c 1800 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
is probably the first "modern" thinker to develop a theory
of organic evolution.
1805 German mental hospital
system established.
1807 Frank Joseph Gall publishes
the first work on phrenology, espousing a theory of a connection
between personality and bodily characteristics (phrenology - shape of
the skull). He stresses measurement, pointing toward the location of
mental functions at certain areas in the head. The bulk of his life is
spent studying the brain in an attempt to locate the various cerebral
sites where character traits are located. His work advances ideas
that later become clinical psychology.
1828 Madhouse Act requires that
commitment of private patients must be accompanied by a certificate
signed by two medical men; commitment of "pauper patients"
required the signatures of two magistrates.
1839 Benedict Augustin Morel,
impressed with Darwin, formulates the theory of
"degeneration" of mental problems from early life to
adulthood. He calls this condition "demence precoce," giving
rise to the idea of adolescent "degenerates." He holds that
deviations from the human norm are transmitted genetically and tend
toward extinction of the organism possessing these traits. This
contributes to the genetic belief of hereditary insanity. This theory
appears at roughly the same time as that of Darwinism and fits in well
with the concept of survival of the fittest.
1840 Charles Darwin solidifies
the theory of evolution, pointing to "natural selection" as
the primary factor. Keeps a diary of his infant son (published in
1877), spurring the development of child psychology in the 1890s. He
believes thought is a secretion of the brain. (First proposed in 500
BC.) He attempts to offer solutions to problems of society from a
biological premise that man is structurally no different than other
mammals, including the mental and moral arena as well as physiological
factors.
1851 Dr. Samuel Cartwright
creates a mental illness peculiar to black people. Calling the effort
of slaves to escape "Drapetomania," he says the condition
can be cured by recapturing the patient, rubbing him down with oil and
beating him. He feels that blacks can only achieve proper
"vitalization" of the blood through manual labor: "It
is the red, vital blood, sent to the brain that liberates their mind
when under the white man's control; and it is the want of...red, vital
blood, that chains their mind to ignorance and barbarism, when in
freedom."
1852 Philosopher Herbert Spencer
coins the word "evolution." He introduces the evolutionary
theory of the brain to psychology and defines intelligence as
determined by environmental influences, spurring the development of
genetic psychology. He originates the phrase "survival of the
fittest." He states that because women use most of their energy
in the reproductive process, they have little left over and are thus
naturally inferior intellectually to men.
c 1853 Arthur Count de Gobineau
publishes Essay on the Inequality of Human Races. He describes
a race of Aryans superior to all other races.
1859 Charles Darwin publishes The
Origin of Species by Natural Selection. This entrenches the study of
man into the arena of the natural sciences and dissuades thinking of
any inherent spiritual force in organisms. This theory supports the
view of superiority of some people over others due to inherited
factors and views these factors as psychological as well as
physiological, the groundwork having already been laid by earlier
writings that the body, mind and spirit were all different
manifestations of the same thing.
1866 Gregor Mendel publishes a
theory of how traits are transmitted genetically. This is ignored and
forgotten until picked up by De Vries in 1900. This supports the idea
of transmission of psychological traits in a similar fashion to
physical ones.
1867 Wilhelm Wundt writes
Principals of Physiological Psychology in 1873, writing about the
"structure of consciousness" and defining psychology as the
"science of immediate experience." He teaches the first
course in experimental psychology at Heidelberg and opens the first
psychological laboratory at the University of Leipzig in 1879. He is
considered to be the founder of experimental psychology.
1869 English psychologist Francis
Galton, half-cousin of Charles Darwin, publishes Hereditary Genius.
Later acclaimed as being "...the first major document of the
modern eugenics movement," it stresses that the upper classes
should be encouraged to have children, whereas lower class people
should be induced, or compelled, to have fewer. He expands on
Darwin's theories in an attempt to prove that mental attributes are
hereditary and conducts the first word association test.
1873 Henry Maudsley recommends
that men utilize new breakthroughs in discovering mental degeneracy
as reflected in physical traits by looking for "physical signs
...which betray degeneracy of stock...any malformations of the head,
face, mouth, teeth and ears. Outward defects and deformities are the
visible signs of inward and invisible faults which will have their
influence in breeding." He states, about children, .".could
anything be more ridiculous than all this affectionate fuss about what
is essentially an excretory product and comes into the world by
excretory ways?"
1875 US immigration law decrees
exclusion of "coolies, convicts and prostitutes" as
undesirables.
1876 Emil Kraepelin studies under
Wilhelm Wundt in Leipzig. They conduct psychopharmacological and
psychophysiological research, stressing the actions of drugs on the
brain. He collects thousands of case histories, developing a method of
describing cases that is still used to classify mental illness.
Broadens the definition of dementia praecox. A patient so labeled is
seen to be fated for inevitable deterioration
("degeneration"). He considers the mentally ill "a
heavy burden on our nation. As a prelude to Hitler, he states,
"An unrestricted ruler with the power to intervene in our way of
life would bring about a reduction in insanity within a few
decades!"
1882 "Lunatics and
idiots" are added to those excluded under US immigration law.
1888 Madame Helena Petrova
Blavatsky publishes The Secret Doctrine, in which she says that
deep in an underground cave in Tibet, she saw an ancient text
describing the future of mankind. She addresses 7 stages of human
evolution, including the Lemurian race, Atlantean race and the Aryan
race. She says the Aryans founded Grecian culture and is the race
that is to lead mankind into the next phase of its evolution.
According to her, the sign of the Aryans is the swastika. Blavatsky
founds an American occult society that publishes the first document in
Germany to carry a swastika on its cover.
1894 Formation of the Immigration
Restriction League, which seeks to limit immigration along eugenic
lines.
1895 Dr. Alfred Ploetz publishes
The Excellence of Our Race and the Protection of the Weak.
1895 Adolf Jost publishes The
Right to Death wherein he states that the decision of life or
death of an individual must ultimately belong to the social organism -
the state.
1896 Connecticut becomes the
first state to adopt legislation regulating marriages on a eugenic
basis. Other states follow, some forbidding the marriage of insane
people.
1897 Houston Stewart Chamberlain
is summoned to the Kaiser's court in Germany. He urges the
elimination of Jews and other racial aliens from Germany and the
establishment of a teutonic religion founded on the sacred mystery of
Aryan blood. (Richard Wagner's daughter eventually marries
Chamberlain.)
1898 A eugenic sterilization bill
is introduced in the Michigan Legislature, allowing castration of all
inmates of the Michigan Home for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic and
people who have been convicted of a felony for the third time.
1898 Twenty-four male children in
Massachusetts are castrated for "persistent epilepsy and
masturbation" and "masturbation with weakness of mind"
among other forms of behavior.
1899 Houston Stewart Chamberlain,
student of Gobineau, publishes The Foundations of the 19th
Century, further describing Aryan superiority, holding the German
race to be a bastion of Aryan purity and condemning Jews and Negroes
as inferior.
