Silas Weir Mitchell

Biography

• Born on February 15, 1829 in Philadelphia
• 1849 – Intern, Pennsylvania Hospital of Philadelphia. Along with William Alexander Hammond (1828 – 1900) he described the neurological aspects of venomous snakebite
• Died on January 4, 1914 in Philadelphia

Medical Eponyms

• Causalgia
• Erythromelalgia
• The Tendon Hammer
• Early description of Horner syndrome

Major Publications

• Mitchell SW. ‘A Peculiar contraction‘. Reported by Walter F Atlee. In: Proceedings of Biological Department the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. March 1859: II (Physiology): 5-6
• Mitchell SW, Morehouse GR, Keen WW. Chapter IV: Wounds of special nerves; wound of the sympathetic nerve. in: Gunshot Wounds and Other Injuries of Nerves. 1864: 39-44 [Horner syndrome]
• Mitchell SW. Wear and tear, or, Hints for the overworked. 1871
• Mitchell SW. Fat and Blood: An Essay on the Treatment of Certain Forms of Neurasthenia and Hysteria. 1883
• Mitchell SW. In War Time. 1884
• Mitchell SW. Lectures on Diseases of the Nervous System: Especially in Women. 1885
• Mitchell SW, Reichert ET. Researches upon the venoms of poisonous serpents. Smithsonian Institution. 1896.
• Mitchell SW. Clinical Lessons on Nervous Diseases. 1897
• Mitchell SW. Doctor and patient. 1897
• Mitchell SW. The autobiography of a quack and other stories. 1905
• Mitchell SW. Characteristics. 1913

References

Biography

Eponymous terms

• Louis ED. Weir Mitchell’s 1859 demonstration of “a peculiar contraction” produced by a percussion hammer. Neurology 2008; 70: 969-973