| Show I I 1 i i AI il I I = THE I 1 OLDEST STORY WRITER IN AMERICA I il 111 T I I J 1 t Ita t Id fit A s I I Dr I S Weir Mitchell the Author I tIt I of Hugh VynneVf I I g I 1IU I It Eli f 1 I 4 Career the Author Physician I b I I l His Professional Experiences 1 tt S I X Fitted Him Admirably For I I IlI j I i i Iq J 41 1 1 Fiction t Writing Accidental il j h I A J i Ii I dental Publication of k His First Period 1 II J ical Contribution 0 Dr Holmes 0 I I Nl Advice I I I I ri I ICOP7llhtUS9J I I I I J I Philadelphia Feb Dr II Weir I Mitchell the oldest story writer in il i 1 II America whose novel Hugh Wynne I k t Tree Quaker has reached a sale rising j ot 50000 conies honestly by his unusual iliJ f abilities both medical and literary 1 I fI = hC raichlI I I His grandfather Alexander I Mitchell 1 I 1 > 1 of Virginia was of Scotch birth and one 1 fil I 44 11 of the ablest physicians In tho valley f tI of Virginia 1 arly In life Dr John K I I I 4 I Ob I Mitchell father of the present author j i I physician established hln felt In Ihlla I Ii dr J V11 r I f c delphla Here both as a practitioner III 1i and ns a professor In the Jefferson Mcd II d leal college he carried 1 wide reputation It I I as a leader In hi Is profession He was 1 41 one of the Oil to to make scientific Inv f I ligation t magnetism or I hypnotism as we now term It II 1 il j orIginal studies of fevers were much In Pg J advance ot his time and his l contributions I contribu-tions I to medical literature of the day l R4il 1 I were generally recognized He also I tt at l I wrote several poems and one or two i lories ot merit Two ot his lyrics v 11 fr hON yh The Old Song and the New Bong and jt ti I Pr trio Lea once had a wide popularity I f Ir 11 I 11 i A popu-larity B Weir Mitchell was one aJ I I right children of whom two sisters and I 4 r111 1 J 4 Z I I l a brother survive Three ot tho brothers I q I broth-ers served In the civil war I I 1IYl 11 Dr Mitchells boyhood was passed I I timid the give and lake of a large I fam I I I l I lly the members of which were con 1 slanlly spurred to Intellectual activity i l through the example of a father at all I r f times mentally alert who constantly IIi11 t 11 encouraged his children In discussions of t3 4 I the literature of their own and earlier 0 I I times The boys natural trend toward I r If l Ii letters was also greatly fostered by his it i lF 1 freedom of his fathers large library a is i freedom that Ives restricted t In I one par Inn Iq I 4 ticular onlythe classics were withheld f I until the lad was old enough In his 1f 1 II I I t i o 1 1 lot father n Judgment to read with I dls r J r Jj iij tl1 I 71 cornment I am Informed that an early jGI1 I 4 number of The Century Magailne will 1 1 1 4 j contain a poem from Dr Mitchell pen I ll telling how he was allowed when a boy M f M J I I oc 15 to oren a volume ot Shakespeare 1 I 101 for the first lime Henry V was se 1 J f 4 ll fi t I lectcd for the tll initial rending t J I I Dr Mitchell entered the University of it 9 i Pennsylvania I at 15 years of age Intending I ILL I r I t 1 il I tending to take the full urn but was I I f i ur-n 4 obliged to leave the Institution with N l 1r rut graduating owing I to A Iona Illness I l IW gnr r I I which attacked his rather and broke un ifJ I 1jII I i l I 1 lat the sons studies in his senior year At this I time he decided to study medl I tine It I In I w1I known by the friends of the Mitchell family tint the doctor la her did not me Promise of success In tho son s abilities and moreover that he predicted failure until after the I oung man hnd been studying for sometime some-time This prediction was proved a mistaken one years before the father di ath In 1M though even then no one could have foreseen the full measure of rucceas that was in More for the son It Is I only natural under the circumstances circum-stances that S Weir Mitchell should make verses when but n boy and that he should Continue to write after he hal begun the practice of medicine When a lad he attracted the notice of Oilier Wendell Holmoi at the table of Dr John K Mitchell I and ho so pleased r I oh the older poet that he rave him a copy of Ills iBallal of the Constitution I I I I I I at I I I I I 1 I It 7 gN 1 I I l V k V 1k All1k h I NN 1 I V W TL J which Is I itlll Raid to be among the prized possessions of the author ot Hugh Wynn When late Dr lI1ch ell at 27 derided to print it i mall vol urnsi 01 verse It was referred by the Publishers Ticknor Fields to Dr Holme for consideration A a Is I well known from the statement made In the dedlratlon of one of DrMltchIIa books Dr Jlolm advised Dr Mitchell to Withdraw these verses and to reconld Or them at 40 Dr Holmes Impred strongly upon his younger friend tho belief that a man could not nctlvy and with equal success conIdr two thIng or substantially apart u mdl One and literature The even or eight Years Immediately preceding the civil war were years ot great Activity for Dr MltchlI lie had Ilia Place to make no a practitioner but whll this In I often quite enough for mn ot more than average ability It lacked a good deal of fulWodcuprilti All his time and energy Ho launched nt onco Into the writing of paper on med leal and allied topics the Drst of which was published In 1st and before the Jecnde between IbO and 18CO van tar Advanced he had 1 begun A series of pa tlent researches Into the nature nr poisons particularly the chemical n I lure of snake venoms Early In the sixties a large and handsomely jllu trate1 1 quarto volume containing the to < suits or Dr Mitchells wok In regard to rattlesnake poison wa brought out by the Smithsonian Institution This wits undouMellly the mot valuable work of origInal research yet published upon up-on the subject and While no Dr Mitchell Mitch-ell says It contained some errors since corrcctd by himself and others no one has Increased the store ot Information contained between Its covers concerning the habit anatomy and physiology of serpents Litter this subject wa Again I taken up by Dr Mitchell aided by ISO r r J tl Reichert of the University of Perinsyl f vanIa and this Investigation resulted In an elegant quarto volume with Illustration Illus-tration which In matorUtly advanced advanc-ed the kno vlode < of stake poisons eomon tritfng for the fit time that such polstm in I not simple but complex and multiple Other contribution to man knowledge of reptiles appeared from time to time from Dr Mitchells pn and he IIIL over and over resumed Ills Investigations In I this direction Quite recently he rend an Important paper pa-per upon crotnlus Poison before the National Academy of Science This will I shortly appear In print In 1S61 Dr Mitchell entered upon three years work as I an urmy surgeon I serving first In the Christian Street hlladelphla hospital and later In the Turner Lane hospital He had special charge of soldiers suffering from nrV I 1 I 11 Y I I I 11 I I I 17 o fir I V I l I 1 v I 9 I 0 I t J I I 51 I p Ii I ft51Z6 i A 9 N 1 I A i el 6 41 1 1 W I I I tyft g I 1 I 1 i lg f I I I rlg V 1 77iX I I I CA 1 Dn S WrIll MITCIIELL I Z 1 4 I fyky V ji 1 I 10 I 11I ou is disorders and wounds of nerves His experiences In tho army hospital brought Into being a volume on Con hot Wounds and Other Injuries of the orNerves Nerves written In collabikratlon with rofesaor W W Keen nniTDr George Storehouse It contained much that man entirely new concerning nerve InJuries In-Juries and nervous disorders and was followed In 1872 by a much larger work on similar lines by Dr Mitchell alone This volume Is I today considered the great storehouse ot facts concerning InJuries In-Juries 01 the nerveqand their disorders and has been liberally drawn upon by medical writers In the preparation or other books A contribution to the remote re-mote history of these cases has been made by Dr John K Mitchell Dr Mitchell son In a highly original volume vol-ume the title of which Is I History at Nerve Lesions Dr MltchII numerous papers on diseases of the nerves led to his being extensively consulted anti 1 to a change la his career which took hIm out ot gn fral practice and gtabliallod him 1 I an on authority I t upon almost every full of chronic llfeac but especially upon its eases of he nervous sjstetn About 13 years ago he lectured In Baltimore upon what Is I now known In America as tile rest treatment and In Europe as tile Weir Mitchell treatment At first this treatment was laughed at on both sides of the Atlantic Eminent authorities here and abroad declared It to be an absurdity almost too extravagant for serious consideration while Its reported results were considered far too brilliant for belief It has rescued numberless Cb I F I i P = = A IPA I victims of hysteria and neurasthenia and Ion II ngo won rcognltlonIn the practice of the most eminent physicians I physi-cians All told Dr Mitchells scientific and professional publications papers pamphlets pam-phlets and volumes Issue from I8S to 1834 Inclusive number 127 Every nor n-or them Is the result of original personal Investigation and they are mostly brief He has been asked more than once to compile voluminous textbooks but he has always declined on the ground that he Is I not willing to undertake labor In Which he mint depend almost altogether upon the brains and work of other per i one Ills serious literary career was seemIngly seem-Ingly not begun until 1883 Then after having bend the wise decree of Dr Holmes In devoting himself heart and soul to his profession for nearly 21 years Dr Mitchell felt that he could return to tho pen he had once loved and use It again for the writing of other things than scientific disquisitions In reality hU experience In hospitals and as gen rnl practltlonr had served him mot admirably an n preliminary reheat for the tully ot human nature and there Is I not the slightest doubt that his power as A fiction writer Is I In great part derived de-rived from the wonderfully Varied store 01 human experiences which he has bn able to lay up during his professional career Dr Mitchell first contribution to the periodical press came about by acrl dent and the story thereof which has probably not been In print before comen to me from n perfectly reliable source In this form Some time after the clone 01 the war he wa one day humorously discussing with friends tho question as to whether loss ot physical members Involved loss of any portion of ones Individuality An a result 01 that discussion he wrote out the supnoiltltlous cape ot ono George DdlolV vbo had urrrd the nmputa tlon of both arms and both legs I Tho paper wa an exceedingly clever one and h I A description and discussions were 11 lent it 10 tile list l1r Furne s nnd h thlnl Inll I It would be rad Wltb Intrct trread b hie friend tdwar 4 < Cvr1t In onl 11 to n him I vii lrTho lr I in at that tlm 121nucti Atlantic Mnuily dhlg rallied eye at Once noted It aluo I ot the paper as a contribution to Ills Periodlen I I It sconic d at such value I Indeed that lrchi he the leading article for the number thn about it to 110 10 Press wax lilted out or tile forms ando The Case Of Gorgo Dedlovf was hurriedly sub tltutM It Was Published 1 anonynbu Iy and Dr MltchIIs 1 first Intimation Of the ft wa Afforded by the recep lion Of a letter from Dr note Inclosime with the proof 1 liberal 1 check and complimenting the author on the fees neon unconventionality gild r6wer or his work Born ot my readers may re member tile sketch It wa written In such realistic fashion an to cause sub crlr lions to be raised foe the Imol nary George Dedlow support and com fort An extended discussion ot the I case followed In the newspapers and i It waa name time before It was under stool that no such arrithiss legless Ded i low really existed Dr Mitchell did hOt In any sense Abandon medicine when ho took up the writer pen Ho still attends to hi Practice with all his old tlmo vigor nor has ha ceased writing on scientific topics His 1 literary output Includes several novels a number of short stories four volume or poems and a book ot fairy tales His poem have not attracted as much attention as his other literary writings but this may be because the public has been chary of giving attentIon atten-tIon to tho metrical productions ot a writer known for year os a profession al man only At all events tho Hill of Stones The Masque The Cup of Youth The Mother and other of his Iom are full of power Imagination and true poetic grace It Is I Interesting to note thai he has Introduced a distinct pathological por trallure Into every one ot his novels Thus In Hugh Wynn he has traced with unerring hand tin progress of the crumbling ot the Intellectual powers roused by senile decay In Far In the Foret a prominent character ant rare front homicidal melancholia In Roland Blake the disease thus lie plcted is I hysteria and In the story now appearing In Century another form of mental malady Is portrayed In which the person affected is I subject to alternate al-ternate fits ot intense elation and melancholy mel-ancholy It Is I manifest that no writer who has not passed through professional experiences experi-ences somewhat like Dr Mitchell successfully Introduce euch portraitures Into fiction and that his long profess s tonal career has given him advantages In writing certainly as Important as any lie may have missed by postponing his entrance to the literary arena so many year Dr Mitchell does his literary writing In the summer time On June 1 he loaves Philadelphia and goes to Canada Cana-da where ho flolies for salmon on some ot the Canadian rivers Then he goes to his summer horn at Dar arbor It Is I there that lie writes when he feels Inclined In the mornings unUl he Is I rally to return to Philadelphia He does all ot his writings with the penIle pen-Ile never dictates this work and It Is I well known that be puts an unusual amount or labor on da stories Though h e writes rapidly and with ease hem > he-m never satisfied with his work as first written It Is I stated that there Is I nol a chapter of Importance In Hugh Wynne for Instance that was not written at least twice before It was sent to the printer and thai some chap tr were thus dealt with three times Beside Dr Mitchell almost I Inti nnlnaWj r I correct his I root Dr rtbm elon I g Ift tI Ce L of a V is of Dr 1 In 1 4 a d P i 11IVeRY I 01 PorinsillB111res t of If to A to tilt HIOnal men nor I t 111111arl CAP401 I Tle a oei I other S O a Poetical rt Is Well known Suc lllllhe I ratlons In I it rare thlol la tillaycoa 00 try tout not rarer than s Careers a that Of the such 1cf Author Wynn which of Hugli may be three distinct part Inventiall dIvIdd Int purely scientific nature Ott At 4 Medical JnvtlllaUon cllnleal 101 I ana the tlon ot Pure Proill poetry a at Dr MllcheU Was February 1839 1110 born halth 01 the 1lb t 01 excellent for one no adaned contnUq In t arean C1AnLts I AIPJt 13t |
