Numerous cases of surgical operations without pain in the mesmeric state; with remarks upon the opposition of many members of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society and others to the reception of the inestimable blessings of mesmerism / By John Elliotson.

  • Elliotson, John, 1791-1868.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Numerous cases of surgical operations without pain in the mesmeric state; with remarks upon the opposition of many members of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society and others to the reception of the inestimable blessings of mesmerism / By John Elliotson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    results from the process; and, though awake and speaking, he could not raise them until after a lapse of a minute and a half.” On the 10th he was sent to sleep in twenty minutes. On the 11th “he was suffering great agony , and distressed even to tears” Mr. Topham “commenced by making passes longitudinally, over the diseased knee: in five minutes he was comparatively easy; and, on proceeding further to mesmerise him, at the expiration of ten minutes more he was sleeping like an infant . Not only his arms were then violently pinched^ but also the diseased leg itself without his exhibiting any sensation: yet his limb was so sensitive to pain, in his natural state, he could not hear even the lightest covering to rest upon it. That night he slept seven hours without INTERRUPTION.” “ After constantly mesmerising him for ten or twelve days, a great change w^as observed in his appearance. The hue of health returned; he became cheerful; felt much stronger; was easier , both in mind and body; slept well , and recovered his appetite .” So great was the change, that Mr. Ward, after having been absent from indisposition, “ was as much astonished , on his return on the 27th of September, about three weeks after the commencement of the mesmerism,” as he “was delighted to observe the improved condition of the man;” and, had he “not known the previous history of the case, much doubt must have arisen in his mind , as to the propriety of immediately amputating the limb” “On the 22nd of September the patient was first apprised of the necessity of an early amputation. The communication seemed almost unexpected, and affected him considerably , and destroyed his natural sleep that night” The next day he was still “fretting, restless, and in consequent pain.” Yet he was put to sleep mesme- rically in four minutes and a half. Like many other susceptible patients, he could now be affected locally when in his natural state,—without coma. For example, passes without contact along his extended extremities would render them so rigid as not to be bent by mechanical force short of danger, though breathing upon them constantly caused them to relax and drop to his sides. Although in this mesmeric coma the sensibility to mechanical causes of pain was so far lessened that violent pinching, and sudden pricking, and of even the diseased limb, produced no evidence of sensation, and he lost all pain in his knee while this was in perfect rest, the exquisitely sensitive interior of the diseased joint was not