[A shoulder operation in 1878 on the Juliette Gide, mother of André Gide, by the doctors Brouardel and Berger].

A hitherto unpublished letter, very probably of 6 July 1878, written by Anna Shackleton to Claire Démarest, gives a detailed description of an operation conducted in Paris the previous day by Drs. Paul Brouhardel and Paul Berger to reduce a month-old dislocated shoulder. The shoulder in question is that of Juliette Gide, the mother of the famous French writer André Gide. Anna Shackleton was the Rouen-born English ex-governess of the adolescent Juliette (Claire's younger sister) who had become her close friend. The operation takes place in the Gide family apartment and involves five other medical staff assisting the two supervising doctors, both of whom, Brouardel in particular, were to follow brilliant careers. Under chloroform for an hour the patient undergoes distraction effected by ropes attached to her body and arm and to the door and window of the family dining-room where a temporary bed has been installed. Thanks to her robust constitution and to the skill of the seven-strong medical team, Juliette Gide eventually regains full use of her arm.