ABSTRACT
The Revolution's emphasis was on sante, the "most perfect state of life" in the Encyclopedie definition. Pierre-Jean-George Cabanis and his colleagues on the Commission des hopitaux found their man in Philippe Pinel. Philippe Pinel has traditionally been celebrated as the father of modern psychiatry, which he supposedly founded at a stroke: removing the chains of the inmates of Bicetre and the Salpetriere. "Observation" was the watchword of science, and the shibboleth of ideologie. Michel Foucault stressed the institutional power vested in seeing and the central role played by a cultivated vision in the establishment of the new profession. The "moral treatment" was both a matter of general principles, and something bespoke. In 1778 Pinel set out on foot for Paris to establish a professional career. The personal presence, qualities, experience, and education of the healer were also crucial.
