[In the footsteps of Pinel at the Salpêtrière, concerning some unedited documents].

In 1802, the government transferred the treatment of all indigent mentally ill women in the Paris region to Salpêtrière Hospice where Philippe Pinel was physician-in-chief. Four newly identified folio registers in the Paris hospital archives document how Pinel applied what he called "traitement moral" to the women under his care. He elaborated a method of supervised living and encouragement to work. The newly discovered case histories reveal that, in 3 years and 9 months - the timespan of Pinel's report to the Academy of Sciences - 265 out of 1077 patients returned to their families, but 107 women, though cured, remained under police supervision. There appears to be no follow-up study.