AND ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATION IN SURGERY AND MEDICINE. BY JAMES ESDAILE, M.D., CIVIL ASSISTANT SURGEON, H. C. S., BENGAL. "I rather choose to endure the wounds of those darts which envy casteth at novelty, than to go on safely and sleepily in the easy ways of ancient mistakings."-RALEIGH. HARTFORD: SILAS ANDRUS AND SON. 1847. TO THE REV. JAMES ESDAILE, D. D. MY DEAR FATHER, However new and strange the subject of this work may be to you, I am sure that it will afford you pleasure to know that I have introduced, and I hope I may say established, a new and powerful means of alleviating human suffering among the natives of Bengal. I shall soon ascertain to what extent other varieties of mankind are capable of benefitting by this natural curative power, as I am ordered to join the army in the field, and depart to-morrow, by dâk, a journey of eleven hundred miles! HOOGHLY, Feb. 1st, 1846. I am Your affectionate Son, JAMES ESDAile. PREFACE. If this production should be fortunate enough to attract attention at home, I hope that criticism will be chiefly expended upon a careful examination of the alleged facts, and their practical application to the improvement of Surgery and Medicine. What I now offer to the public is the result of only eight months' mesmeric practice, in a country charity hospital; but it has been sufficient to demonstrate the singular and most beneficial influence that Mesmerism exerts over the constitution of the people of Bengal, and that painless surgical operations, and other medical advantages, are their natural birthright; of which I hope they will be no longer deprived. Duty calls me to another and more extensive field, (the Civil Surgeons being ordered to join the army of the Sutlej,) where I hope to work out this curious and interesting subject in all its practical bearings, and to live to communicate my experience to the public. Hooghly, Feb. 1st, 1846. |