"In the year 1830, I was unfortunately deprived of the use of reason. This calamity befell me about Christmas."

After experiencing auditory hallucinations, John Perceval was institutionalized against his will for three years. His memoir A Narrative of the Treatment Experienced by a Gentleman, During a State of Mental Derangement, was first published in 1838 in London with the aim of exposing the inhumane treatments inflicted on those who likewise suffered--in Perceval's words--"under that calamity.&rdquo

Featuring annotation and perspectives from Lindsey Grubbs, a scholar of the cultural history and contemporary ethics of psychology and neuroscience, Under That Calamity offers a candid, humane look at nineteenth-century treatment of the mentally ill that still resonates in the present day.

Produced in collaboration with The Library Company of Philadelphia.