Authentic documents relative to the miraculous cure of Winefrid White, of Wolverhampton, at St. Winefrid's Well, alias Holywell, in Flintshire, on the 28th of June 1805 : with observations thereon / by the R.R. J--- M-----.

  • John Milner
Date:
1806
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Authentic documents relative to the miraculous cure of Winefrid White, of Wolverhampton, at St. Winefrid's Well, alias Holywell, in Flintshire, on the 28th of June 1805 : with observations thereon / by the R.R. J--- M-----. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    guishittg state, owing to an internal disorder, accompanied with the most fatal symptoms. These brought on an eiH Jargement of the vertebrae, with a relaxation of the liga- ments, and a paralytic affection, particularly of the left side ; so that, at length, the patient could not hold her- self upright, nor move herself from place to place, except in the most feeble manner, and by help of a crutch, placed under her right arm. In attempting to afford her relief I administered to her, from time to time, every remedy that Dr. Underhill, then of Tettenhall, who occasionally visited her, prescribed, or that seemed to myself calculated for this purpose; and, in particular, to relieve the aforesaid enlargement of the vertebrae, I, with the advice of the said Doctor, cut an issue on each side of it,* which issues were kept open for several months. But all this proved ineffectual, and, to speak the truth, I considered her case as incurable, and that her dissolution could not be far dis- tant. My last professional visit to her was on the 14th of August, 1804; but I have frequently seen her and con- versed with her since, without discovering any change in her for the better, down to the 22d or 23d of last June; being two or three days before she is reported to have made a journey to Holywell, in Flintshire.—At the latter end of the ensuing month, viz. July, she being then re- turned from her journey, I met her in the streets, to my utter astonishment, walking with as much firmness, vigour and agility as any other young person of her age. All the above mentioned fatal symptoms, as she declares, and I have reason to believe, have disappeared. The ligaments of the vertebrae are contracted and firm, as I ascertained * Mr. Stubbs acknowledges that he considered this patient’s case to belong to that species of palsy arising from « curvature of the spine, which is treated of by the learned Percival Pott, in vol. iii. p. 353. of his chirurgical works. He accordingly treated it in the manner re- commended by that eminent practitioner.
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