Westways

Silas Weir Mitchell (1829-1914) was an American physician and writer. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, and received the degree of M. D. at Jefferson Medical College in 1850. His medical texts include Injuries of Nerves and Their Consequences (1872) and Fat and Blood (1877). In 1863 he wrote a clever short story, combining physiological and psychological problems, entitled The Case of George Dedlow, in the Atlantic Monthly Magazine. Thenceforward Dr Weir Mitchell, as a writer, divided his attention between professional and literary pursuits. His historical novels, Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker (1897), The Adventures of Francois (1898) and The Red City (1909), take high rank in this branch of fiction. He was also Charlotte Perkins Gilman's doctor and his use of a rest cure on her provided the idea for The Yellow Wallpaper, a short story in which the narrator is driven insane by her rest cure.