Isaac Ray (January 16, 1807 – March 31, 1881) was an American

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their ...

, one of the founders of the discipline of

forensic psychiatry Forensic psychiatry is a subspeciality of psychiatry and is related to criminology. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry. According to the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, it is defined as "a subspecialty of psychi ...

. In 1838, he published ''A Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity'' (Boston), which served as an authoritative text for many years.

Biography

A native of

Beverly, Massachusetts Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Shore, Beverly incl ...

, and a graduate of

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = M ...

(class of 1822), Ray received his medical degree in 1827 from the Medical College of Maine (

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint e ...

) and attempted to establish a general practice in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metro ...

. 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 Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, to supervise the building of the private

Butler Hospital Butler Hospital is a private, non-profit, psychiatric and substance abuse hospital for adolescents, adults, and seniors, located at 345 Blackstone Boulevard in Providence, Rhode Island. The hospital is affiliated with the Warren Alpert Medical S ...

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 Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. 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 In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribun ...

of Daniel M'Naghten in 1843. At the trial, Cockburn quoted extensively from the book which rejected traditional views of the

insanity defense The insanity defense, also known as the mental disorder defense, is an affirmative defense by excuse in a criminal case, arguing that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to an episodic psychiatric disease at the time of the ...

based on the defendant's ability to distinguish "right from wrong" in favour of a broader approach based on causation. One of the founding members of the

Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane The Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane, also known as The Superintendents' Association, was organized in Philadelphia in October, 1844 at a meeting of 13 superintendents, making it the first professiona ...

, he served as President from 1855 to 1859. Between 1828 and 1880, except for one year he published at least one article every year, mainly dealing with insanity and its legal implications. Ray also published several important monographs, including ''Mental Hygiene'' (Boston, 1863) and ''Contributions to Mental Pathology'' (Boston, 1873). In 1868, the Superintendents’ Association adopted his "Project of a Law," which recommended statutory enactment to secure the rights of the mentally ill and define the civil and criminal relationships of the insane. In honor of him, the Isaac Ray Award was established in 1951. It is an annual award that recognizes a person who has made outstanding contributions to

or psychiatric jurisprudence. Presented each year at the

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are invol ...

(APA) annual meeting, it is a joint award of the

, and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Consisting of a prize of 1,500 USD and a plaque, the first winner of the award was Winfred Overholser.

References

Bibliography

*Adapted from

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

text at ---- * *Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane (1876) , Philadelphia * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Isaac 1807 births 1881 deaths American psychiatrists Bowdoin College alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Presidents of the American Psychiatric Association