"To discuss and exchange views upon professional topics": Conversazione at the West Riding Asylum, 1871-1875

From 1871 to 1875, a series of annual meetings termed medical conversazione was held at the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, organised by the Medical Superintendent, James Crichton-Browne. This article examines the setting, content, reception, and purposes of these meetings, using reportage from the local popular press to supplement the relatively limited accounts published in contemporary medical journals. The evidence indicates that the conversazione provided educational opportunity for invited local practitioners by showcasing the clinical and experimental research work of the Asylum. Hence these meetings showed some resemblance to modern medical meetings devoted to diseases of the brain. However, in addition they provided spectacle and entertainment, akin to the theatrical productions also hosted at the Asylum.