e food, combined with four
years in bed with paralysis of the greater part of the body, and the
habitual use of chloral to induce sleep, had reduced a naturally fine
woman to a mere shadow. In October, 1880, her medical attendant was good
enough to bring her to London for the purpose of giving a fair trial to
the Weir Mitchell method of treatment, with the ready co-operation of
herself and her friends, and she was conveyed on a couch slung from the
roof of a saloon carriage, so as to avoid any jolt or jar, since the
slightest movement caused much suffering. Two days after her arrival my
friend Dr. Buzzard saw her with me, and, after a careful and prolonged
electrical examination, came to the conclusion that contractility
existed in all the affected muscles, and that the paralysis was purely
functional. I could find no evidence in the pelvis of the abscess, the
uterus being perfectly mobile, and apparently healthy. After a few days'
rest the treatment was commenced on October 16, the patient being
isolated in lodgings with a nurse of my own choosing; and this was the
only difficulty I had with her, since she naturally felt acutely the
separation from the faithful attendant who had nursed her during her
long illness. Her friends agreed not to have communication with her of
any sort. It is needless to give the details of the treatment in this
and the following cases. A mere abstract will suffice to indicate the
rapid and satisfactory progress made.

"_October_ 16.--Twenty-two ounces of milk were taken, in divided doses,
in twenty-four hours; on the 17th, fifty ounces of milk; on the 18th,
the same quantity of milk repeated; massage for half an hour; on the
19th, milk as before; bread-and-butter and egg; massage for an hour and
a half; twenty minims of dialyzed iron twice daily; on the 21st, a
mutton-chop in addition to the above; massage an hour and fifty minutes.
To-day she passed water for the first time for four years, and the
catheter was never again used. Chloral discontinued, and she slept
naturally all night long. On the 23d, porridge and a gill of cream were
added to her former diet; massage three hours daily, and electricity for
half an hour, and this was continued until the end of the treatment.
Maltine was now given twice daily.

"_October_ 30.--She is now consuming three full meals daily of fish,
meat, vegetables, cream, and fruit, besides two quarts of milk and two
glasses of burgundy. Considerable muscular p