Sandret, J. (1900) Construction des asiles d’aliénés : programme – emplacement dimensions des pavillons et des sallesde malades description des divers quartiers services généraux description des principaux asiles… pp 160
Rating: ♥♥♥♥ (Fine)
Shelfworn book that has all pages and leaves present, no tears on either binding or paper. Ex-library.
J .Sandret’s Précis de Psychiatrie (1900) is a concise yet authoritative overview of psychiatric knowledge at the turn of the 20th century. Published during a period of major transformation in French psychiatry, the book reflects the intellectual legacy of the Salpêtrière school while also incorporating newer clinical and theoretical developments emerging around 1900.
Sandret’s work provides a structured summary of mental disorders as they were classified and understood at the time. The text covers major diagnostic categories including melancholia, mania, paranoia, hysteria, neurasthenia, degenerative psychoses, and various forms of intellectual disability. His descriptions emphasize careful clinical observation, symptom patterns, and differential diagnosis — core elements of classical French descriptive psychiatry.
The book also discusses:
- early theories of heredity and degeneration
- the influence of trauma, intoxication, and neurological disease
- the role of asylums and institutional care
- therapeutic approaches available in 1900, including rest cures, hydrotherapy, moral treatment, and early somatic interventions
- medico‑legal considerations and forensic psychiatry
Précis de Psychiatrie captures a pivotal moment in psychiatric history, just before the rise of psychoanalysis and long before the biological revolution of the mid‑20th century. It offers a clear window into how clinicians conceptualized mental illness at the dawn of the modern era, combining traditional nosology with emerging scientific perspectives.
For historians, researchers, and collectors, Sandret’s 1900 treatise is a valuable primary source documenting the state of psychiatric knowledge at the fin‑de‑siècle — a time when neurology, psychology, and psychiatry were beginning to diverge into distinct disciplines.
Collector’s Note
Turn‑of‑the‑century psychiatric manuals are increasingly scarce, and Sandret’s Précis de Psychiatrie is a representative example of French clinical psychiatry at a formative moment. This 1900 edition is a desirable addition to collections focused on 19th‑ and early 20th‑century mental health, classical diagnostic systems, or the history of psychiatric institutions.
Keywords
- Sandret psychiatry
- French psychiatry 1900
- history of psychiatric diagnosis
- fin‑de‑siècle mental health
- classical descriptive psychiatry
- degeneration theory
- early psychiatric textbooks
