and presenting data to examine the role of human heredity within the study of psychiatry. Moreover, by providing astute awareness of notable biostatisticians and their methods in the development of genetics, he effectively sets the backdrop for the expansion of dangerous relations between human heredity and its resulting social and medical interventions. These are recognised later in the text alongside the wartime effects for institutionalised mentally and physically impaired populations. Adding that, the early twentieth century uncovered a wealth of poor analysis of the previously collated data, and an overreliance on family histories had already invigorated progression in the eugenic movement, whereby politicians and eminent theorists used the data to their advantage to proliferate and justify their extreme viewpoints. Critically, this engages the audience to the fact that these empirical confirmations of probable relations became practical in eugenic purposes and steered the ‘effectiveness’ of eugenic aspiration, which had then become less scientific and more political.

In his concluding chapter, entitled ‘Aftermath’, Porter’s analysis ends with the exposure of the eugenic imperatives of Nazi regimes; however, as Porter advises, the scientific rigour behind discovering a genetic solution for physical and psychiatric impairments has not faded. Furthermore, the methods and ideologies of the nineteenth-century asylum doctors have long proceeded any academic exploration of genetics by approximately a century, and thereafter have been utilised as a skill-set of methods entwined with a modern synthesis of genetic understandings. Ultimately, this shaped and aided the advancement of the principles behind eugenics and modern genetic science, placing people with impairments as subjects of constant scientific study.

Genetics in the Madhouse is the fruition of a lengthy and dedicated examination of decades of data which were generated to make sense of the intricate ancestral predictions of mental distress and ‘feeblemindedness’. However, at times, the complexities of understanding the nineteenth-century origins or even the modern manifestations of genetic science can leave the reader feeling like they are being swamped by the academic and often formal tone of the book. Nonetheless, I felt the work does encompass what it set out to do, and that is to convey the origins of human genetic research and its sinister evolution across history, whilst deepening the reader’s understanding of how modern-day genetic principles came to be. Deservingly, admiration is given to Porter’s devout navigation through genetic histories and his dedication to uncover a wealth of international swarms of uncharted data. Furthermore, an encompassing strength lies in Porter’s ability to analytically order and transcribe data from motivating and often exaggerated sources of information.

To conclude, I feel that Genetics in the Madhouse is a compelling, yet meticulous read and is well placed in historical considerations of psychiatry and the previously undiscovered theories behind impairments of the mind. As a recommendation, I would advise any reader to spend time exploring the corresponding notes and bibliography section as, in my opinion, this includes vital reference points for any keen genetic researcher.

Nicola Carter
Independent scholar, Manchester, UK
[email protected]