Isaac Ray

Isaac Ray (* January 16, 1807, † March 31, 1881 ) was an American psychiatrist and one of the founders of forensic psychiatry. In 1838 he published the book A Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity ( Boston), which served as the basic framework for this discipline for many years.

Life

Isaac Ray comes from Beverly, Massachusetts and earned a degree in 1822 at the Phillips Academy. Ray completed his medical training in 1827 at the Medical College of Maine ( Bowdoin ) from target and a branch office in Portland, Maine on. After this failed, he moved to the port city of Eastport where he practiced and 1838 the book " Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity " wrote. After a few years in Eastport in 1841, he was appointed superintendent on " State Hospital for the Insane " in Augusta. From 1845, Ray lived in Providence, Rhode Iceland, where he led the creation of the Butler Hospital. Before the opening of Butler Hospital 's in 1847, Ray astray asylums visited in Europe, and reported on his experiences in the " American Journal of Insanity. " From 1867 he lived in retirement in Philadelphia.

Work

Ray's book Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity was very influential in the development of forensic psychiatry. The criminal defense lawyer Sir Alexander Cockburn used it as a reference in the trial of Daniel M'Naghten in 1843. Cockburn quoted extensively Ray's work, the traditional views on debt capacity questioned Ray was a founding member of the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane and served her as president in 1855 and 1859., he wrote between 1828 and 1880 almost every year a research paper, which dealt with the relationship between mental disorder and legal issues. Ray also wrote some important monographs as Mental Hygiene (Boston, 1863) and Contributions to Mental Pathology ( Boston, 1873). In 1868, the Medical Association took over its deliberations on a bill as a template for recommendations which should secure the rights of the mentally ill, and they formulated concerning civil and criminal provisions.