[Philippe Pinel and the legendary "chain liberation" in the Bicêtre (1793) and Salpêtrìere (1793) Paris hospitals. I: Pinel's personality and previous reform attempts].

Philippe Pinel is generally regarded as the leading con-founder of scientific psychiatry. His "chain liberation" of the insane is in this context often seen as breakbrough to an human conception of psychiatry. This article describes in two parts the historical backgrounds of Pinels activities and analyses the discipline-genetic myths connected with them. Part one follows Pinels carrier upto the 1790ies and describes contemporary efforts to reform psychiatric asylums.