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your letter, dated November, came to hand but
a very few weeks ago, I was but ill situated in Dublin
to give you a letter in return & therefore defferrd it
till this time when I am sorry ↑to say,↑ a subject has occurrd
interesting to you, ↑but↑ agreeable to neither of us ---

On my return from Dublin on Saturday the 8th
inst. I was informed your father was in a declining
state & had {illeg} ↑ceasd↑ to preach for some weeks; I gave
him a call the next morning & on accurate enquiry
it seemd to me highly probable that his Dyspeptic
symptoms were symptomatic of an affected Liver -
On laying him at ease on his bed & examining his
abdomen, in the region of the Liver I discovered a
tumor as large as my fist & very hard, the same
is very sensible now to himself & others; his stools are
rather loose, scanty, frequent & exactly of a dark
clay colour as if bile was deficient in the alimentry
canal, ↑& sometimes mixd with a few drops of blood↑ his eyes have a slightly yellowish hue, his
urine deposits a yellowish red sediment in considerable
quantity, he complains of a disagreeable taste in
his mouth & a pain in the right shoulder at times,
and he lies with most ease on the right side -
Such are the symptoms ↑on↑ which I have founded my opinion,

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I now transmit the whole to you by the advice
of your friend Mr Conyngham, with whom I had
the honor of dining yesterday, & of your father
& mother - His strength being still considerable
so as to ↑be↑ able to ride out times, he will perhaps
stand the best chance from mercurial unction
& a little circuta, the irritability of his alimentary tube
I fear would prevent the trial of mezereon or the like
But this I leave to your choice & will wait
your advice which I doubt not will be speedy
I desird bark to be quite laid aside, & any
light meat to be tried {illeg} as his fancy would
dictate, not thinking that confinement to animal
food was by any means advisable farther
than was necessary to keep his stomach & bowels
in tolerable order - I avoid ↑to↑ attempt to offer any
consolation to your affliction, & hope that your
own good sense will enable you to conduct
yourself with prudence & patience - Your mother
behaves well beyond expectation, tho I own I
was hardly able to blindfold your father ↑& mother↑ about
the nature of the {illeg} tumor in his right
side –––

I presume you have heard that I was so fortunate
as to get a very valuable ↑collection↑ of medical & other

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books from Dr Maconchy, some manuscripts
& a very extensive sett of midwifery instruments
I came home with an intention of going shortly to
London Derry & there perhaps to settle at least for
some years, my hopes are not very great
but therefore disappointments will be the
less. My epistolary force will be very great
both from Dublin & elsewhere –––
You have probably heard of R. Magill's
(Senior) death, & J. Elliot's conjunction with
Miss Wonder ¹ so that I have no news
of consequence to transmit you from
this - The Moneymore volunteers are
nearly at as great variance as the
other belligerent powers of Europe, but
not so lavish of their own blood. ²

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Mr John Caldwell
Student
The College Edinburgh