[Page 1]

Mr D Maclean

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[Page 2]

Yow will receive this from
Mr Thos. Naismith together with a
Guinea Note. I have mentioned in the
Latter part of my Case that I would
wait Your own Conveniance for an
Answer but as Mr Naismith Staid Some
weeks longer than I Expected I would be
Glad of your Answer as Soon as is Conven¬
ient for yow to Send it -----

and in regard of my Condition if yow Can
think of any Method of Braving the
Solids and taking that Extream Sence¬
cibility off the Nerves So as I might
be Capable of standing the open air
again it would be Doing me an Esential
favour but I am Much afraid that it
Has too long a Seat in the Constitution
to remove and that I would not regard
a farthing if there were any prospect of
Getting out of it by Death it Self; but the[re]
is little prospect of that instantly for two
Principle reasons the one is -- My vital
Organs is no more Afected than the rest
of the System and the Other is my Having
a Conciderable apatite for vitls although
I were very Conciderably Disordered and
which Still preserves Life; and Concludes
with Sincearly Hoping that Yow will put
Me upon a method for the Best if a Cure
is Ordained, and am with Due Respect
Sir your Most Obedient Most Humble
Servant

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[Page 3]

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[Page 4]

Dr.. Cullen Professor
of Physic
Edinburgh
In favour of
Mr Naismith
with one Guinea

✍

{illeg}
June 1. 1779.
V. X. p. 28

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[Page 5]

This is to Acquaint Yow
with my Case which I Darsay Yow
will find as Singular as any that
Even Yow mete with in All the Course
of Yowr Extencive practise ----

I have Been this Eight Years in a
very poor Condition notwithstanding
all the Application to Mediciens for the
Most part of that time my Desorder
Has Baffled all Attemps - and in Stade
Of reaping any Benifite from Mediciens
It is them Alone that has Destroyed my
Constitution alltogether ---- and after
that I had been tired with making Aplicati↑on↑
to the Doctors in this place to no purpos
for a Conciderable time - I went out to
Edinburgh in December: 1773 with an
Intention to Consulte the faculty and
Accordingly I Consulted Dr Munrow
and Dr Hope but Yow at that time I
Could not Get a Consultation of on
Account for when I inqueared for yow
I was Informed that yow would Give
no attention to Patients on Account
that yow had at that time a son Dang¬
erously Ill of a fever - which Misfortune
I have lamented many times Since
And as for Dr Munrows prescription
and Dr Hopes I was not one wheat
the Better of them more then any
thing that I had tried before ----

So in order that Yow may form a
Proper Judgment upon my

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[Page 6]

Disorder it will be proper to Begin
with a Description how it first atackd
me which was very Simplie but has
Turned out a very Great Misfortune ---

So to begine with the Circumstances
a Good many Years ago I was Going for
Glasgow from our Place and Just as I Set
out I hapned to Streak my foot against
the End of a Stobe of timber which pained
my big Toe a little but I never minded it
Much but went on for Several miles
and then I found the pain incressing Con¬
ciderable and advancing up the in Side of
the foot and then Seasing the out Side So
that I had not Gone half a Scoar of miles
untill my whole ancle was Strained So
as not to walk withowt Conciderable pain
So with the pain of it I throw the weight of
the Body a Great Deal more upon the
other Leg which in a Shorte time Strained
it also -- and when I Came home I applied
to a Doctor and he Desired me to Rubb them
with the Emmolieant Ointment which I
Did and found that it Eased the pain of
the ancles Greatly and removed a Great
Heat that was in them to the Soals of my
feet which in the Summor was very
Troublesom but in the winter it Did
me no harm for Some Seasons - but
my Occopation being attended with a Great
Deal of fatigue for I Drove horse packs
for Several

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[Page 7]

Years I found the Heat Still increasing
Every Spring and likways my legs
Began to apear Swelled and the heat
to afect them also but I Did not mind
that for that Season as I was as
Stout otherways both in body and
Constitution as the most of Men but
finding the next spring that the Swe¬
aling as well as the heat Still Continuing
to increas. I thought I would make
application to a Doctor in order to
Extrigate it if possable So He Desired
me to Physick Strongly which I Did
ofer and ofer to no purpos in the least
So when he found that I reaped no
Benefite from lenatove Physick he
Desired me to try Mercurial which I
Did ofen times but in Stade of receiving
any Benefite from it it raither
Increased my Disorder for it weakned
my whole Boddy my legs Swelled a
little before but much more after I
applied to it So after as long a trust of
Physicing as any man Ever tried for
I Darsay that I have Physicked several
Hundreds of times Since I have been
attended with this Disorder which Yow
may think increditable but is no less
True - I was advised to the Bark and
Continowed at it for a Good while and
it had the Contrary Efect of the physicks
for they Did me Eminent harm but it
Did me a Great Deal of Good at that
time which was the only

---

[Page 8]

Medicen that Ever I reaped the least Ben¬
ifite from either before or Since and only
from it at that time but never after
and although I found my Self Greatly
Strengthned by it the Heat Still remained
in the Swels of my feet I was advised by
a Doctor in our place to Go to a Sulphour
well they Call the Chilloch and Drink and
Bath and accordingly I Did but had not been
there but a few Days untill it Swelled my
legs to a Greater pitch than Ever they were
and made the heat in them and the Swels
perfitely unsuferable So I afterwards
Bathed in the Mineral water warmed
Several times which Still increased the
Disorder the wors and Relaxed the Boddy
So much that I was Obliged to leave it
at four weeks end much mors than when
I went to it but although that the Mineral
water raged me So much Inwardly and
Relaxed me so much it Did not break
Me out in the least -- and when I Came
Home my legs being Greatly Swelled
and a burning Heat in them I tried
Scarrifying Several times to no purpo[s]
but to weaken me then I had recours to a
Doctor Again and he Desired me to Drink
a Decoction of a Root I think they Call it
the Misrean So I Drank five Ounces of it
and it Struck me out Over the whole Boddy
the legs Excepted to a Great Degree ----
for the legs never Struck out in the Smal¬
lest Degree notwithstanding all the Appli¬
cations that I tried for that purpos and
the Disorder that Continualy raged in

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[Page 9]

them and always the more that I took
the to Streat me out it only Served to in¬
rage the Disorder in the legs but never
the to Ease them in the least - and if the
Legs had been never So Swelled at neigh↑t↑"
they were always Suampe in the morn¬
ing - and Soposing they had been
swelled to never Such a pitch they nevr
would a Pitted in the Smallest Degree
and if I had Drunk but the Skein of a
Gill of any Kind of Ardent Spirits
I would found the Efects of it Immediat¬
ely at the Swels of my feet and the
Palms of my Hands increasing the Heat
very Conciderabley - But I had no heat
in the Palms of my hands before I Drank
of that Root before mentioned ----
and I always found that with moist
weather that my legs was most Swelled
and when there would Come a Tract of
Dry weather they were most natureal
and my whole Boddy more Stronge
then the next Spring after I left the Min¬
eral well I Brock Out Over the Boddy
to a very Great Degree but the out-
Breaking never Resembled a Scur¬
vey but always made its Apearance
like a Common Outbreaking or Itch
then I went to a Doctor again and told
Him my Condition and as he had found
Every other thing to feal that he had pre¬
scribed before he thought it Expedient
that I Should Go in to a

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[Page 10]

Salivation which I attemped to Do
But all the Mercury that I ↑t↑ook I Spitted
nothing more then Ordinar -- but it
Sweeted me Excessively and Brock me
Out to a most terrable Degree all but
the legs and it increased the heat in
them almost beyont a possability of
Suffring -- then when the Doctor
Seed that I would not Spitt any he
Rubbed my legs with the unction
and in Stade of promoting a Salivation
it threw all the Disorder to my Stomach
and Suamped my legs intearly but made
me perfitely Heart Seek -- then he Give
me Physick which took the Disorder
Doun again and I turned better at the Hear↑t↑
But the Swelling and heat of my legs
Just turned as bad as before not withsta¬
nding all the Matter that went off
Both by Sweeting and breaking out
But Some weeks after when I Began
to Recuver Some Strength I thought
my legs Some what Easier but that
Continued but for a Shorte time -----
the Mercury made the Disorder
work in a Diferent and form then it
Did before it was only attended with
a Heat and Swelling before but After
the Mercury my legs was in a Contin¬
ual motion the Musels always in an
alternate Contraction and Relaxation
and many other parts of the Boddy as well
as the

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[Page 11]

Legs But was attended with no pain
only a perpetual loping through the flesh
So this was the length that My Desorders
Had Arived to in the Year 1773
when I went Out to Edinburgh
and when I returned home I applied to
Dr Munrows Receipt Regularly for Seven
weeks to the Same purpos that I had
as all formar Medicens had been applied
to and Dr Hopes in like manner to the
Same Efect - which Receipts I intend to Afix
then when all that I had tried had failed I
was advised to the Salt water and I Dran↑k↑"
Every Other Day a quart for four weeks
and afterwards Bathed Ofen but received
no benefite of (↑from↑) Aither but found my Self
Conciderably weakned by it -- then I had
recours to a Earb they Call Threefoil
to the Decoction and Tincture of the woods
to Blistring to Excess to Blooding with Gils
all which Tended ↑only↑ to Swell the Legs wors
then a Doctor Advised me to put in A pea
in Each leg and Accordingly I Did and
which Turned out almost among the
[Destructinest?] applications that Ever I tried
for Eighteen months after I put them in
I found no benefite from them but not a
Great Deal of Sencable harm but the last
Six months that I keeped them in I Being
very much troubled with proud flesh was
Desired to put in Peas infused for Some time
in viteroal in them -- which I Continoued
to Do for Six Months and which Application
made me to loose more than ↑half↑ a Gill of Blood
Everey morning, as Soon as I rose out of
Bed and Stood Erect the Blood would run
to the Ground besides the mater that Continualy
went off and after I had them in for Two

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[Page 12]

Years I took them Out But Did not take
them Out but untill I had recours to another
Application which Proved the most fattal
of all -- But Before I inform You of that
Application I think it proper to let you know
that I was incisted upon to trie that Mineral
well that I had been at before and the Doctor
told me that my not reaping any Benefite
from it before was Owing to my not being
Brocken Out and as I was So now I would
not fail to be the Better of it So accordingly
I went to it Again and Continued Drinking
and Bathing now and them for Six weeks and
I found that it Did not Disorder my legs So
much as it Did before which I imputing to
to the Ishowes the humors Getting more
freely vent --- but it weakned me to a very
Great Degree and when the Cold weather
Com on I found that I Could not Stand the
Cold as I had formerly Don but when the Spring
Came I recovered a little --- then my Blood
Being So teribly reduced I was advised to
Several restoratives Such as the Bark Stren¬
gthening Erbs Honey and Sweet Milk Sweet milk
with Loaf Sugar Some times with Brandy
and Some times with Rum - But I found that
Medicens for a Consumption of Every Kind
Disagreed with me very much -- then there
Came a Doctor to this place and he Advised me
Strongly to the Tent wine which he Said
would {illeg} (↑recover the↑) Blood if any thing in the world
would Do it -- So I Sent to Liverpool for some
of it and took it for a Conciderable time but
fund that it Relaxed and Desordred me
more then any thing that I had taken for

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[Page 13]

Long and I not having Any Suspition of
its Opning Balmy nature took no more
Care of my Self then Ordinar for having Some
Buseness in the Country I road Several
miles and returned home and had no more
feelings of Disorder that night then usewall
But m next morning I was Conciderabley
feverish and as I had Ofen Dun Since I turned
So weak I Attemped to throw it off by
forsing a Sweet but unfortunately I Did not
Change my flannels after it as usewall
and the Day after I found my Self Still Seeker
and I proceeded for five Days to fors Switting
always thinking to throw off the fever but
nevertheless it Still incressed and at then
I Changed my flannels but they lying So
Long wete about me and I being So weak
Before together with Such a Conciderable
Exoust Brought a Great Coldness over
the Body and all the Disorder took the
Stomach as it always Did when I Goat any
Great Cold and my legs would Swampe
Derectly but then I would be Always feveres↑h↑
when it was in the Stomach but It formarly
would left the Stomach in a Shorte time
if I had Keeped warm but at that time noth¬
ing would remuve it that I Could try of
any Kind -- and the feverishness Still
Continuing after a Great many atemps
to remove it to no Efect a Doctor Desired
me to try Mercury in a Small quantity
and accordingly I tried a little of it but
in Stade of puting it Doun it Brought
on a Spitting - and as it Did so I was
Desirous to Continow it

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[Page 14]

thinking that it would Evacuate that
Load that was at the Stomach -- and if it
Did that and freed me of Disorder I thought
that Soposing that it Should reduce ↑me↑ that
low that I Could not Stand my loan I would
Soon recuver -- But I was widlee mistaken
So I only took about Thierty Greans of
Mercury yet that Small quantity keeped
up a Salivation for five weeks and more
Spitting at the rate of five and some times
upuards of Seven Gills per Day Besides
a perpetual Sweeting During its Operation
and then it mostly Seased but the harvest
Coming on with very reany woist weather
and the Body Being So Excessivly Relaxed
I begand to Spit in the new to a Conciderable ↑Degree↑
and Continoued so untill the frost Came on
which Braced the Body and then the
Spitting Stoped a Good Deal --- But I Spited
four times as much as a Helthey person
Before I took the Mercury as well as After
But I forgot to mention that I took out
the Ishos During the Cours which I Darsay
would a Been atended with Eminant Danger
at another time Concidring the vast Disch¬
arge of Blood and mater that went of by them
Every Day and to no purpos in the world but
to weakn me and never in the least Swamped
the Swelling of the legs but increased it the
Longer they were in --- and all the time that
I was taking the Mercury my urin was
almost as red as Blood and made in very
Small quantiteys which was not Surprisin↑g↑
the other Evacuations Concidered But what
Is very Odd is that I have never made

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[Page 15]

Urin like a Helthey Person Ever since
And as I mentioned Before of my Sweeting
During the Cours which Sweeting never left
me for nine months After night and Day
and During all that time my Skin was never
Dry and these Sweets was always Cold ones
and I would Been as Cold over the Body as
a Stone the Same time I was Sweeting
But when the Spring Came on and the
Atmosphere Being more Hevey and
Less Humid the Sweeting Stoped But
as Soon as the warm weather Came on
in Summor the Sweeting returned but
with this Alteration that the Sweats was
was more warm then Before and all
that winter After I took the Mercury
I Could bear for Several Days without making
water or the least Inclination to make any
or the Smallest Degree of Gravel but all went
Of by Sweeting and when I would made
Any water it would {illeg} been thick and when
it would Sitten any time it would turned
white with a Great Sidement in it ----
But Some times when the Perspiration was
Greatly Obstructed I would made urin in
Large quantitys and quite Clear
and Ever Since I took the Mercury I have been
Obliged to keep my Self Confined (as it throws
my me in to A nervous Desorder) and
Excepting some very moderate wether in
Summor I Can Go out a little but Can Stand
no Cold in the least without Disordring me
Greatly and always throwes me back
unto that Sweeting and If I would wesh
my hands in Cold water it would breck
the Sweet over the whole body and make
me feverish for long -----

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[Page 16]

After And even washing my Hands and
Face in warm water will Some times much
Disorder me and at other times not -----
And there is nothing that I Suffer more by
then Shaving as there is scarsely a time
that I am Shaved but I feal the Efects of it
much unless that every thing be warm Such
as the water raser and likways the mans
Hand and if any of those feal to be so it will
Afect my Stomach for long -- but I Can
Suffer no Cold thing to tuch my Skin of any
Kind but it will Immediately Stope the
Perspiration and bring on a Spasm on the
Muscles --- if I was to even take the {illeg}
to right the fire in my hand or any thing ↓of metal↓
I would find the Cold of it Going through me
Disordering me very Sencibley --- and there is
nothing that has a wors tendency to Afect me
then Damp I am Obliged to tost my flannels
Excessively Every time I Shift for if I would
Put them on with the Drieness that the
sun would make them they would bring
or that Coldness over the Body and make
me Sweat for long Cold Sweats and when
that my Blankets is washed if they
were Dried as Drie as ever the Sun
would Drie them and put upon the Bed
without tasting them Sevearly they have
thrown me in to Incessant Sweating untill
I would taken them off and Toasted them
Extraordinarly -- and in the Summor time
when I Gow out any if it be Drie below foot
I will not be much Disordred but if it be wet below
foot and a Moist Air it would Afect me

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[Page 17]

Excedingly although that it were right warm
and Soposing it were Concidrably Colder if Drie
I would not feal much Efect from it -- but
I Dar never Go out even in the Summor
But in the midle of the Day unless it be when
the weather is more than Commonly moderate
and as Soon as the wether Comes on more moist
and Cold in the Harvest time I ame Obliged to
Confine my Self Close until the next Summor
and not only in the howse but Still to a Room
and Durst not even Go into the Kitchin on
Any Account without fealing the Efects of
it most Sevearly - and which I took upon to be
the Greatest misfortune of all that I Cannot
Use the least freedum with my Self without
such ↑Bad↑ Conciquences -- and when you'll no Doubt
think that these bad efects of using any freedum
Is in a Good mesure ouing to my Confining my
Self which no Doubt Helps - but as I have
mentioned before it is Absulutly Necessary
or otheruays I Could not live Since I have been
in the habite of body that I am in at present ---
and when the warm wether Comes on I will be
for Some weeks after I Go out first Continualy
feverish but turns a little better afteruards
But if I Go out in a Day that has any wind
or Damp in it I will be as much afected as
Ever and notuithstanding my forsing my
Self out for this three Summors pas I have
never Gained a point by it only keeping up
almost a Constent fever - and always the
Cold that I Got in the Day makes me Sweet
through the Night but when I am Confined
through the winter I am Conciderable Better
as these last Two winters I have not had that
Continual Sweating as I had the one before if I
Do not Get some Cold to bring it

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[Page 18]

On but although I be not So bad as I am Some
times in Summor with the Cold I Got, Yet in
winter I Can Scarsly Say I Ever have
a Day to an end of Sound Health as Every
Change in the Atmosphere has less or
more efect upon me So that I know
as well before any bad weather as I had
aluays a Barometer before me ---
and not by any Acute pains but by
aither a Small Degree of feverishness
or Els by an Exceeding feeblness ---
and I reap more benefite from a Good
Day if the Air be Good then ever I Did from
Medicens but if it be Bad I Suffer
as much -- Just as the air has more or
Less Elasticity I am Still Braced or
Relaxed -- and I Suffer More from
East wind then I Can Express and my
whole body is Still Cold with it So that
I most burn my Self over the fire Contin¬
ualy for when any the tronk of the
Body is Cold I mean perfitely fealing
Cold I am Still feverish -- but my Thighs
has never been fealing warm Ever
Since I took the Mercury and Still more
Cold in the Bed at night then through
the Day but I never feall any harm from
that as the perspiration Still Gos on .
and Still with East wind if it be not in
Summor my Back is Just as Cold as
a Piece of

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[Page 19]

Leed -- So as I have Given Yow an infor¬
mation how Cold and Changes of weather
Affects me I now Come to Give Yow an
account how it Operats internaly Since
I took the Cowrs of Mercury. as I have
mentioned before Often that it Mostly
Centured in my legs untill I went throu↑gh↑
the Cours but never Since for my Legs
Swamped after it and has keept So Since
But I have found my Stomach vastly
More Disordred Since that time and when
I had Just finished the Cours -- I found
Excessif flushings of heat and Imm¬
ediately succeded by Cold in various parts
of the Body and an Excess of Quivering
or Grouing that would Some times begun
at my neck and Gon Doun over the whole
Body Just as there had been Thousands
of living Creatures Betwixt [fell?] and flesh
and any thing that would afected my mind
Disagreeably would made that Quivring
Come on Derectly but I am not So liable to
be afected So now with So slight an Impr¬
etion as I was and I have been Greatly Troub¬
led with wind in the Stamach Since which
sometimes would Destend it Greatly and
there has been an Extraordinar Coldness
in it this long time and I am very much
Troubled with Acidity and a Great Sence
of weakness both in the Stomach and Intes¬
tines So that ma↑n↑y times I Dar not [lout?]
for it without Disordering me much
and Some times the Sence of weakness is
in the mouth of the Stomach

---

[Page 20]

and Some times in the left Side and
Sometimes in the right, right far down in
Both -- but I never had any Disorder in my
Sides untill one Day unfortunetly I was reach¬
ing up above a press and Strained my Left
Side just fornent the tope of the loin which
Alarmed me Greatly as I feared that the rim
of the Belly Had Given way - but happely it
Did not - but nevertheless I have been attended
Ever since which is twelve months - with
an excessif weakness in the left Side that was
Strained and often in the right and the whole
Leach of my Belly -- which is very trouble¬
sum to me Some times when the Body is more
then ordinar Relaxed but at other times not so
much - I applied a Strengthining Pleaster
to my Side as soon as I Got it and of Leat
I have Got a Broad belt which I wear about
my loins which I think Dos me Some Service
and with regard to Pasage in my Belly I am
as regular that way as the Helthiest Person
in Town - never over Bound and very rearly
Louse, and as for Apetity I very Seldum have
a Keen one but nevertheless I Can take my Mea[t]
little wors in any times then when I was Hole
and strong if it is not when I am more then
ordinarily Disordred but for all that I never
reap the Smallest benefite by my Meat
only to preserve Life for it never Strengthns
me more then I would live upon one Meal in
the Day -- But I am Obliged to Give Conciderable
attention to what Kinds of meats I Eat so that
they be of Easy Digestion and naither of a
Cold or Acid nature as my Stomach agreas
with nothing of that kind Since the

---

[Page 21]

Mercoury -- and I have been Greatly
Troubled ever Since with a Disorder in my
Head as when I was in the Cours all the Howmers
all the ran to the head and made it more full
of Humer Since then before and Since that time
there has been a Continual working or move¬
ment in the opening of my head and mostly
always a flushing or raither hoving of the
face Espeecaly in the morning but {illeg} naither
of those two is So bad as they were unless it be
with or before bad weather -- but although my
Head be Exceedingly tender So as I am obliged to
wear a Cap below my Hat and Dare suffer no
Cold thing to tuch it Yet my Brain is as free
of Disorder as ever it was which is a Chief
Blessing -- and I am much troubled with a
Bad taste in my Mouth every morning So as
to be obliged to Spitt for long or it Go off and then
I Commonly wesh it with Camomile Tea or the
Tincture of the Bark and other Bitters which
always takes away the Efect but never the Cause
and as I have mentioned formarly of an Excessif
heat and Creasy pain in the Swels of my feat
when the Disorder was raging in the legs but
Since the Salivation I have been troubled with
Just the revers for Especialy in the winter the
Cold of them is excessif so that I am obliged to
burn them upon the fire Continualy and they
will be more Cold in a weat moist Day then with
the most hard frost and I have found my self
more firm and tight and more feeling warm
warm over the Body with frost then any
other time but as soon as the though would
Come on I would be more Relaxed then before
and in the Summor when I Go out if it Should
hapen to be more Cold then ordinary if I would
Stand upon the Street one (↑on↑) any place that it is
Stones below foot for any time it would afect
my Stomach So that a Cold Sweat would
Breck Over the

---

[Page 22]

Body -- I have mentioned before how My Urin
was During the operation of the Mercoury
and how it turned after it and it has Continnoued
Ever Since in that way to be in Small quantity
for the most part and of an Oring Collor when
Newly made and when it Sits any time it turns
white like milk and if it Sitts any Concider¬
able time longer it Shears and has a very thick
white Seediment and that is always the way
with it unless it bee when I am more then ordinar
Disordered and Some times then I will make Urin
in large quantitys and if it would Sitt never
So long it will have no Seediment at all
and at other times when If be verry Disordred
and that Coldness over the body I will make
I will make very little water at all ------
and I have always Emedgined that it is the
Desorder that was formerly Centired in the Legs
that now remains in the Stomach and Goes
off Continualy by urin which I Darsay if
it were not to Go off So it would Soon finish me
unless there were a Stop but to its Generation
But I Plainly See that while that is the Case
I am mever to Come to any Strength as Such
a Continual Evacuation most always Deprive
me of a recovery -- and before the Mercury
if I had reduced my Self never so low with
Physiic or any other evacuation I always
found nature very Active in recovering my
Strength in a Short time but since it has
flaged almost alltogether -- and I am Convin¬
ced that it is Some kind of matter that lodges
in the Stomach that Creats the Disorder there
by reason that if I take any thing that is of
a repelling nature it will leave the Stomach
and Go in betwixt fell and flesh all over the
Tronk of the Body and then the Stomach is
quit easy and I am not trowbled aither with
that Sence of weakness Destention with wind
or any of the formar

---

[Page 23]

Complents but then I will have an Exceeding
Coldness over the Body and Some times my
Back will be the Coldest and Sometimes the
whole Body all alike - and I always find when
that matter is there that it Stopes both
Circulation and perspiration in a Great
Misure and is more Disagreeable to bide then
when it is in the Stomach on Account of the Great
Sence of Cold that it Creats together with a nature
of feverishness that it brings along with it Some
times and when it Goes back to the Stomach the
old Complents returns and the Coldness removes
But houther that it is any thing Owing to that
Matter that the least Degree of Damp or Cold
Caught will bring that Coldness in the Same
form or to a Spasmodic Contraction of the
Muscles that Stops the Circulation in the Smal
vecils is beyont my Judgment to understand
or what kind of matter it is houther of the
Gouty Rhumatic or Scorbutic but this I
Know that all the Evacuations that I tried
which was many never Could Eradicate it
or Senceibly Diminish it - and even then the Salivati¬
on which almost Extinguished Natural heat
and has brought on a Premature Old Age upon
me was not Capable of Eradicating it - Indeed
I think that the Salivation made it a little more
Languid then befor -- but nevertheless has
Done a Hundred times more harm then Good
Otherways -- I have mentioned a premature
Old age which I may with Propriety for when
this Disorder afected me first I was not Just
three and Twenty and now I am one and thirty
I forgote to mention that Sometimes my
urin when the perspiration is obstructed is Just
like Dead [Eal?], and when it is quite Clear for
Some time after I have been Disordred the first
apearance of my Coming to my ordinar will
Be by its begining to thickn a little and when
it has Sitten a while it will apear Cutted and
full of [reangs?] and Soon after that it will Come
to its ordinair Colur and

---

[Page 24]

quantity and then I am in my Ordinary
And in regard of my puls it Beats it be
Always a Great Deal quicker and Smaller
then when I was in Health and when I am m
More then Ordenary Disordered it is very unre¬
gular -- and as for that Coldness that Comes
Over the body when I receive the least Cold
although I be then feeling Cold Yet I am never
attended with the least Degree of numness
but has Just as Good Sence of feeling then as
at other times - but the Cold that would not
afect an Infant of three weeks Old will afect
me much - which Just makes Life perfitly a
Burthen to me -- there is Some other Circum¬
Stances which which I had almost forgote which is
one of my Testicles which is Drawn up about an
Inch further then the other Since the Cours - and
Sometimes when I take any thing that is very heating
I will feal a pain in the Kidney of that Side (which
is the right Side) and a Small Degree of pain in
the testicle but If I am not taking any heating thing
I Seldum feal any pain in aither but Still the
Testicle remains Drawn up -- and if I were never
So weak if I get any Cold that obstructs the Perspirati↑on↑
Much my Semin will Go off in my Sleap, Comm¬
only More; on what is more probable is that it is
that matter that Gos off for ordenar by the
urinyry passages that Does not Get vent that
way then, as when the perspiration is Greatly
Obstructed - my water is Clear and without matter
but that is only my Opinion of it and I far from
pretending to be a Judge in those Cases -- You'll
Possably think from some of those last Simptoms
that I have had the Venereal Disease as well as
as the Disorder that I have been Describing, but
in answer to that I Can aswre yow that I never
had it in the Smallest Degree in all my Life

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[Page 25]

I Come now to Give Yow a list of the Medicin↑s↑"
I have tried and there efects Since the Merc¬
ury which is as folloueth the first I tried
was Camomile flowers which I have Drunk
in form of Tea and which was the only Bitter
that agreed with me then and Since, I then
Got Bark Jintian Root and Oring Peel
infused in Brandy which Disagreed with
me much and after that I was advised to
Spicries for reasing wind which I tried and
which Give me Some temporary Relife
then I tried the Bark Jentian Root Serpentine
Root and oring Peel Infused in wine and
Continoued at ↑it↑ for three Months untill I
Drank upuards of a Dozen of Bottls of that
Tincture using exarcise upon Horse Back
Every Day that was Good all that time
and at the end found no benefite from aither
in the least the Bitters all that time afected
me with a Disagreable heat betwixt fell
and flesh and made me Sweat more than
ordinar but never Strengthned me in the
Least then I tried a Erbe they Call Valerian
Drinking the Root of it both in form of Tea
and Decoction for long and all the Good it
Did was only frieng the stomach from wind
for Some time after taken but nothing
further after a very long trial -- then
I tried the Acid Elexar of Vitriol but it
never agreed with me then I was advised
to trie Electrifying being asured by a
Doctor that it would Cure me if any
thing would Do it - but in Stade of that
it Soon would a Killed me altogether for
a Single Shock would Disordred me

---

[Page 26]

Much and if I had taken two or three it
would relaxed me Exceedingly and Set all
the Bulces of the Body a Betting as fast
again as Ordinar - and it would wa weak¬
ned my Stomach So much that I Could not
Eat a Bit of flesh meat for a month after
So that I was Obliged to Drop it altogether
then I was advised to Send for a water at
Moffat they call the Hartfell Spaw being
Pregnant with Steel and allum which I
Got but it Did not agree with me as almost
Every thing I trie has that tendancy -- but
I thought the reason of its not agreeing
with me was oing to the allum as it is
of a Cold soure Nature and my Stomach
having Such a Coldness in it made it afect
me with a Collick - for I agree with nothing
that is of a Cold nature or with nothing
that is Over heet Such as ardent Spirits
or the like - but a Greatfull warmer
agrees best of any thing -- and I Durst
not take any thing into the Stomach
Cold this three years but Every thing
warm --- then I tried Goat whey Milk
and begun with less then the full of a Tea
Cup twice a Day and Continoued at that
quantity for a fourthnight all which
time it made me very feverish and Stope↑d↑
Degestion almost altogether -- then I
applied to Cows Milk and Drunk it
for three Months and it agreed with
me much better then the Goats but when
I had Drunk it for long I found it Cooling
me Over much So that when I

---

[Page 27]

would have new Drunk it it would made
me Shiver with Cold Soposing I Drunk it
Milk warm and when I left it off I was
not one wheat Stronger then when I begun
with it -- and in regard of the Bark
as I was Sencible if I would agree with it
it would Do me Good and for that reason
I tried it in all the fullowing forms viz
in Red port in substance in tincture
in Red port along with other Bitters in
Brandy in Substance and tincture in
Tea in Substance in Milk in Decoction
in Cold water and Every way that Could be
Prescribed all to one purpos Some times
it would purged me and relaxed the Body
Much at other times not but in Stade of
Strengthning it would weakned me and very
often bringing that Coldness over the body
Sometimes afecting me with a Disagreea¬
ble heat but never Doing the least Good
Save the first time I tried it when I was Strong
as I have mentioned in the first part of my
Narrative -- and of late I was Desired
to trie laudanum to see if it would take off
a little of that unnatural Sencability
of the Nerves So I begun with Seven Drops
and that quantity Operated through me for
four Days with a Great Sence of heat and
Relaxation So that my Stomach and
Bowels had the Greatest Sence of weakness
in them for that time that even they had
in life So finding it of Such a relaxing
Nature I proceded no furthir ----
I found my self more the Better of Riding
on Horse Back then then any thing Ever
I tried as long as I was able to Stand the air
But Since I have found {illeg} no benifite
from it as I am more weakned by the Swea¬
ting it Creats then benefited by the

---

[Page 28]

Exercise now having finished my long
Narrative which I am Sencable yow will
think I have been Too Loquacious upon
But the Long time that I have been affl¬
icted and the many Mediciens I have tried
together with the Nummorous Simptoms
that Attends a nervous Disorder Could not
be Comprehended in a Small Space but for the
first Ten Page it is not so material but I
I beg your particular attention from
the Taking the Cours of Mercury and I
would begun to give Yow an Account from
that, Onley for fear that yow would not under¬
Stad the Disorder So well and as my Case
will take up Some time to Read it Yow
may look over it now and then when Yow
have most time and I will wait your Answe[r]
at your own Convenience as I am not
Capable to Give You a reuard Conformed to
your trouble but it would be a blessing
won to {illeg} Relive a fellow Crature in So
Long Misrey and I Shall think my Self
Bound to pray for Yow as long as I live
if yow Can ↑But↑ put me upon Any Method to be
Capable to Stand the Open Air and Go about
My Business without feeling Such Sevear
Efects although I Should never be so Strong a[s]
I have been. I was advised by a Doctor of late
to take a Sea voage unto a warmer
Climat and I would be much Obliged to yow
for your Sentiments upon that Head
if yow thought one in my Condition Durst
attempt it - but any way that [bust?] be
the last Experement the more Especialy
as the Seas is So foul at present and will
Be During the war ---------
You'll please Receive per the Bearer
One Guinea Noat as a Small Com¬
pensation for your trouble I am Sory
{illeg} I am not Capable to make it Better