The Consultation Letters of Dr William Cullen (1710-1790) at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
[ID:1347] From: Dr John Cairnie / To: Dr William Cullen (Professor Cullen) / Regarding: Anonymous (Patient) / 13 January 1777 / (Incoming)
Letter from John Cairnie, about a young man aged twenty-seven who after going to sea when twelve was treated for frequent venereal infections and now suffers from erectile dysfunction. Annotation indicates this was answered on the 17th January, and the recipe prescribed has been noted down here on the last page of the incoming letter.
- Facsimile
- Normalized Text
- Diplomatic Text
- Metadata
- Case
- People
- Places
Facsimile
There are 2 images for this document.
[Page 1]
[Page 2]
Metadata
| Field | Data |
|---|---|
| DOC ID | 1347 |
| RCPE Catalogue Number | CUL/1/2/444 |
| Main Language | English |
| Document Direction | Incoming |
| Date | 13 January 1777 |
| Annotation | None |
| Type | Authorial original |
| Enclosure(s) | No enclosure(s) |
| Autopsy | No |
| Recipe | Yes |
| Regimen | No |
| Letter of Introduction | No |
| Case Note | No |
| Summary | Letter from John Cairnie, about a young man aged twenty-seven who after going to sea when twelve was treated for frequent venereal infections and now suffers from erectile dysfunction. Annotation indicates this was answered on the 17th January, and the recipe prescribed has been noted down here on the last page of the incoming letter. |
| Manuscript Incomplete? | No |
| Evidence of Commercial Posting | No |
Case
Cases that this document belongs to:
| Case ID | Description | Num Docs |
|---|---|---|
| [Case ID:580] |
Case of an unnamed male patient suffering from dysfunction of the sexual organs. |
1 |
People linked to this document
| Person ID | Role in document | Person |
|---|---|---|
| [PERS ID:1590] | Author | Dr John Cairnie |
| [PERS ID:1] | Addressee | Dr William Cullen (Professor Cullen) |
| [PERS ID:2268] | Patient | |
| [PERS ID:1590] | Patient's Physician / Surgeon / Apothecary | Dr John Cairnie |
| [PERS ID:1] | Patient's Physician / Surgeon / Apothecary | Dr William Cullen (Professor Cullen) |
| [PERS ID:2267] | Other | Mr Heron |
Places linked to this document
| Role in document | Specific Place | Settlements / Areas | Region | Country | Global Region | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Writing | Creebridge (Cree Bridge) | Borders | Scotland | Europe | certain | |
| Destination of Letter | Edinburgh | Edinburgh and East | Scotland | Europe | certain |
Normalized Text
The many obligations I owe your friendship
encourage me to sollicit your assistance in favour of a
young man in this Country, in whose happyness I am
much interested.
Very young he entered on board a King's Ship and
there fell into dissolute Company, so that at 12 years of
age he was poxed; and from that time till past twenty
was perhaps never quite cured; one infection frequently
succeeding another. He was often under the Surgeon's hands
and swallowed a great deal of Mercury, being repeatedly
salivated. About this time he left the Sea, and entered the
Land Service, where opportunitys of gratifying a Passion
to which he was naturally ↑inclined↑ were even more easily found.
At last after a long Salivation, he found about four years
ago, that the Organs of Generation were in the most
relaxed State; the Testicles so pendulous that he has
been advised ever since to wear a truss; thePenis so
flaccid, that even keen desire to enjoy a consenting
fair, cannot excite an erection, even when there is
a copious seminal Emission, attended with the same
feelings of pleasure as in Coition; which also frequently
happens, when the mind is no way engaged in thoughts
[o]f that kind, but otherway employed. He has tried cold
bathing, the Bark, and a number of Medecines, not only to
no purpose, but he thinks all of them, like excess of eating
and drinking when in any degree indulged, rendered returns
of the Emission more frequent. He is now 27 years of age,
free from any venereal Symptom, his digestion good, no
[Page 2]
Complaint of weakness, except a little in the Back if he pushes
fatigue too far; but he begins now to fear his case is desperate
I advised him to abstain from all medecines, and to try a
course of the mildest light Dyet. I maybe mistaken
but I apprehend there is both Debility, and an Excess
of Sensibility in the Organs. When you can find leisure
to write me a few Lines for his direction, either as to
Medecine or Regimen, I shall esteem it the greatest of
favours. and I am with my best wishes to Mrs Cullen
Your much obliged and very
humble Servant
P.S. Mr Heron at whose
house I am offers Compliments
he and Lady are both well.
To
Doctor Cullen
Physician in
Edinburgh
John Cairnie
(a young Man.
January 13- 1777 -
Answered
17th January 1777 --
Take half-a-drachm of Camphor; half-a-drachm of prepared Steel; two drachms of Gentian extract, and a sufficient amount of Gum Arabic mucilage to form pills of nine grains each. three to be taken every morning and every night. ---
Diplomatic Text
The many obligations I owe your friendship
encourage me to sollicit your assistance in favour of a
young man in this Country, in whose happyness I am
much interested.
Very young he entered on board a King's Ship and
there fell into dissolute Company, so that at 12 years of
age he was poxed; and from that time till past twenty
was perhaps never quite cured; one infection frequently
succeeding another. He was often under the Surgeon's hands
and swallowed a great deal of Mercury, being repeatedly
salivated. About this time he left the Sea, and entered the
Land Service, where opportunitys of gratifying a Passion
to which he was naturally ↑inclined↑ were even more easily found.
At last after a long Salivation, he found about four years
ago, that the Organs of Generation were in the most
relaxed State; the Testicles so pendulous that he has
been advised ever since to wear a truss; thePenis so
flaccid, that even keen desire to enjoy a consenting
fair, cannot excite an erection, even when there is
a copious seminal Emission, attended with the same
feelings of pleasure as in Coition; which also frequently
happens, when the mind is no way engaged in thoughts
[o]f that kind, but otherway employed. He has tried cold
bathing, the Bark, and a number of Medecines, not only to
no purpose, but he thinks all of them, like excess of eating
and drinking when in any degree indulged, rendered returns
of the Emission more frequent. He is now 27 years of age,
free from any venereal Symptom, his digestion good, no
[Page 2]
Complaint of weakness, except a little in the Back if he pushes
fatigue too far; but he begins now to fear his case is desperate
I advised him to abstain from all medecines, and to try a
course of the mildest light Dyet. I maybe mistaken
but I apprehend there is both Debility, and an Excess
of Sensibility in the Organs. When you can find leisure
to write me a few Lines for his direction, either as to
Medecine or Regimen, I shall esteem it the greatest of
favours. and I am with my best wishes to Mrs Cullen
Your much obliged and very
humble Servt
P.S. Mr Heron at whose
house I am offers Complts.
he and Lady are both well.
To
Doctor Cullen
Physician in
Edinburgh
John Cairnie
(a young Man.
Jany 13- 1777 -
Answered
17th Janry. 1777 --
℞ Camphor. ʒſs
Limat. Mart ppt. ʒſs
Extract. gentian. ʒij
Mucil. G. Arab. q.s.ut
f. pil. Suig. gr. IX
Cap. 3. m. & vesp. ---
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