Trial and conviction of Dr. Stephen T. Beale : with the letters of Chief Justice Lewis, and Judges Black and Woodward, on his case : interesting ether cases, and letters of Prof. Gibson, Prof. Wiltbank, Wm. Badger, Esq., W.L. Hirst, Esq., Rev. Albert Barnes, Dr. Henry A. Boardman, &c.

Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Trial and conviction of Dr. Stephen T. Beale : with the letters of Chief Justice Lewis, and Judges Black and Woodward, on his case : interesting ether cases, and letters of Prof. Gibson, Prof. Wiltbank, Wm. Badger, Esq., W.L. Hirst, Esq., Rev. Albert Barnes, Dr. Henry A. Boardman, &c. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    one throe of which receives the worst interpretation. 'IMiis is one case of a, thousand—a miracle of sense and nonsense, even for that juice of Oberon's flower, the wondrous ether. . . . • • Again: we find nothing in the evidence, or on record, or in our own experi- ence, that will justify us in the admission, that she or any one, had over been so helpless under the influence of ether, and yet entirely aware of what was go- ing on. One paragraph more from the pen of Dr. Hartshorn:— Much has been said about 'that hour.' Can she really remember nothing of the second period of time, be it long or short, but what is contained in her rudimentary sketch ? The outlines are deep and broad, perhaps, but they seem dimly and dismally far apart. We mean no indelicate allusions. Wo feel the mostearnest desire to spare the feelings of all parties, and of none more than the unfortunate subject of these comments. We wish to believe her free from soil, and if we strike rudely at the ill-stained slough that has been thrown around her purity of fame, it is but to destroy its every trace. Dr. Stille says— If an accusation of rape is one 'easily made and hard to be refuted,' this is particularly the case under the circumstances referred to, and it may at any time be successfully made against the purest and best men in the community. Dr. Stille mentions several facts, showing the strange illusions to which persons are subject in a state of etherization. We have space only for the following:— After an operation performed upon the forehead of Mr. T , a dentist, of this city, he said that although his eyes were shut, he saw every cut of the knife. He saw the shape of the wound upon the forehead ; and what was better than all, this cutting appeared to him to be done upon somebody else. A lady dreamed that she was at Cape May, and was going into the surf, and that while in the water, she was attacked by a shark, which held her fast, but without pain, until the company present extracted his teeth and liberated her. A lit- tle girl, the extraction of whose tooth made a report like the drawing of a cork, sprang out of the chair, crouched upon the floor, and looked up, anxiously in- quiring if anybody was killed? She supposed she was travelling upon a loco- motive engine, which had been blown up and thrown her into the air. A boy fancied himself in a cotton-mill;—an Irish woman dreamed that she had been home, and seen ber friends engaged in spinning, and others dreamed that they were in railway cars, or shipwrecked. A young man having been sufficiently etherized, the dentist prepared to extract a tooth. In a moment he dashed the instrument from his mouth, left the chair, and striding about the room demanded what they meant to do with him. In a few moments the effect of the ether passed off. Being again put under its influence, the same scene was enacted with even greater violence, and he endeavored to jump out of the window. When he regained his memory, he related that he imagined himself surrounded by a great number of enemies, one of whom endeavored to drive a nail into his mouth, and, being unable to struggle with him, he had sought safety in flight. The January No. of the American Journal of Dental Science, edited by Chapin A. Harris, M. D., contains an article on the case of Dr. Beale worthy of universal perusal. We introduce the following brief extracts:— The first thing we have to say, is to call attention to the well known rule of evidence; the greater the antecedent improbability of any declared fart, the more direct, positive and indubitable must be the testimony by which such a fact is proposed to be established. Thus, if a man entrusted with money were to say that he was knocked down and robbed in broad daylight, in the crowded thoroughfare of a great city, he could only save his credit for veracity and honesty by bringing the most irrefragable proof of the truth of his asser-