46 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



self, and it had only come out when she could conceal it no longer, the 

 arm having become useless. Supposing that, somehow, the first opera- 

 tion had been the cause of the cure, we repaired to the house as re- 

 quested, and, after Dr. Peaslee had etherized her, I operated by stretch- 

 ing: the contracted muscles. I found the shoulder in much the same 

 plight as the other had been three years before, though the muscles 

 were not quite so rigid, and I could overcome them without much diffi- 

 culty. But the shoulder-joint had been held in an immovable position 

 so long that the articulating surfaces had become united by bands of 

 fibrous adhesions in various places, and the snapping of these adhesions, 

 as they were torn asunder when the arm was moved about in different 

 directions, made reports which could be heard at a considerable dis- 

 tance. But the muscles were completely relaxed by the operation, mo- 

 tion was restored to the joint, and we congratulated ourselves on hav- 

 ing made no mistake and having had a successful case this time. Thus 

 she was left Peaslee going to Europe, and I about my business. Just 

 one month afterward I was requested to visit the lady. I found that 

 she had been prostrated by the anaesthetic as before, but that her arm 

 and shoulder were in exactly the same situation as before the operation. 

 Not the slightest benefit had been experienced from it. The shoulder 

 was drawn up and immovable, the arm was held firmly to the side, and 

 that extremity was entirely helpless and useless. 



It was evident that the mystery of the case had not been fathomed, 

 and I requested her to come to my house so that I might study it. To 

 this suggestion she readily assented, and for the next few weeks I was 

 vainly striving to find remedies for a state of things which I could not 

 comprehend, and to locate a disease which had no existence. At the 

 end of a month, and after calling a well-known surgeon to my assist- 

 ance without avail, I resolved to try another operation hy force brisee. 

 Laughing-gas was being used in minor operations at that time, and, as 

 ether made her so very sick, I resolved to use the nitrous oxide. This 

 was administered twice with an interval of four days, when the muscles 

 relaxed, motion was restored to the shoulder-joint, and there has been 

 no recurrence of the condition described during the intervening thirteen 

 years. A case precisely similar to the foregoing was brought to me 

 two years later. 



Still under the impression that the force used in the former case 

 had, in some mysterious manner, been the means of cure, and conclud- 

 ing that nitrous oxide was the most favorable anaesthetic, I set to work 

 to cure this case according to such views. After seven entirely suc- 

 cessful operations there was not the least improvement in my patient, 

 and I concluded that I had again mistaken the case. I kept her under 

 observation several months, attempting various means, experimentally, 

 which were of no avail, when, on a careful review of this and many 

 other similar cases, I at last came to the conclusion that the whole dif- 

 ficulty was mental and only mental. Having settled the question of 



