See No. 2106.

Mitchell, Morehouse, and Keen were army surgeons during the American Civil War; their book was the first exhaustive study of the traumatic neuroses. Includes the first description of ascending neuritis, and also of the treatment of neuritis by cold and splint rests. Reprinted, San Francisco: Norman Publishing, 1989. 

Mitchell, leading American neurologist of his time, performed over 350 experiments upon the cerebellum. He emphasized its co-ordinating function, first postulated by Flourens, and he proposed his “augmentor” theory of cerebellar function.

Mitchell suggested the name “erythromelalgia” for this condition, which is also known as “Weir Mitchell’s disease”. He records four earlier writers on the subject, the first being Graves in 1848. See also his paper in Amer. J. med. Sci., 1878, 76, 17-36.

Mitchell drew attention to the importance of eyestrain as a cause of headache.

First description.

First account of the “Weir Mitchell treatment”.

Includes full account of Weir Mitchell’s rest cure for nervous disorders.

First study of the subject.

Demonstration that the knee-jerk can be reinforced by sensory stimulation.

Mitchell (see also No. 2104) and Reichert showed that snake venom is protein, and demonstrated the presence of toxic albumins. Mitchell was one of the first to investigate snake venoms.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Digital facsimile from semanticscholar.org at this link.