"The autobiography of a quack : and the case of George Dedlow"

"The autobiography of a quack : and the case of George Dedlow"

Medicine shows

Phantom limb

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Medical care

This tale of a Civil War soldier, George Dedlow, who loses both his arms and his legs but continues to experience sensation in his missing limbs the phantom limb phenomenon was written by Silas Weir Mitchell and grew out of his experience with neurological injuries seen at the Turner's Lane Hospital in Philadelphia . The story was published anonymously in the Atlantic monthly in July, 1866, and then reprinted in this volume thirty years later. Mitchell, in his introduction to this printing, says, was at once accepted by many as the description of a real case. Money was collected in several places to assist the unfortunate man, and benevolent persons went to the ˜Stump Hospital," in Philadelphia, to see the sufferer and offer him aid. The spiritual incident at the end of the story was received with joy by the spiritualists as a valuable proof of the truth of their beliefs.

After the George Dedlow tale, Mitchell published a popular article in Lippincott's magazine entitled Phantom limbs in December, 1871, but it is not until the following year, in Injuries of nerves and their consequences, that he published his findings for the medical community.

A book about a Civil War soldier, George Dedlow, who loses both his arms and legs, yet continues to experience sensation in his missing limbs.

Mitchell, S. Weir (Silas Weir)

New York : Century

1900

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Boston Medical Library Rare Books Collection (1.G.36).

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text

Excerpt (2 pages) from book

English

text

DigID0001665