‘Under the influence’ in British India: James Esdaile's Mesmeric Hospital in Calcutta, and its critics

Ernst, Waltraud

doi:10.1017/s0033291700033092

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Several decades down the lane too, Esdaile's theory might have been acceptable under the more respectable para-scientific concept of hypnotism. Noting this misplacing of a truth-teller as a tragedy of sorts, Ernst comments that "if Esdaile had not doggedly insisted on the material existence of the animal fluid and had instead subscribed to the psychological concept of hypnotism, he may have more readily gained his profession's approval" (Ernst 1995(Ernst , 1120. This points in the direction of such a historic miscalculation, a slippage in the discursive categories of Esdaile's practice which thwarted an otherwise meticulous follower of the Newtonian scientific method much revered and accepted in the 19th century.…”

Section: Faux-parrhesia: a Problem Of Historicitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Parrhesia and Clinical Practice: A Case Study of Dr. Esdaile’s Mesmeric Hospital in Hooghly

Rajendran¹

2021

rupkatha

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This paper seeks to explore the complex negotiation between mesmerism (as unauthorised medical practice) and the State by analyzing the singular example of Dr. James E. Esdaile, a Scottish civil surgeon stationed in Hooghly, Calcutta, in the 1840-50s; one of the few known medical practitioners of mesmerism in colonial India. His diary titled Mesmerism in India, and its Practical Application in Surgery and Medicine contains a record of every patient who walked into Esdaile’s clinic in Hooghly complaining of pain, the subsequent interaction that took place between the doctor and the patient, usually in the form of a simple sequence of questions and answers, and a description of the procedure by which the patient was treated. The documentation of Esdaile’s controversial clinical practice offers several important insights into the practice of parrhesia (a theory of truth-telling proposed by Foucault) in conjunction with the practice of mesmerism as medicine. Within the annals of medical history, clinical egodocuments such as Esdaile’s surgical diary exemplify the emergence of a difficult relationship between the historical subject and the desire to speak the truth. It reveals how a unique moment in colonial medical history becomes emblematic of a negative relationship with the parrhesiastic act.

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Section: Faux-parrhesia: a Problem Of Historicitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Parrhesia and Clinical Practice: A Case Study of Dr. Esdaile’s Mesmeric Hospital in Hooghly

Rajendran¹

2021

rupkatha

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“…[ 5 ] He utilized it as a pain relieving technique during the surgeries he performed and also in some cases of mental problems. [ 6 ] Due to favorable reviews of his peers, he also received official support for the establishment of an experimental mesmeric hospital near Kolkata (Report of the Committee Appointed by Government to Observe and Report upon Surgical Operations by Dr. J. Esdaile…., 1846).…”

Section: Why An Indian History Of Psychiatry?mentioning

confidence: 99%

History of psychiatry: An Indian perspective

2018

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A knowledge of history becomes important in learning the way concepts have evolved and how they are understood in different and conflicting traditions in psychiatry. Modern psychiatry and its history has always been observed through the prism of western science which has its own evolutionary line in which the eastern sciences can’t fit and are always at a disadvantage. Especially the colonial bid to prove its legitimacy as a civilizing mission led to representation of European medicine as morally superior to the eastern practices resulting in a biased history. Though in reality, the history of psychiatry is heterogeneous and consists of many different scientific and cultural traditions which vary between populations. hence the Indian concept of “unmada” can’t be compared or conformed to “schizophrenia” without addressing its cultural and historical contexts. Many suggest that in case of Indian patients, an understanding of illness through a Vedantic model of psych seems more appealing in comparison to the western constructs, as such an attitude has been transferred over generations. Therefore, a knowledge of history of psychiatry, especially from an Indian perspective becomes important.

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“…His professional activities created much controversy from 1846 to 1849 -in Great Britain (Winter, 1998) as much as in India. Esdaile experimented with mesmerism and applied it successfully as a method of pain relief and in cases of mental problems and some minor illnesses (Ernst, 1995). Esdaile had his Indian patients put 'under the influence' by his 'native' Indian assistants prior to and during major surgical operations.…”

Section: Mesmerism In British Indiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Quite the opposite. Newspaper articles as well as government committee reports on his practice published during the 1840s and 1850s in India and Britain frequently likened Esdaile (or at least placed him precariously close) to the variously discredited procedures of mesmeric tricksters and performers who at the time caused much concern and scepticism among representatives of the scientific communities in Britain and France (Ernst, 1995;Gauld, 1992;Winter, 1998). The mesmeric spectacle and the hysteria-like fascination of the wider public with its extraordinary effects was taken by many conventionally trained medical professionals and representatives of the sciences as proof for the insincerity and, in consequence, of the unscientific nature of mesmerism.…”

Section: Mesmerism In British Indiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Colonial Psychiatry, Magic and Religion. The Case of Mesmerism in British India

Ernst

2004

Hist Psychiatry

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This article is concerned with the development of early nineteenth-century Western medicine and psychiatry in relation to religion and magic during British colonial rule in India. The case of mesmerism is taken to illustrate that 'colonial medicine/psychiatry in India' itself was plural in nature, being made up of a variety of different, at times competing, strands. Religious connotations and references to spiritual enlightenment increasingly posed a peculiar problem to emerging Western science-based medicine in the nineteenth century. Mesmerism was met with as much hostility by an emerging Western medical orthodoxy as indigenous medical systems. The affiliation of mesmerism with Indian magical practices and religious customs contributed to its marginalization - despite or, rather, because of its popularity among members of the Indian nobility and middle classes, Indian patients and practitioners. The case of mesmerism also shows that awareness both of the domineering power of a gradually emerging medical 'imagined' mainstream and an analysis of the complex challenges faces by heterodoxy (as much as by orthodoxy) facilitate a more critical understanding of the development of colonial medicine and psychiatry in the East as well as, arguably, of medicine and psychiatry in Britain itself.

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‘Under the influence’ in British India: James Esdaile's Mesmeric Hospital in Calcutta, and its critics

Cited by 9 publications

References 1 publication

Parrhesia and Clinical Practice: A Case Study of Dr. Esdaile’s Mesmeric Hospital in Hooghly

Parrhesia and Clinical Practice: A Case Study of Dr. Esdaile’s Mesmeric Hospital in Hooghly

History of psychiatry: An Indian perspective

Colonial Psychiatry, Magic and Religion. The Case of Mesmerism in British India

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