Cullen

The Consultation Letters of Dr William Cullen (1710-1790) at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

 

[ID:916] From: W Turner / To: Dr William Cullen (Professor Cullen) / Regarding: Mrs Woodcock (Patient) / 9 November 1774 / (Incoming)

Letter from W. Turner in Warrington, giving 'some further account of our patient Mrs Woodcocks case'.

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[Page 1]


 

[Page 2]


 
 

Metadata

FieldData
DOC ID 916
RCPE Catalogue Number CUL/1/2/179
Main Language English
Document Direction Incoming
Date9 November 1774
Annotation None
TypeAuthorial original
Enclosure(s) No enclosure(s)
Autopsy No
Recipe No
Regimen No
Letter of Introduction No
Case Note No
Summary Letter from W. Turner in Warrington, giving 'some further account of our patient Mrs Woodcocks case'.
Manuscript Incomplete? No
Evidence of Commercial Posting No

Case

Cases that this document belongs to:

Case ID Description Num Docs
[Case ID:132]
Case of Mrs Woodcock who has suffered a paralysis down her left side.
3


People linked to this document

Person IDRole in documentPerson
[PERS ID:361]Author W Turner
[PERS ID:1]AddresseeDr William Cullen (Professor Cullen)
[PERS ID:362]PatientMrs Woodcock
[PERS ID:1]Patient's Physician / Surgeon / ApothecaryDr William Cullen (Professor Cullen)
[PERS ID:361]Patient's Physician / Surgeon / Apothecary W Turner
[PERS ID:715]Other Physician / SurgeonDr Thomas Pemberton
[PERS ID:1691]OtherMr Kendal

Places linked to this document

Role in document Specific Place Settlements / Areas Region Country Global Region Confidence
Place of Writing Warrington North-West England Europe certain
Destination of Letter Edinburgh Edinburgh and East Scotland Europe certain
Mentioned / Other North America certain

Normalized Text

[Page 1]
Dear Doctor


give me leave once more to trouble you with some further account of our patient Mrs
Woodcocks case, tho hitherto our best endeavours have availed her very little yet we indulge our
selves in the pleasing thoughts that the nature of her complaints appear to be now better under¬
stood than heretofore, tho' the cause of them is very equivocal, if therefore our conjectures
are better founded, we may reasonably conclude that a chance for relief is the more probable;
from a careful & diligent attention to every little incident attending her both in the intervals
of a fitt & in the convulsion we now entirely coincide with your first opinion which is that there
is no topical affection of the brain & that the symptoms depend upon a more general affection of
the nervous system, but how or in what manner this affection is produced & from what cause
it is brought on, is the question, from the constant & equal feelings such as nausea sickness &c
she has had in her stomach connected with the uneasiness in her head we are induced to con¬
clude that the organs of digestion are principally in fault & the other parts by consent only, tho
tis well known that the brain can affect the stomach, & vice versa, but Dr: Fothergill after he
had seen her this summer was inclined to suppose that the principal leading cause of all
was the sudden loss of the menses about two years ago & more especially so as she had
had many children & both in the intervals of child bearing & after that time she had
generally very large discharges of them; with this view he directed her to loose a few ounces
of blood three or four times
in the year but particularly so when she found herself warmer
than usual
or troubled with flushings in the face, to keep her belly constantly soluble & once in a week
to take a smart purge combined with so much of the antimonial wine as to puke her Two or
three times
& every day to take a stomach draught not so much with the view of encreasing
her appetite as to strengthen her stomach, it was prepared w:th Aq: Menth: pip: simp; Vin:
Chalybeat
& Elix: Vitrioli acid & to use as constant exercise on horseback daily as the
weather & other circumstances would admit of, in this course she has continued about two
months without any seeming advantage except that she was always much sunk & debilitated
by the purge & tho' it generally puked her two or three times it did not seem either to relieve
{illeg} to prevent her nausea & sickness, or swimming & giddiness of the head but on the contrary
{illeg} in the course the alterative medicines happend to give her a stool or two extraordinary
{illeg} were more frequent we have ever observed that {illeg} more {illeg}
{illeg}e is in meats & drinks the worse she is; she is now taking the Vin Aloet Alcalin::
{illeg}s an alternative & [Flor: Zinzii?] as ↑a↑ stomachic, & whenever she finds herself oppress'd at
her stomach, or troubled with nausea or sickness or colder than usual to take immedi¬
atly a vomit of Vitriol: Alb:, we can fairly say that she has experienced a more substan¬
[tial?] relief from the use of Vomits both in the fitts & proceding them than from all
other medicines whatsoever, many times to all appearance when the fitt has been
coming on her very rapidly she has experiences immediate relief from a dose of Ipec:
particularly so in the last convulsions she had, she had been convulsed when I saw her



[Page 2]

three or four hours & had taken in the slight remissions volatiles fœdits & opiates [& thes?]
in pretty large quantities both by the mouth & in the form of Clyster to no effect, I gave
her immediatly a vomit which did not operate for an hour & during this time ↑she was↑ altogether
convulsed, after it had operated once she became almost free from convulsion & {illeg}as it
puked her more she grew after each freer & freer from them, what is remarkable
in this case is that tho' she had has a vomit but two or three days before & which ↑had↑ cleansed
her stomach very well, yet in this short space I never saw anything so foul as it was
the contents she{illeg} threw up were in part exceeding ropy & after discharging it three or
four times what she threw up (↑it became↑) afterwards was extremely bilious & it very acrid, -
what more can be done we are greatly at a loss determine, if anything occurrs to you
that promises to afford relief to our patient we should be extremely obliged to you for
the communication, --- when you do me the honour to write to me, I will be obliged to you
if you would inform me whether any person has called upon you with your fee due to you
upon the patients account, --- I have a further request to make of you in favour
of a young gent: who is the bearer of this, he is at Edinburgh with a view of studying physic
his name is Kendal, he is a native of North America, his views are in future life
to practice as a Surgeon & Apothecary & his misfortune is ↑that↑ he only thought of this very
late in his life so that in his situation we he is to endeavour to acquire all the knowledge
he can in his present advantageous situation by a diligent pursuit in his studies
[as quickly &?] {illeg} as possible, he is really a sensible, agreeable & sober young
man, qualifications which I hope will render him useful in his profession &
esteemed by his friends, ↑&↑ what I would wish of you is that he had your coun¬
tenance & protection whilst at Edinburgh & if at any time he stood in need of your
assistance in the way of conducting his studies you would freely advise
him, Dear Doctor every civility shewn to him whilst among you
& so long as he deserves you notice by his decent & prudent ↑demeanor↑ will be ever
{illeg}d as ↑an↑ obligations conferrd upon

your much obliged & most
[obedient?] {illeg} [Humble?] servant
W: Turner
Warrington November the 9:th

Doctor Pemberton presents his most respectful compliments to you

To D:r Cullen


Dr Turner
Mrs Woodcock. 1774
V. I. p.94.

Diplomatic Text

[Page 1]
Dear Doctor


give me leave once more to trouble you with some further account of our patient Mrs
Woodcocks case, tho hitherto our best endeavours have availed her very little yet we indulge our
selves in the pleasing thoughts that the nature of her complaints appear to be now better under¬
stood than heretofore, tho' the cause of them is very equivocal, if therefore our conjectures
are better founded, we may reasonably conclude that a chance for relief is the more probable;
from a careful & diligent attention to every little incident attending her both in the intervals
of a fitt & in the convulsion we now entirely coincide with your first opinion wch: is that there
is no topical affection of the brain & that the symptoms depend upon a more general affection of
the nervous system, but how or in what manner this affection is produced & from what cause
it is brought on, is the question, from the constant & equal feelings such as nausea sickness &c
she has had in her stomach connected with the uneasiness in her head we are induced to con¬
clude that the organs of digestion are principally in fault & the other parts by consent only, tho
tis well known that the brain can affect the stomach, & vice versa, but Dr: Fothergill after he
had seen her this summer was inclined to suppose that the principal leading cause of all
was the sudden loss of the menses about two years ago & more especially so as she had
had many children & both in the intervals of child bearing & after that time she had
generally very large discharges of them; with this view he directed her to loose a few ounces
of blood three or four times
in the year but particularly so when she found herself warmer
than usual
or troubled with flushings in the face, to keep her belly constantly soluble & once in a week
to take a smart purge combined with so much of the antimonial wine as to puke her Two or
three times
& every day to take a stomach draught not so much with the view of encreasing
her appetite as to strengthen her stomach, it was prepared w:th Aq: Menth: pip: simp; Vin:
Chalybeat
& Elix: Vitrioli acid & to use as constant exercise on horseback daily as the
weather & other circumstances would admit of, in this course she has continued about two
months without any seeming advantage except that she was always much sunk & debilitated
by ye. purge & tho' it generally puked her two or three times it did not seem either to relieve
{illeg} to prevent her nausea & sickness, or swimming & giddiness of the head but on the contrary
{illeg} in the course the alterative medicines happend to give her a stool or two extraordinary
{illeg} were more frequent we have ever observed that {illeg} more {illeg}
{illeg}e is in meats & drinks the worse she is; she is now taking the Vin Aloet Alcalin::
{illeg}s an alternative & [Flor: Zinzii?] as ↑a↑ stomachic, & whenever she finds herself oppress'd at
her stomach, or troubled with nausea or sickness or colder than usual to take immedi¬
atly a vomit of Vitriol: Alb:, we can fairly say that she has experienced a more substan¬
[tial?] relief from the use of Vomits both in the fitts & proceding them than from all
other medicines whatsoever, many times to all appearance when the fitt has been
coming on her very rapidly she has experiences immediate relief from a dose of Ipec:
particularly so in the last convulsions she had, she had been convulsed when I saw her



[Page 2]

three or four hours & had taken in the slight remissions volatiles fœdits & opiates [& thes?]
in pretty large quantities both by the mouth & in the form of Clyster to no effect, I gave
her immediatly a vomit wch: did not operate for an hour & during this time ↑she was↑ altogether
convulsed, after it had operated once she became almost free from convulsion & {illeg}as it
puked her more she grew after each freer & freer from them, what is remarkable
in this case is that tho' she had has a vomit but two or three days before & wch: ↑had↑ cleansed
her stomach very well, yet in this short space I never saw anything so foul as it was
the contents she{illeg} threw up were in part exceeding ropy & after discharging it three or
four times what she threw up (↑it became↑) afterwards was extremely bilious & it very acrid, -
what more can be done we are greatly at a loss determine, if anything occurrs to you
that promises to afford relief to our patient we should be extremely obliged to you for
the communication, --- when you do me the honour to write to me, I will be obliged to you
if you would inform me whether any person has called upon you with your fee due to you
upon the patients account, --- I have a further request to make of you in favour
of a young gent: who is the bearer of this, he is at Edinb: with a view of studying physic
his name is Kendal, he is a native of North America, his views are in future life
to practice as a Surgeon & Apothy: & his misfortune is ↑yt↑ he only thought of this very
late in his life so that in his situation we he is to endeavour to acquire all the knowledge
he can in his present advantageous situation by a diligent pursuit in his studies
[as quickly &?] {illeg} as possible, he is really a sensible, agreeable & sober young
man, qualifications wch: I hope will render him useful in his profession &
esteemed by his friends, ↑&↑ what I would wish of you is that he had your coun¬
tenance & protection whilst at Edinb: & if at any time he stood in need of your
assistance in the way of conducting his studies you would freely advise
him, Dear Doctor every civility shewn to him whilst among you
& so long as he deserves you notice by his decent & prudent ↑demeanor↑ will be ever
{illeg}d as ↑an↑ obligations conferrd upon

your much obliged & most
[obedt?] {illeg} [Hble?] servt
W: Turner
Warrington 9ber: the 9:th

Dr: Pemberton presents his most respectful compts: to you

To D:r Cullen


Dr Turner
Mrs Woodcock. 1774
V. I. p.94.

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