Fat and blood : an essay on the treatment of certain forms of neurasthenia & hysteria / by S. Weir Mitchell.

  • Mitchell, S. Weir (Silas Weir), 1829-1914.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fat and blood : an essay on the treatment of certain forms of neurasthenia & hysteria / by S. Weir Mitchell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    teen years her illness has lasted, besides many ot the leading practitioners in the numerous health-resorts she has visited in the vain hope of benefit. My first acquaintance with this case is somewhat curious. About two mouths before I was introduced to the patient, chancing to be walking along the esplanade at Brighton with a medical friend, my attention was directed to a remarkable party at which every one was look- ing. The chief personage in it was a lady re- clining at full length on a long couch, and being dragged along, looking the picture of misery, emaciated to the last degree, her head drawn back almost in a state of opisthotonos, her hands and arms clenched and contracted, her eyes fixed and staring at the sky. There was something in the whole procession that struck me as being typical of hysteria, and I laughingly remarked, ‘ I am sure I could cure that case if I could get her into my hands.’ All I could learn at the time was that the patient came down to Brighton every autumn, and that my friend had seen her dragged along in the same way for ten or twelve years. On January 14 of this year, I was asked to meet my friend Dr. Behrend in consul- tation, and at once recognized the patient as the