Genetics in the Madhouse The Unknown History of Human Heredity

The untold story of how hereditary data in mental hospitals gave rise to the science of human heredityIn the early 1800s, a century before there was any concept of the gene, physicians in insane asylums began to record causes of madness in their admission books. Almost from the beginning, they pointed to heredity as the most important of these causes. Genetics in the Madhouse is the untold story of how the collection of hereditary data in asylums and prisons gave rise to a new science of human heredity. Theodore Porter looks at the institutional use of innovative quantitative practices-such as pedigree charts and censuses of mental illness-that were worked out in the madhouse long before the manipulation of DNA became possible in the lab. Genetics in the Madhouse brings to light the hidden history behind modern genetics and deepens our appreciation of the moral issues at stake in data work conducted at the border of subjectivity and science.

ISBN:	9780691203232
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Imprint:	Princeton University Press
Published date:	14 Jul 2020
DEWEY:	616.89042
DEWEY edition:	23
Language:	English
Number of pages:	464
Weight:	708g
Height:	147mm
Width:	226mm
Spine width:	41mm

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