- John Elliotson
Infobox Scientist
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birth_date =October 29 ,1791
birth_place =Southwark ,London
death_date =July 29 ,1868
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nationality =United Kingdom
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field =medicine
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alma_mater =University of Edinburgh
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known_for =Hypnosis
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influences = Thomas Brown
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footnotes =John Elliotson (
October 29 ,1791 -July 29 ,1868 ) was an Englishphysician , born inSouthwark ,London .He studied medicine first at the
University of Edinburgh (1805-1810), [The University of Edinburgh was also thealma mater of James Braid andJames Esdaile .] where he was influenced by Thomas Brown, M.D. (1778–1820), who held the chair of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh from 1808 to 1820, and then at theuniversity of Cambridge (1810-1821), in both which places he took the degree of MD, and subsequently in London at St Thomas' and Guy's hospitals. In 1831 he was elected professor of the principles and practice of physic in London University (nowUniversity College London ), and in 1834 he became physician toUniversity College Hospital .He was a student of
phrenology andmesmerism , but it should be noted that at the time both fields were vying for scientific authority. Study of such topics, which we now consider ‘pseudo-science’ was less obviously derisive to mid 19th century academia. Elliotson hoped his development of mesmerism would lead to new therapeutic applications for medical science (and so also help score 'social reform' points against UCL's 'Tory' Rival, Kings). Elliotson tended to use working class, female subjects for mesmeric research and demonstration, often from Irish immigrant communities. This was not unusual, but was perhaps his downfall. Because the effects of mesmerism took place in the subjects mind, the scientific community had to believe their testimony. Elliotson tried using middle-class peers as subjects, but felt they brought with them an undesirable obtrusion of their own sense of identity and their expectations of the experiment would led them to censor their reports. In comparison, Elliotson, rather patronisingly to contemporary eyes, felt the poorer subjects were closer to the mechanical instruments or animals of physical or physiological experimental traditions. He famously claimed he could play the brain of his subjects as he would a piano. The same prejudices, however, made it easier to discount his work, especially as Elliotson's subjects proved to be slightly less passive than he had hoped.His interest in mesmerism eventually brought him into collision with the medical committee of the hospital, a circumstance which led him, in December 1838, to resign the offices held by him there and at the university. According to Alison Winter's study of 19th C Mesmerism [Winter, Alison (1998) Mesmerized: Powers of Mind in Victorian Britain (Chicago: University of Chicago Press)] , this was largely down to the actions of
the Lancet which at the time was relatively new and, with the medical profession itself, seeking to prove its authority. Its founder,Thomas Wakley initially supported Elliotson but quickly changed his mind, considering the mesmeric subjects and experiments rather too 'unruly' for his taste. The Lancet ran a series of trials of Elliotson's mesmeric experiments at Wakely's home inBedford Square during the summer of 1838, with a jury of witnesses drawn from the medical establishment. The results of these trials not only discredited Elliotson but helped clarify the authority and status of both Wakely and the Lancet. Elliotson continued the practice of mesmerism, holding mesmeric séances in his home and editing a magazine, "The Zoist", devoted to the subject. In 1849 he founded a mesmeric hospital. He died in London on the 29th of July 1868.Elliotson was one of the first teachers in London to appreciate the value of clinical lecturing, and one of the earliest among British physicians to advocate the employment of the
stethoscope . He wrote:
* a translation of Blumenbach's "Institutiones Physiologicae" (1817)
* "Cases of the Hydrocyanic or Prussic Acid" (1820)
* "Lectures on Diseases of the Heart" (1830)
* "Principles and Practice of Medicine" (1839)
* "Human Physiology" (1840)
* "Surgical Operations in the Mesmeric State without Pain" (1843)He was the author of numerous papers in the "Transactions of the Medico-Chirurgical Society", of which he was at one time president; and he was also a fellow both of theRoyal College of Physicians andRoyal Society , and founder and president of thePhrenological Society . WM Thackeray's "Pendennis" was dedicated to him.Notes
*cite journal
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last=SCHNECK
first=J M
authorlink=
year=1963|month=Apr.title=John ELLIOTSON, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Doctor Goodenough
journal=The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis
volume=11
issue=
pages=122–30
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pmid = 13992112
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doi = 10.1080/00207146308409236
*cite journal
quotes = yes
last=Kaplan
first=F
authorlink=
year=1974|month=.title="The mesmeric mania": the early Victorians and animal magnetism
journal=Journal of the history of ideas
volume=35
issue=4
pages=691–702
publisher = | location =
pmid = 11615403
bibcode = | oclc =| id = | url = | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = | quote =
doi = 10.2307/2709095
*cite journal
quotes = yes
last=James
first=C D
authorlink=
year=1975|month=Jul.title=Mesmerism: a prelude to anaesthesia
journal=Proc. R. Soc. Med.
volume=68
issue=7
pages=446–7
publisher = | location = | issn =
pmid = 801840
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*cite journal
quotes = yes
last=Ridgway
first=E S
authorlink=
year=1994|month=Feb.title=John Elliotson (1791-1868): a bitter enemy of legitimate medicine? Part II: The mesmeric scandal and later years
journal=Journal of medical biography
volume=2
issue=1
pages=1–7
publisher = | location = | issn =
pmid = 11615263
bibcode = | oclc =| id = | url = | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = | quote =----
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