Isaac Ray

Author

1807 – 1881

 Credit ยป
79

Who was Isaac Ray?

Isaac Ray was an American psychiatrist, one of the founders of the discipline of forensic psychiatry. In 1838, he published A Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity, which served as an authoritative text for many years.

A native of Beverly, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Phillips Academy, Ray received his medical degree in 1827 from the Medical College of Maine and attempted to establish a general practice in Portland, Maine. When this venture failed, he moved to the coastal village of Eastport, where he practiced, taught, and wrote his "Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity," published in 1838. After several years in Eastport, he was appointed Superintendent of the State Hospital for the Insane in Augusta in 1841. In 1845 he moved to Providence, Rhode Island, to supervise the building of the private Butler Hospital and became its first Superintendent. Prior to Butler Hospital's receiving patients in 1847, Ray toured the asylums of Europe, reporting his findings in the "American Journal of Insanity." In 1867, he moved to an active retirement in Philadelphia.

The Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity was very influential and was deployed effectively by defense lawyer Sir Alexander Cockburn in the English trial of Daniel M'Naghten in 1843. At the trial, Cockburn quoted extensively from the book which rejected traditional views of the insanity defense based on the defendant's ability to distinguish "right from wrong" in favour of a broader approach based on causation.

We need you!

Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!

Born
Jan 16, 1807
Beverly
Nationality
  • United States of America
Education
  • Harvard Medical School
Died
Mar 31, 1881

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"Isaac Ray." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/isaac_ray>.

Discuss this Isaac Ray biography with the community:

0 Comments

    Browse Biographies.net