Mesmerism in India : and its practical application in surgery and medicine / by James Esdaile.

  • Esdaile, James, 1808-1859.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mesmerism in India : and its practical application in surgery and medicine / by James Esdaile. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    system Is not less effectually recruited, because it is done silently,—just as the best digestion is least felt. For refreshing the nervous system, and inducing natural sleep, mesmerising <z longs courants as the French call it, will be found sufficient. These are steady continuous tractions, with the points of the spread fingers, from head to foot; the head may be occasionally breathed upon, and the hands allowed to rest for a few irjinutes on the pit of the stomach. An hour of this, on going to bed, will often soothe rest- lessness, bring back natural sleep, and invigorate the nervous system. Sept. 25th.—Mr. Calder (I mention his name at his own request,) who has been twenty years in India, came to me to-day, complaining of genera! rheuma- tism, nervousness, and- debility. He walks with great difficulty, with the help of a stick, and cannot ascend a stair. His nerves are shattered, his e}'-e-sight is weak, and his hands tremble when writing; when he walks on smooth ground, he fancies that it slips from below him, and the effort made to save himself nearly throws him down: of late he has not been able to drive his buggy, from a feeling that it is impossible for him to prevent his horse from running into any carriage he meets. He has been in this state for two years and a half; during which he has gone a tour of doctors, and swallowed a dispensary of physic, to no good purpose. I said that I could not in con- science physic him more, but recommended him to try what nature would do for him, as, upon the whole, Ithouo-hthisca.se adapted for mesmeric treatment,