Maximien Parchappe (1800-1866), héros de l'anatomopathologie de la folie et bâtisseur d'asiles

A student of Jean-Étienne Esquirol, Maximien Parchappe (1800-1866) was an alienist whose career consisted of two successive periods. First as an asylum clinician in Normandy, he tried to find an etiology for “madness” through a macroscopic anatomical-pathological study that included nearly eight hundred brains and drew from the nascent field of statistics. Then, once he had been appointed an “asylum inspector”, he would play an important role in the application of the French Law of 1838. His first goal was the construction of asylums in every French department that met architectural standards specific to the care of the insane. He then worked to promote the humanization of treatment and the well-being of those interned through innovations such as ergotherapy. Extremely dedicated to his work, Parchappe regularly published findings from his various studies throughout his career in a number of works. His main results are summarized here, following a brief biography of this man of conviction, a fine example of a nineteenth-century progressive alienist.