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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    EDITOR'S PREFACE. Appearing before the public as the Editor of a work on Mesmerism, I trust I may be pardoned for alluding to the circumstances under which I have been called upon to un- dertake such a duty. Several months ago my brother, a medical officer in the service of the East India Company, surprised me by announcing that he had now found some- thing to dispel the ennui of Indian life, and that his mis- sion was to become the Apostle of Mesmerism in India. More than twelve years ago, my attention had been ar- rested by reading M. Cloquet's account of his having removed a cancerous breast from a lady while in the mes- meric trance, and by his certifying her insensibility to pain. Knowing the eminence of M. Cloquet as a surgeon, and his reputation as a man of veracity, I was constrained to believe in the reality of the mysterious agent denomi- nated Mesmerism, or Animal Magnetism; and my belief was confirmed by the fact of the operator not being a be- liever in Mesmerism. From that hour I never doubted that many things, scouted by most people as frauds or de- lusions, were merely new manifestations of this incompre- hensible power. The evidence was so strong, that incre- dulity seemed irrational. Professional avocations hindered me paying further attention to the subject; and I had almost ceased to think of Mesmerism when it was again