| During the nineteenth century, the rise of the middle class and professionalization of medical experts marked an important change in British society. In the medical profession, which had only recognized general practitioners, surgeons, and apothecaries some medical men worked to establish themselves as experts in mental health. At the same time, social changes led to Britons having strong desire to redefine themselves as a moral nation in opposition to some of the increasingly democratizing nations throughout Europe. Part of this effort was the State establishment of a pauper asylum system. Through the creation of the asylum system, medical men were able to take control over identifying the insane and utilized that control to remove individuals from British society who they defined as not belonging. To do so, they created and maintained an environment that prohibited procreation. As the asylum system grew throughout the nineteenth century, medical professionals like Robert Rentoul began a medical conversation regarding proper treatment and solutions for dealing with what seemed to be a rapidly degenerating British population. Through the asylum system and the subsequent conversations about alternatives to a costly asylum system, medical professionals not only established themselves as experts on mental health, but also as "instruments of social reform" through defining the nation and regulating the procreation of "unfit" people. |
