The Consultation Letters of Dr William Cullen (1710-1790) at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
[ID:1376] From: Dr William Cullen (Professor Cullen) / To: Mr W Burnet (Burnett) / Regarding: Mr W Burnet (Burnett) (Patient) / February? 1777 / (Outgoing)
Reply, in form of a rough, corrected draft, listing 'Directions for Mr Burnet at Berwick'. He suffers from sciatica and throbbing in his head, which he has had for over 30 years. He is a patient of James Wood. Cullen gives dietary and exercise advice, with recipes. Cullen says he disagrees with Dr George Cheyne's views on very light suppers.
- Facsimile
- Normalized Text
- Diplomatic Text
- Metadata
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- People
- Places
Facsimile
There are 4 images for this document.
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Metadata
| Field | Data |
|---|---|
| DOC ID | 1376 |
| RCPE Catalogue Number | CUL/1/2/472 |
| Main Language | English |
| Document Direction | Outgoing |
| Date | February? 1777 |
| Annotation | None |
| Type | Authorial original |
| Enclosure(s) | No enclosure(s) |
| Autopsy | No |
| Recipe | Yes |
| Regimen | Yes |
| Letter of Introduction | No |
| Case Note | No |
| Summary | Reply, in form of a rough, corrected draft, listing 'Directions for Mr Burnet at Berwick'. He suffers from sciatica and throbbing in his head, which he has had for over 30 years. He is a patient of James Wood. Cullen gives dietary and exercise advice, with recipes. Cullen says he disagrees with Dr George Cheyne's views on very light suppers. |
| Manuscript Incomplete? | No |
| Evidence of Commercial Posting | No |
Case
Cases that this document belongs to:
| Case ID | Description | Num Docs |
|---|---|---|
| [Case ID:581] |
Case of W. Burnett suffering from incontinency of urine while sleeping. |
3 |
People linked to this document
| Person ID | Role in document | Person |
|---|---|---|
| [PERS ID:1] | Author | Dr William Cullen (Professor Cullen) |
| [PERS ID:1699] | Addressee | Mr W Burnet (Burnett) |
| [PERS ID:1699] | Patient | Mr W Burnet (Burnett) |
| [PERS ID:1] | Patient's Physician / Surgeon / Apothecary | Dr William Cullen (Professor Cullen) |
| [PERS ID:408] | Patient's Physician / Surgeon / Apothecary | Mr James Wood (of Berwick) |
| [PERS ID:1815] | Other Physician / Surgeon | Dr George Cheyne |
Places linked to this document
| Role in document | Specific Place | Settlements / Areas | Region | Country | Global Region | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Writing | Cullen's House / Mint Close | Edinburgh | Edinburgh and East | Scotland | Europe | certain |
| Destination of Letter | Berwick-upon-Tweed (Berwick) | North-East | England | Europe | certain |
Normalized Text
For Mr Burnet at Berwick
I have now had the leisure I wished to consider
your ailments & from a full consideration I can venture to
assure you that they threaten you with no immediate danger.
ButAt the same time must own that ailments founded in the
nature of your constitution & that have subsisted more or less for
thirty years past cannot admit of a radical cure; but I am per¬
swaded that in a person whose circumstances admits of a proper
regimen & whose habits are no ways incompatible with it I have (↑am↑)
no doubt (↑well perswaded↑) that your ailments may be for the most part avoided or
rendered very tolerable. For this purpose I offer the following
Directions.
1. Some easy employment that may keep the mind afloat may
be usefull but the cares & much more the anxiety of business
will must certainly prove hurtfull
2. Amusement you should often seek & of various kinds.
Chearfull company is the best for Winter but in Summer some
diversion that joins an easy Exercise as Golf or Bowls are very
proper ↑sport↑. Play↑ing Cards &c↑ unless ↑it may be↑ with little attention & with the most dis¬
passionate temper may be very hurtfull.
3. Exercise on horseback in Summer ↑& in a single horse Chaise in Winter↑ will prove both an
amusement & your best remedy. In this way you should spend
every (↑the↑) forenoon that when (↑as often as↑) the weather admits of it. If once a
year either in the beginning of summer or in harvest you make
an excursion of two or three hundred miles it will be of great
service to you.
[Page 2]
4. You must be studious in avoiding Cold especially in your
feet & Legs. Your dress should be warm in Winter & if you do
not lay it aside in Summer you will do well. You should
seldom be abroad in the Evening.
5. Goin
5. Going to bed betimes at night & getting up pretty early
in the morning is a proper measure.
6. As your Stomach has been always pretty firm I
think it is not very necessary to be nice with regard to the
quality of your food. It should be nourishing but rather lig[ht]
& if you know any thing that is apt to ly heavy on your Stoma[ch]
or prove heating that you should carefully avoid & particu¬
larly your suppers should be light & little. I don't say with
Dr Cheyne the lightest & the least. 1
7. For ordinary drink Water with a little Wine in it
is better than Beer. At every meal you should take a
few glasses of Wine, I think half a pint of Port or a whole
pint of Claret may be proper but the measure is not to be
fixed otherways than by this that whatever in the least
heats or muddles your head is extremely hurtfull & you should
↑always↑ keep somewhat (↑a good deal↑) within the bounds of that. If you do so I
suppose that your stomach requires little nicety in the choice
of your Wine. Spirits in any shape you will do well to
avoid. Coffee & Tea are both bad for you but if you are much
accustomed to somewhat in that shape I would recommend
a light Infusion of the Tops of Rosemary
8. It will be very proper to continue the use of the flesh brush
applied especially to the back Loins, haunches & lower extremities
[Page 3]
9. The above are the particulars of the regimen I would
recommend to you & if they are carefully observed I hope you
will keep tolerably easy but it is possibleprobable this may
be assisted by Medicines & you may sometimes require them.
10. I shall be glad you continue the use of a Chalybeat
Water especially in Spring & Autumn. If you are satisfied
with the goodness of the Pyrmont Water you commonly get
I have no objection to it but if you are not pleased with that
I shall send you some Hartfell Spaw that I can answer for.
11. I have given below a receipt for some ↑Diaphoretic↑ pills that may
be usefull in keeping up your perspiration & preventing
your Sciatic Complaints. In Summer there will be little
occasion for them except it may be when a long tract of
cold & wet weather takes place & then you may take them
for several nights following but the time for their use
is from the middle of Autumn to the end of April during
which time, you should take them for a week or two that they may
not become familiar or ineffectual from too constant use
12. I have subjoined also a receipt for Cephalic Pills
to be taken when the strictures or throbbings of your head are
uneasy. I hope you shall find relief from them but you
must ↑not↑ take them often for the reason mentioned ↑above↑ & when you
have occasion to repeat them the dose must be a little in¬
creased
13. When the pain of your haunch is uncommonly severe
I recommend to you the use of the Embrocation ordered below.
If it reddens the part very much it may be washed of with warm milk
[Page 4]
& water but you must not be in too much haste with this for
if it does not redden a little it will do little service.
I have now with as much zeal & attention as I can
bestow given you my best advice & if you or Mr Wood will
be pleased to let me know how either my (↑the↑) regimen or mede¬
cines agree with you I shall always be very ready to mend
or add to my advice being with great regard
your most obedient servant
Take a drachm of Gum Guaiacum, half a drachm of Sagapenum Gum, one-and-a-half drachms of Spanish Soap, and enough Peruvian Balsam to make a mass to be divided into pills of five grains each. Label: The Diaphoretic Pills five for a dose at bedtime.
Take half a drachm of Camphor, fifteen grains each of rectified Succinate Salts and Asafœtida, and Gum Tragacanth paste as suffices. Blend the Camphor with the Succinate Salts, then add the rest to make a mass to be divided into pills of five grains each. Label: Cephalic Pills two three or four for a dose at bedtime
Take two ounces of the best Olive Oil, half an ounce of Camphor and two drachms of Spirit of Ammoniac Salts [q?] with lime. Mix. Label: The Anodyne Embrocation for anointing any pained or nummed parts
Notes:
1: This was something of a "catch-phrase" for the Scottish-born physician and promoter of vegetarian diets, George Cheyne (1671-1742) who became the most commercially successful medical author of his generation through writing popular conduct books aimed at the valetudinary victims of the "English Malady" ("nervous disorders"). In Cheyne's Essay on Regimen (London and Bath: 1740), the first in a series of "Aphorisms" for health reads: 'The CONSTANT endeavour after the lightest and least of Meat and drink a man can be tolerably easy under, is the shortest and most infallible means to preserve Life, Health and Serenity' (p.lix).
Diplomatic Text
For Mr Burnet at Berwick
I have now had the leisure I wished to consider
your ailments & from a full consideration I can venture to
assure you that they threaten you with no immediate danger.
ButAt the same time must own that ailments founded in the
nature of your constitution & that have subsisted more or less for
thirty years past cannot admit of a radical cure; but I am per¬
swaded that in a person whose circumstances admits of a proper
regimen & whose habits are no ways incompatible with it I have (↑am↑)
no doubt (↑well perswaded↑) that your ailments may be for the most part avoided or
rendered very tolerable. For this purpose I offer the following
Directions.
1. Some easy employment that may keep the mind afloat may
be usefull but the cares & much more the anxiety of business
will must certainly prove hurtfull
2. Amusement you should often seek & of various kinds.
Chearfull company is the best for Winter but in Summer some
diversion that joins an easy Exercise as Golf or Bowls are very
proper ↑sport↑. Play↑ing Cards &c↑ unless ↑it may be↑ with little attention & with the most dis¬
passionate temper may be very hurtfull.
3. Exercise on horseback in Summer ↑& in a single horse Chaise in Winter↑ will prove both an
amusement & your best remedy. In this way you should spend
every (↑the↑) forenoon that when (↑as often as↑) the weather admits of it. If once a
year either in the beginning of summer or in harvest you make
an excursion of two or three hundred miles it will be of great
service to you.
[Page 2]
4. You must be studious in avoiding Cold especially in your
feet & Legs. Your dress should be warm in Winter & if you do
not lay it aside in Summer you will do well. You should
seldom be abroad in the Evening.
5. Goin
5. Going to bed betimes at night & getting up pretty early
in the morning is a proper measure.
6. As your Stomach has been always pretty firm I
think it is not very necessary to be nice with regard to the
quality of your food. It should be nourishing but rather lig[ht]
& if you know any thing that is apt to ly heavy on your Stoma[ch]
or prove heating that you should carefully avoid & particu¬
larly your suppers should be light & little. I don't say with
Dr Cheyne the lightest & the least. 1
7. For ordinary drink Water with a little Wine in it
is better than Beer. At every meal you should take a
few glasses of Wine, I think half a pint of Port or a whole
pint of Claret may be proper but the measure is not to be
fixed otherways than by this that whatever in the least
heats or muddles your head is extremely hurtfull & you should
↑always↑ keep somewhat (↑a good deal↑) within the bounds of that. If you do so I
suppose that your stomach requires little nicety in the choice
of your Wine. Spirits in any shape you will do well to
avoid. Coffee & Tea are both bad for you but if you are much
accustomed to somewhat in that shape I would recommend
a light Infusion of the Tops of Rosemary
8. It will be very proper to continue the use of the flesh brush
applied especially to the back Loins, haunches & lower extremities
[Page 3]
9. The above are the particulars of the regimen I would
recommend to you & if they are carefully observed I hope you
will keep tolerably easy but it is possibleprobable this may
be assisted by Medicines & you may sometimes require them.
10. I shall be glad you continue the use of a Chalybeat
Water especially in Spring & Autumn. If you are satisfied
with the goodness of the Pyrmont Water you commonly get
I have no objection to it but if you are not pleased with that
I shall send you some Hartfell Spaw that I can answer for.
11. I have given below a receipt for some ↑Diaphoretic↑ pills that may
be usefull in keeping up your perspiration & preventing
your Sciatic Complaints. In Summer there will be little
occasion for them except it may be when a long tract of
cold & wet weather takes place & then you may take them
for several nights following but the time for their use
is from the middle of Autumn to the end of April during
which time, you should take them for a week or two that they may
not become familiar or ineffectual from too constant use
12. I have subjoined also a receipt for Cephalic Pills
to be taken when the strictures or throbbings of your head are
uneasy. I hope you shall find relief from them but you
must ↑not↑ take them often for the reason mentioned ↑above↑ & when you
have occasion to repeat them the dose must be a little in¬
creased
13. When the pain of your haunch is uncommonly severe
I recommend to you the use of the Embrocation ordered below.
If it reddens the part very much it may be washed of with warm milk
[Page 4]
& water but you must not be in too much haste with this for
if it does not redden a little it will do little service.
I have now with as much zeal & attention as I can
bestow given you my best advice & if you or Mr Wood will
be pleased to let me know how either my (↑the↑) regimen or mede¬
cines agree with you I shall always be very ready to mend
or add to my advice being with great regard
your most obedient servant
℞ Gum Guaiac. ʒi
–– Sagapen. ʒſs
Sapon. Hispan. ʒiſs
Bals. Peruvian. q. s. ut f. massa dividenda
in pilulas sing. gran. V.
Signa The Diaphoretic Pills five for a dose at bedtime.
℞ Camphor. ʒſs
Sal. Succin. rect.
Asæfœtid. @ gr. xv
Mucilag. G. Tragac. q. s.
Terito Camphoram cum Sale Succin. & dein adde ceter
ut f. massa dividenda in pil. sing. gr. v.
Signa Cephalic Pills two three or four for a dose at bedtime
℞ Ol. Olivar. opt. ℥ii
Camphor. ℥ſs
Sp.t Sal. Ammon. [q?] calce ʒii
ℳ Signa The Anodyne Embrocation for anointing any
pained or nummed parts
Notes:
1: This was something of a "catch-phrase" for the Scottish-born physician and promoter of vegetarian diets, George Cheyne (1671-1742) who became the most commercially successful medical author of his generation through writing popular conduct books aimed at the valetudinary victims of the "English Malady" ("nervous disorders"). In Cheyne's Essay on Regimen (London and Bath: 1740), the first in a series of "Aphorisms" for health reads: 'The CONSTANT endeavour after the lightest and least of Meat and drink a man can be tolerably easy under, is the shortest and most infallible means to preserve Life, Health and Serenity' (p.lix).
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