Georges iii

1788 · 38765 — London: Stockdale 1788. <p>George III 1738-1820. Report from the committee appointed to examine the physicians who have attended his Majesty. . . . 8vo. 16pp. London: J. Stockdale 1778 i.e. 1788. 210 x210 x 133 mm. Modern boards. Fine apart from a little spotting.</p> <p> Reprint of a parliamentary report. Few illnesses of historic personages have been followed so closely and documented so well as the insanity of George iii king of Great Britain from 1760-1820. The king suffered five separate attacks of mental illness during his long reign the first in 1765 and the last in 1810; this final breakdown which ended only with the king's death resulted in the establishment of the Regency. Of the remaining four attacks the one that incapacitated the king between October 1788-March 1789 is the most interesting not only because of the political turmoil it generated over the regency question but also because of the stimulus it gave to the study of psychiatry. The question of the king's recovery was of such political importance that special committees from each house of Parliament were set up to interrogate the king's doctors about the progress and probable outcome of his illness. These examinations printed in the Parliamentary proceedings and republished in numerous cheap popular editions advanced the cause of psychiatry by educating the public about mental illness and by giving an aura of respectability to the study of insanity. Guttmacher pp. 1-15. Hunter & Macalpine pp. 509-514. See Norman 889. </p> . Stockdale unknown books