Silas Weir Mitchell
Silas Weir Mitchell (1829-1914) was an American physician and writer
Best known for his discovery of causalgia (complex regional pain syndrome type II or CRPS II) and erythromelalgia.
Weir Mitchell was possibly the first to describe tendon reflexes in 1859 as a ‘peculiar contraction‘, ahead of Wilhelm Heinrich Erb and Carl Westphal in 1875. Mentor to John Madison Taylor, the inventor of the tendon hammer in 1888
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
