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Article: The doctor and the madmen: until the early nineteenth century, they were kept in barred rooms and treated as sinners. But James Douglas responded to a new view of the mentally ill: give them light, life, and learning. Downriver from Quebec City, he created Canada's first asylum.
- Article from:
- The Beaver: Exploring Canada's History
- Article date:
- June 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Canada's National History Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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One fine day in late winter, 1826, a young doctor and his wife arrived in Quebec City in a horse-drawn sleigh, galloped around the city a few times, liked the look of it, and decided to stay for the rest of their lives.
Dr. James Douglas was fleeing from the United States. His crime? Vandalizing fresh graves, digging up the corpses, and taking them home to dissect them. He was twenty-six years old.
At the time of his crime, Douglas was teaching surgery and anatomy at Auburn Medical College, in New York. To pass their surgical exams, his students had to do dissections, but, in a Catch-22, the law made it impossible to obtain enough corpses. It was the ...