Mitchell, Silas Weir, 1829-1914

Dates:
Birth 1829-02-15
Death 1914-01-04
Gender:
Male
Americans
English

Biographical notes:

Silas Weir Mitchell was a Philadelphia physician and author. After graduating from medical school, he studied in Europe, joined his father's practice, and ran Turner's Lane Hospital in Philadelphia during the Civil War, becoming the preeminent American neurologist of his generation. In addition to numerous medical papers and texts, he published popular novels, short stories, poetry, and essays.

Born on 15 Feb. 1829, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was a son of physician John Kearsley Mitchell. He married Mary Middleton Elwyn (d. 1862), in 1856, then Mary Cadwalader, in 1875. He had two sons from his first marriage and a daughter from his second. Mitchell died of pneumonia on 4 Jan. 1914, in Philadelphia.

Mitchell received an M.D. from Jefferson Medical College in 1850. He then studied in Paris with Claude Bernard. During the Civil War, he was an assistant surgeon and studied gunshot wounds. Mitchell was a pioneer in the development of the rest cure to treat nervous disorders, toxicology, physiology of the cerebellum, and opium research, and was closely associated with the Philadelphia Orthopaedic Hospital and Infirmary for Nervous Diseases. He was elected to fellowship in the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1856 and twice held the office of president.

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Subjects:

  • Authors, American
  • American Civil War
  • Authors
  • Authors and publishers
  • Gunshot wounds
  • Lectures and lecturing
  • Military personnel
  • Nervous system
  • Nervous system
  • Peripheral Nerve Injuries
  • Peripheral Nervous System Diseases
  • Physicians
  • Physicians
  • Physicians
  • Physicians
  • Physicians as authors
  • Poetry
  • Smithsonian Publications
  • Nervous system
  • Physicians
  • Physicians
  • Physicians

Occupations:

  • Novelists, American
  • Authors
  • Collector
  • Educators
  • Neurologists
  • Physicians
  • Physicians
  • Poets
  • Poets, French
  • Physicians

Places:

  • Philadelphia, PA, US
  • Philadelphia, PA, US

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