On November 29, 1842, London’s Morning Chronicle published a short, unusual piece by Charles Dickens, already a celebrated writer and novelist, titled The Sanatorium.Written shortly after Dickens’s return from his first American tour, it reflected both his deep and lasting interest in public affairs and his fascination with medicine and the medical profession, particularly mental illness, detailed descriptions of which form central passages in several of Dickens’s novels. Thomas Chapman was chairman of the Sanatorium Committee and a personal friend of Dickens (the character of Mr Dombey was supposedly based on Chapman). Chapman asked Dickens to write a brief piece...
