ABSTRACT
Charles Darwin's Darwin, after all, had set himself the task of demonstrating that species were descended from other species, that human beings were little more than glorified animals. He carefully considered the mentally ill, deliberated over the external appearance of madness, and wrote about insanity, albeit in a somewhat specialized way. When Darwin approached Crichton Browne to obtain photographs of the insane as well as help in understanding the nature of their expressions, he became involved in something of a medical tradition. Armed with the detailed information, Darwin thought he would be well prepared to overturn Charles Bell's widely disseminated thesis about insanity. When Darwin approached Crichton Browne to obtain photographs of the insane as well as help in understanding the nature of their expressions, he became involved in something of a medical tradition. Darwin's chapter on anger, the classic sign of mania, also drew on Browne's comments on the angry scowl of an epileptic idiot under his care.
