Dear H-Madness readers,

You may be interested in the recently published article Scientific objectivity and social mores: Paternity testing, illegitimacy and misogyny in Constance Pascal’s ‘La Goutte de Sang’ (1935–1936), by Felicia Gordon, which appeared in the journal History of Psychiatry. The article is freely downloadable. Below is the abstract of the article.

“This article examines the French historical, scientific, social and biographical background to Constance Pascal’s filmscript ‘La Goutte de Sang’ concerning the search for a reliable paternity test. The philosophical argument is between adherence to scientific truth against entrenched social custom. Pascal’s filmscript highlights routine misogyny in the scientific workplace and the injustices to women and children of male sexual irresponsibility. I analyse the relation between Pascal’s personal life, her psychiatric career and the filmscript’s critique of scientific efforts at social reform, concluding with her enduring belief in the value of science based on humane principles”.