Arthur Thomas Myers

“ Esdaile felt the imprudence of a hasty adoption of chloroform under all circumstances, inasmuch as there could be little doubt that occasionally its dangers were greater than those of mesmerism, and in India its results might be only a little more certain. He stayed on in Calcutta for three more years, neglecting his opportunities for making a large private practice, though he was still further promoted to be marine surgeon in 1850. His interest in mesmerism continued to be very keen. ”

“ In all he records 261 painless operations of his own under mesmerism, some very severe, with a death-rate of about 51⁄2 per cent. He left Calcutta 1 June 1851, as soon as his twenty years of service were up, though he was only forty-three, 'for,' to use his own words, 'I detested the climate, the country, and all its ways, from the moment I first set foot in it.' He went to live near Perth, declined any further professional practice, and for a time occupied himself in recording and explaining his past doings. ”

“ Esdaile was generally regarded as an eminently honest and practical enthusiast. After the first year of this mesmeric practice he had accumulated more than a hundred cases of these anesthetic operations, and reported the results to the government, whereupon the deputy-governor of Bengal, Sir Herbert Maddock, appointed as a first test a committee of seven members, four of whom were medical men, to report on Esdaile's surgical operations. ”