Cure of a true cancer of the female breast with mesmerism / Extracted from the last number of 'The Zoist' (no. XXIII). With introductory remarks, by Dr. Engledue.

  • Elliotson, John, 1791-1868.
Date:
[1848]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cure of a true cancer of the female breast with mesmerism / Extracted from the last number of 'The Zoist' (no. XXIII). With introductory remarks, by Dr. Engledue. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    paper is extracted and now near the completion of its sixth volume, contains an immense mass of information, and to all those who are afflicted, and more especially those who have had recourse to medical treatment and whose diseases have not been cured, I sav, search this record, and you will find cases analogous to your own, and from abundant experience on this subject, I feel myself justified in promising you considerable relief, and in many cases a positive cure. The sudden removal of a diseased mass is a very simple affair, and the production of the state of insensibility in the mesmeric state is one of the most common phenomena presented to the physiologist. But the removal of a diseased growth, a malignant tumor, not sud¬ denly with the knife of the surgeon, but with the aid of mesmerism, so acting on the inherent powers of the constitution as to produce a steady and progressive absorption,—this is a phenomenon which has not been witnessed on any former occasion, and certainly demands the most serious consideration of the medical profession. Can any surgeon refer to a single example of tumor of the breast like the one under consideration, which steadily progressed, either with or without medicine, toward a perfect cure ? Here was a tumor, care¬ fully examined and unanimously doomed to extirpation by several practical surgeons, and the fact of their doing so, clearly proved that they knew of no other plan by which the diseased mass could be removed. Nevertheless this tumor underwent such changes, day after day, and month after month, just in the proportion that the efforts of the mesmeriser were continued, and finally, became ab¬ sorbed,—and not only so, but the constitutional symptoms, which were of an aggravated character, yielded,—the darting pains ceased, sleep returned, the sallow complexion vanished, the swollen arm returned to a natural size, and the situation of the patient became in every respect more and more satisfactory. On one occasion, during the absence of Dr. Elliotson on the continent, the treatment was nearly discontinued for two months,—what was the result ?