Death of an alienist: Louis-Victor Marcé’s final year

Abstract

The cause of death, at the age of 37, of Louis-Victor Marcé (1828–64), one of the most innovative alienists of the nineteenth century, was concealed by his contemporaries and colleagues. Recently it has been discovered that he committed suicide, but the circumstances and reasons for this were unknown. Information has now been found about his family, the events of the last year of his life and an unprecedented correspondence from his father-in-law, the chemist and academician Jules Pelouze, describing Marcé’s condition during the last month of his life. All of these point towards a diagnosis of melancholy, for which none of the appropriate measures were taken, probably as a result of the ailing Marcé’s social situation.