The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-02 00:00:00

ANIESTHETIC VIRTUES OF ETHER.

( From the Zoist for October. )
THE PROTEST AND PETITION OF JAMES ESDAILE, ESQ.,
M.D., SURGEON, H.E.1.C.5., TO THE MEMBERS or
THE AMERICAN CONGRESS.

Respectfully sheweth,—That the writer, a British
subject, and a surgeon in the East India Company's
Service, has read with great astonishment`the following
statement in a report of the Select Committee appointed
by the United States Government, to debide who dis-
covered the anesthetic virtues of ether, so that Congress
might bestow upon him a reward of 100,000 dollars.
The report says :
" At various periods, and in various ages, hope has been
excited in the human breast that this great agent (the
means of producing insensibility to pain) had been found
but all proved delusive, and hope as often died away, until
the discovery now under consideration burst -aPOO the
world from our own country and in our own day. Then'
and not till then, was the time-cherished hope realised,
that the knife would loose its sting, and that blood might
follow its edge without pain."
In defence of truth and justice, I must take the 'liberty
.
to inform Congress, that this statement is not
000ninyinlint.
correct, but is perfectly untrue, and that y
o'uornoraut or
tee have been greviously misled by cuiPa-n4pressing
corrupt witnesses— corrupt to the extetnti:
stated in the
important evidence opposed to
report. In support of this e assmat 1545, hav
I have respect-
fully to represent to Congrar,'in-pertorming a painless
ing succeeded on the first trial
operation upon a and with such success,
secuted the subject still farm
person in the' and
trance, I pro-
' hio performed seventy,-tt irdeee.
that in eight months
of them of their,
al
painless operations, 737,,ch was published46ThiYs Messrs.work is
scription ; an 10..?,.nn, London, in _lB
Longmans and y; in raja,.
to the
and was
r.immediately... re-
called " Mennier.isca. in July, 1846, I reported
printed in Anlnndia, that I had performedd upwards of
" to satisfy
Government 0
d nless operations, an offered
one aplersons, in whom the Government had
y num—d the truth of my statements." The Go-
an MAlatte d committee to report
con ' upon appointed
went bere •
vern rio operations to be . performed by me in
their"neee Six severe operations were performed
by in the presence.
of the committee during a fort-
night that they sat, and the committee arrived at the
following general result on the question of pain during
the mesmeric surgical operation witnessed by them
That in three severe cases, there is no proof whatever
that any pain was suffered ; and that, in the three other
cases, the manifestations of pain during the operation are
opposed by the positive statement of the patient that no
pain was experienced."
The Government in remarking upon the report of the
committee to the chairman, said :

" So far has tho possibility of rendering the most serious
surgical operations painless to the subject of them been, in
his Honour's opinion, established by the late experiments,
performed under the eye of a committee appointed for the
purpose, as to render it incumbent on the Government to
afford to the meritorious and zealous officer, by whom the
subject was first brought to its notice, such assistance as
may facilitate his investigations, and enable him to prose-
cute his interesting experiments, under the most favour-
able and promising circumstances. With this view, his
Honour has determined, with the sanction of the supreme
Government, to place Dr. Esdaile, for one year, in charge
of a small experimental hospital, in some favourable situa-
tion in Calcutta ; in order that he may, as recommended
by the committee, extend his investigations to the appli-
cability of this alleged agency to•all descriptions of cases,
medical as well as surgical ; and of all classes of patients,
European as well as native."
During the year of experiment, forty
capital mesmeric
operations were performed in the Mesmeric Hospital,
,
and at the end of the par my successwa4 "12°1
v_ lei I

in a minute of the Governer-ctia;s6A in. Council, and
was rewarded by being made a'atr'laidency surgeon f
Calcutta, that the natives might contitrue to enjoy
benefits of mesmerism. S t that painless surgery `11:f
means of mesmerism had reduced by me to a rti
gular every-day system in , long beforo either hid
been heard of. Of which fat congress may still &filar
satisfy themselves, by referring ITUffnagle, consul
for the United States, at Calcuttwhean ()Kober,
1846, assisted at the removal of a scrotal tumour Weigh-
ing 103 lbs. • of which the patient was quite uncon-
scious, and ultimately perfectly recovered.
The simple and notorious fact is, that painless surgery
by means of mesmerism, years before ether was heard
of, was as common in my. hospitals as it has since be-
come in Europe under the influence of chloroform, and
nearly three hundred capital mesmeric operations had
been performed by me before leaving India two years
ago.
This being the actual state of the case regarding the
history of painless surgery, the American Congress will
perceive that I am fully justified in asserting that their
committee have been misled by ignorant or corrupt wit-
nesses ; and that, however deserving of reward the dis-
coverer of ether may be, he was only copying by a drug
what had been already done by myself and others, by a
much safer and pleasanter natural power mercifully im-
planted in the human constitution. Congress will, I
doubt not, be indignant at the daring and unprincipled
suppression of evidence that I have exposed to them,
and will be at a loss to imagine the motives for such an
offence. As politicians, the members of Congress must
be aware of the perveiting, distorting, unfair represen-
tations of. party spirit, by which history itself has be-
come "a lie," according to a celebrated English states-
man. Unfortunately this vice is not confined to politics,
but exists in all professions, and in an intensely dis-
graceful degree, I lament to say, in that of medicine.
Mesmerism from its birth has been excommunicated
by the doctors without knowledge or examination, ard
all the medical journals having rashly and ignorantly
pronounced against it, afterwards conspired together in
defence of their wrong-doing, and trusted to extinguish
the obnoxious doctrine by keeping the medical profession
and the public in total ignorance of the matter. They
have hitherto succeeded so well in this, that it is pos-
sible the medical witnesses examined by your committee
may only have been labouring under the most gross
ignorance in giving their evidence ; but the American
Congress will not lower itself so-much in the eyes of the
civilised world as to adopt the verdict of an ignorant
and incompetent jury. If, on the other hand, it shall
appear that important evidence has been deliberately
suppressed by the witnesses, then the world will expect
that Congress in its wisdom and justice will repudiate
the report of its committee, and severely punish those
who would mislead it.
It is with no intention of competing for the dollars in
question that I have taken the liberty to address you
(although the man who proved that painless surgery
some‘cone io-efut'harreed),ciatsizetnliseseofsteielme
u.inrrietedvoc
could be practised on a whole people, might look for
S
)t. al yt
e sd;e'swtihneodhacito
the sense to seek for some drug by which to imitate
what I had already -done by mesmerism, the
new But
new judicial inquiry recommended by the committee, to
determine which of my three imitators is to be the lucky
winners of the dollars, I respectfully petition Congress
to be permitted to adduce proof in support ofwhatl
have now advanced, by which an honourable opportunity
will be afforded for correcting the errors in the commit-
tee's report, and Congress will be saved the shame of
sanctioning by its high authority another of the lies of
history.

I have the honour to be,
Your most obedient servant,
JAMES &DAME. M.D.
Fairmount, Perth, Scotland,
Bth August, 1853.

TOTAL LOSS OF THE BARQUE MERIDIAN
ON AMSTERDAM ISLAND.

(Peony the Overland Commercial Gazette, Oct. 18.)
PORT LOMB, Oct. 18,—The wreck of the Meridian,
and the incidents connected with this sad event, pos-
sessing more than usual interest, we have been anxious
to give in our Overland a more detailed account than
has yet appeared. We have been seconded in our at-
tempt by several passengers from that ill-fated vessel,
who have most willingly and kindly placed at our dis-
posal their written notes, and have also afforded us
much information verbally. It is, therefore, with great
satisfaction that we publish the following narrative, con-
fident as we are that it is correct and impartial.
The Meridian, a barque of 579 tons register, Captain
Richard Hernaman, commander, left Gravesend on the
4th of June last, with 26 chief cabin passengers, 53
steerage passengers, and a valuable cargo, for Sydney,
New South Wales. She was a very fine vessel of her
class, A 1 at Lloyd's for 13 years, and only a year old.
Her timbers and fittings were of live oak and teak and
her iron work was of a very superior description.
The spars of the Meridian were of great size and
strength, being, indeed, large enough for a vessel of
900 tons, and these enabled her to carry a great
press of sail, though they also made her very crank, and
consequently very uncomfortable as a passenger ship.
She had a remarkably fine passage up to the 20th de-
gree of south latitude, but afterwards she was delayed
by calms, contrary winds, and squally weather, especially
after passing the Cape of Good Hope, soon after which
she encountered a rather smart gale. It did not, how-
ever, last very long, but on the night of the 23d of
August, when the vessel was in about lat. 3S 50 S, and

long. 74 20 E, a heavy gale sprang up, and the captain
' altered his course, and bore up for the island of Amster-
dam instead of St. Paul's, which he wished to sight, in
oi-der to correct an error which he imagined might exist
in his chronometer. The gale increased the next day,
and the weather was very thick, but the course steered
E by S enabled the vessel to go freely before the wind.
A few minutes before seven o'clock a sea struck the ves-
sel, and partially inundated the 'tween decks, after
which the captain ordered the course to be altered to E.
About a quarter past 7 in the evening, just as the tea
things in the ruddy had been cleared away, and the chil-
dren (of whom there were 41 on board) were being put to
bed, a sudden shock made the vessel stagger violently.
At first it was supposed that the Meridian had run foul
of another vessel, there being no look-out on the fore-
castle ; but five or six more violent shocks, and a peculiar
grating sound at the bottom of the vessel; convinced the
passengers that she had struck upon rocks and such
proved to be the case, for the Meridian had gone ashore
on the south-western point of the island of Amsterdam.
The captain, upon the first alarm, rushed up the poop
stairs, and was swept off by a sea almost immediately
afterwards. The officers and crew,
and some of the male
sme2ontdo-pc,alanondpa stsheengpear ss,s
passengers
st
inrefugethe in the rigging and
ceiecihinedfeactahbhiwhainchd
second cabin awaited there the certain
-de
a iimpendingn over them. The situa-
ftoiorn ao
of
the time
second cabin passengers was distressing in the
extreme: Almost as soon as t
quan-
tities of' water poured down e ship struck large
cabins on the lee side of the' the hatchways and the
that it was with the utmost
tween decks filled so fast,
got over to the difficulty that, the passen-
gersstarboard side, where they remained
for more than two h
h •
hours up to their waists in water,
and many of them
having no other covering than their
night clothes. They were rescued from this position by
about h lf a -past ten
o'clock in consequence of the
exertions of Mr. Edward Tulloch, the second mate,
11. r. Worthington, the third mate, and Charlea Snow,
one of the seamen, and were placed in the euddy.
About half-past one o'clock the main-mast which had
been gradually sinking for some time, fell over the
side, with all the rigging standing, towards the rocks,
thus forming a bridge by which the passengers
might cross over from the wreck to the shore. At the
same time the vessel parted in two, at the after hatch-
way, and when the morning dawned nothing was seen of
the fore part of the vessel but a small portion of the
forecastle. The poop, however, remained entire, and
afforded some kind of shelter to the majority of the pas.
sengers, till it was deemed safe to attempt a passage to
the shore. This was safely effected by six o'clock on the
following morning. Mr. 'Worthington and Snow, as
well as Mr. Tahoe'', again making themselves conspi-
cuous by their gallantry in helping the women and
children over. The only persons who lost their lives
were the captain, the chief cabin cook, Thomas George,
and a Swiss steerage passenger named Pfau.
For the first two nights the men and most of the
women and children lay down on the bare reeks;, with
no other covering than the clothes in which they stood
upright, but providentially they had been supplied as
soon as they landed with abundance of new flannel and
red and blue serge shirts, which formed part of the cargo,
and were cast on shore. A small quantity of provisions
was also got together, but not more than enough for ten
days' consumption, and that according to a dietary
scale, which was barely sufficient to support life. The
first two days a biscuit a day was served out to adults.
biscuit
but this ration was afterwards reduced to half a
for all hands, children included ; two days they had
half
a pound of fresh pork each, but the rest of the time
they remained on the south-west portion of the that
island a
herring a day and half of a mouldy 13* • lseult formed the
chief part of their means of subsistence.
On the third day atter the wreck a general
made to a point about a third of a mile _ move Ina
wreck, where it had been found practical. distant from the
cliff, on the top of which an encampment to ascend the
and a signal post erected, with two
of white flannel to serve as a flag. red shirts, and yards
morn-
ing following, attracted the This, on the
was cruising about the island,notice of a whaler who
in consequence of a _ but who was unable,
gale which sprang up, to hold
any communication with the passengers until the
' Wednesday morning, when he sent a boat round b
the coast, which signalised them to set out at once)
and travel in the direction from which the boat had
come. Both parties expected that it would be impossible
for
all who had been shipwrecked to leave the island
that very evening, but both were painfully disappointed ;
a violent gale sprang up, and drove the whaler out to
sea, and the shipwrecked emigrants, who thought that
they had, at the utmost, a day's walk before them, had to
accomplish a three days' journey of an appalling nature,
through a dense jungle, by the side of the cliffs, and
Whenwith
a still scantier allowance of food than before.
they arrived at the point where they e
island,xpected the
to be
embarked, on the north-eastern side of
the
vessel was not there, and for two days they subsisted on
raw cabbage and a few limpets. Most happily_ for
all, on Monday, Sep. 5, when
day,
eanwdaws
water
ywcabbage
enough remaining for a single as only
e of a mile, adistance which it
procurable at the distance of
them in their
was impossible for many of
emaciated state to have walked, they were taken off by
f ' Ludlow, of the barque Monmouth,
Captain belonging
the United States, the whaler already referred to.
to
On hoard of this vessel they received every attention
that a large-hearted benevolence could suggest, and
they reached Mauritius just three weeks after they had
been rescued from a triple death by drowning, cold,
and starvation.