1840-42. 147 



CHAPTER VII. 



RELIGIOUS LIFE : RETURN TO PROFESSIONAL LABOURS. 



" Deep calleth unto deep . . . ; all Thy waves and Thy billows are 

 gone over me." 



" Cast down, but not destroyed." 



A CRISIS was again approaching in George Wilson's life 

 more momentous than any hitherto considered. At the 

 close of the year 1842 it seemed evident that the contest 

 with suffering could not last much longer, rest being only 

 attainable through the use of opiates. 



A record in his own words l conveys forcibly a statement 

 of the facts : " I was required to prepare, on very short 

 warning, for the loss of a limb by amputation. A painful 

 disease, which for a time had seemed likely to yield to the 

 remedies employed, suddenly became greatly aggravated, 

 and I was informed by two surgeons of the highest skill, 

 who were consulted on my case, that I must choose be- 

 tween death and the sacrifice of a limb, and that my choice 

 must be promptly made, for my strength was fast sinking 

 under pain, sleeplessness, and exhaustion. 



" I at once agreed to submit to the operation, but asked 

 a week to prepare for it, not with the slightest expectation 



1 "A letter to Dr. Simpson on the Anaesthetics in Surgery, from a 

 Patient's Point of View. "Simpson's "Obstetric Works," vol. ii. 



L 2 



