[Page 1]

As I intend going to Paris in a
very short time along with my uncle
Mr Wm.William Stuart, from whence I propose,
in conformity with your advice, to take
an opportunity of making an excursion
to Spa, I must beg leave to ask you,
before I set out, whether, after reading
the following account, (I shall endeavour
to make it a short one,) of the shape
which my complaints have now assumed,
you would think it proper to make
any addition or alteration with regard

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to the Regimen &c which you last re¬
commended

Upon the state which I then gave
you of my feelings, you were incli¬
ned, if you recollect, to pronounce,
that they proceeded entirely from a
weakness of Nerves. That they are
not still to be imputed to the same
cause it is by no means my inclina¬
tion to doubt, but as they have at
least cast themselves into a different
form, I hope you will make some
allowance for my giving you the
trouble of the subsequent narrative

I left Edinburgh soon after seeing you,
I posted in Four Days to London

In a few days after getting there, I

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found myself a good deal uneasy, slept
very impleasantly, and costive, & my
breath, I remember, felt very hot.
Mr Farquhar of Great Marlborough that
prescribed me a Dose or two of cooling
Physick which gave me considerable
ease. – The morning, however,
about this time (the last week of March)
after passing the night very miser¬
ably ↑with a sense of Damp & oppression↑, I spat up without coughing
a small quantity of what I imagined
to be the Blackish Mucus as usual,
but which upon inspection I perceived
to be Blood, adhering to a shiny sub¬
stance of a mouse colour. As I
was at this time very much occupied
in some concerns of importance to me,
I did not (tho' I own I was rather alarmed)

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attend minutely enough to my feelings
to give you a very accurate de¬
scription, but I will remember that
during the whole of that day they
were peculiarly unpleasant – My
Head Palms & Cheeks felt as if scorched
& withered, & within my breast I felt
every now & then, especially if agitated,
what seemed a sort of ↑hot↑ subtle fluid con¬
tinually flushing from one part to
another. – Soon after I again
spat a very small quantity of Blood
but have had no returns of that symp¬
tom since.

These uneasy feelings &c induced me,
as soon as my business was closed, to
take the advice of Dr Huck, who was
of opinion after one or two visits, that I

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might discontinue the saline-medecines
which Mr Farquhar had advised me to,
upon the first intimation of the spitting
of Blood – instead of which he prescribed
a Noon & Night Draught of, I believe,
pretty much the same nature with the
medecines contained in the Prescription
you had given me upon the general
state of my ailings – Bark, Magnesia
&c. As both the Dr & Farquhar
expressed a desire to see the nature (↑state↑)
of my Blood, I was prevailed upon, tho'
they did not absolutely require it, to
lose a small quantity – which they
told me was of such a nature as in¬
dicated nothing bad, but that it was
(if I do not do injustice to their expression)

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of a relaxed quality. I imagined that
I derived some benefit from the Bleeding.
My Body was kept rather open by
the night Draught, & tho' I have never
yet taken the benefit, as I presume
I ought to have done, of the purest coun¬
try air, I removed to Lodgings at Bromp¬
ton in the Environs, where I live at
least more quiet & abstemious than I
should have done in Town

Some weeks ago I imagined I was in a
way to regain my ordinary degree of
health, but of late my complaints
seem to have caught a faster hold on
me, & tho' they may still be of the
nervous kind I am confident they are

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not imaginary. What I am now
chiefly troubled with is a perpetual
burning heat in my Palms & head, not
only on the forehead & cheeks but also
all over the Scalp, attended with
frequent headaches, inflammation or
at least redness of the throat & a
sensation of heat in my Breath.
Here my somptoms seem stationary & fixed.
My Pulse I believe is regular or rather
low than otherwise. With regard to sleep
& appetite I have at least not very
great reason to complain & perhaps
when I have told you so, you will not
easily conceive how I should suffer so
much uneasiness merely from those
consuming heats – I can only assure you

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they are extremely irksome & tormenting.
That these heats do exist I have every
reason to believe, not only from my
own feelings, but the information of
others that they are sensible to touch,
tho', at the same time, I very well
know that my nerves are much too
vigilant at present – they are indeed
sensitive & irritable in the extreme.

Here perhaps it may not be impro¬
per for me to observe that these flush¬
ings in the Palms ↑which caused every external object to seem cold to me↑ were the prelude to
the illness in which you saw me pre¬
vious to the late Fifeshire election
I mention this era, too, the rather, that
it may not escape you, that these

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sensations, tho' they may possibly be owing
to agitation or fatigue, are not however
the ideal offspring of any event which
may be supposed to have affected my spirits

While those violent heats continue
to infest me I own I am rather back¬
ward with respect to Cold-bathing ↑& have not yet begun it↑, tho
Dr Huck is of opinion that I still may
venture to pursue that part of the (↑your↑)
general advice – I would beg your
↑farther↑ directions in this particular, now that
I have endeavoured to make you acquaint¬
ed with the subsequent variations in
my ailings. Tho I still have slight pains
in the Breast, & Back-bone, I never had any Cough
I am still of the same relaxed habit as
when you saw me last, if I may judge

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from that constant langour & debility which
indisposes me so much for every exert¬
ion either of action or thought

It is this consideration chiefly impels me
to court relief with eagerness, for I
think I may assert, that my applica¬
tions to You are in no way the result
of apprehensions; but of impatience

While the lamp is lighted, I could wish
it to burn not always (↑less↑) dimly –

On this account, I hope you will make
some small allowance for this tedious
scrawl. – A valetudinarian, as I have
certainly been for some time past, is
too apt to be betrayed into Prolixity.
My impatience I have already confessed
to you & shall plead guilty to as many

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more weaknesses as you shall charge
me with, no other person I am confid¬
ent will rank in the catalogue the
confidence I have in Dr Cullens skill
where relief is at all to be obtained.

I beg my compliments to your son, & am,
with all respect,

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✍
John Henderson Esqr
June 15th 1776
Vol. Vth p. 74