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Cargando... The Mesmerist: The Society Doctor Who Held Victorian London Spellboundpor Wendy Moore
   Ninguno Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro.  asukamaxwell | Feb 3, 2022 |  sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
Medicine, in the early 1800s, was a brutal business. Operations were performed without anaesthesia while conventional treatment relied on leeches, cupping and toxic potions. The most surgeons could offer by way of pain relief was a large swig of brandy. Onto this scene came John Elliotson, the dazzling new hope of the medical world. Charismatic and ambitious, Elliotson was determined to transform medicine from a hodge-podge of archaic remedies into a practice informed by the latest science. In this aim he was backed by Thomas Wakley, founder of the new magazine, the Lancet, and a campaigner against corruption and malpractice. Then, in the summer of 1837, a French visitor - the self-styled Baron Jules Denis Dupotet - arrived in London to promote an exotic new idea: mesmerism. The mesmerism mania would take the nation by storm but would ultimately split the two friends, and the medical world, asunder - throwing into focus fundamental questions about the fine line between medicine and quackery, between science and superstition. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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 Google Books — Cargando...GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)154.7092Philosophy and Psychology Psychology Subconsciousness HypnosisClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio: (4)
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The son of a Southwark chemist, Elliotson rose to join the ranks of Victorian Britain's top medical professionals through his tenacity, radical thinking and rebellious nature. He was one of the first in Britain to use a stethoscope and Britain's first medical professional to seriously investigate acupuncture, hypnotism and physiognomy. Of course, popularity and power corrupts, and the once anti-nepotistic Elliotson actively participates in the internal politics of the classroom, rivalry between medical journals and the pettiness of hospital hierarchy. It is during this tumultuous time that mesmerism (hypnotism) arrives in Britain. Tired of relying on bloodletting and toxic pills, Elliotson endorses mesmerism as a treatment and early anesthetic, risking his career and reputation!
At no point was this book not entertaining, even Charles Dickens makes a marked appearance! However I couldn't give it a full five stars because I wanted to hear more about Elliotson's treatment of various patients instead of the two that the author focuses on. She mentions others in passing but I would have liked a little more detail. Nevertheless, this is was a worth while read. (