Second half-yearly report ... from 1st March to 1st September, 1849 / [by James Esdaile, with a letter from him to J. Elliotson] ... to which is added, remarks on the conduct of the English medical journalists ... in refernce to [mesmerism] ... By Dr. Elliotson.

  • Mesmeric Hospital (Calcutta, India)
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Second half-yearly report ... from 1st March to 1st September, 1849 / [by James Esdaile, with a letter from him to J. Elliotson] ... to which is added, remarks on the conduct of the English medical journalists ... in refernce to [mesmerism] ... By Dr. Elliotson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    occurring for a length of time, and of benefit without sleep, returning or writing to me in a few days with a declaration that, as they felt nothing, they should not continue it. Some go about saying they cannot be sent to sleep because Mr. Somebody tried one day without effect. If a complaint is worth the trouble of curing, it is worth the trouble of sub- mitting to a remedy causing neither pain nor annoyance, but requiring merely perseverance. Some give up in a few weeks or months. It is surprising how many persons in the world have no force of character: are only big children—holding silly opinions on various subjeets of which they know nothing, and acting without reason or steadiness. Postscript to Dr. Elliotson’s Paper, ^c. When I spoke of the deaths from chloroform being, to my knowledge, far more numerous than the public imagine, and especially when administered in parturition, I had no doubt that this was the case in Scotland as well as in England. Since my paper was struck off, the following eommunication has appeared in the Medicat Gazette of Dec. 22:— Obstetric practice in Edinburgh.—The use of Chloroform. Sir,—On reading in a late number of your journal, the able and interesting lecture of Dr. Barnes, ^ on the rational and safe conduct of labour,^^ I was struck with the fact of the gradually increasing mortality from childbirth in Edin- burgh during the years 1847 and 1848, having been exactly coincident with the introduction of chloroform and its exten- sive use in midwifery in that city. Erom Dr. Earnests table it appears that in 1846 the proportion of deaths in childbed in Edinburgh was 1 in 116; in 1847 it had increased to 1 in 97; while in 1848 it had risen to 1 in 91. The Record news- paper, a few weeks since, m leading article type, brings for- ward some strong reasons ^ to quicken medical men in other parts of the world as to the benefits of chloroform in midwifery,^ the chief of which is, that a few ladies with high sounding titles await in Edinburgh their approaching accouchement, drawn thither by the fame of chloroform, and it may be by such puffing paragraphs as that which makes mention of these things. We need have no fear, however, with such statistics as those of Dr. Barnes before us, that our professional brethren will be turned from the performance of the duties of their high office by any such considerations, even if they could look for the most abounding newspaper laudation as a reward. The following is extracted from the Record of Nov. 12 :— D