[Page 1]

I recieved your letter of the 2d April, which as
every thing you ever said or wrote me did, gave me much
satisfaction, -- I am a little afraid tho from your not being
quite so full & decisive as I coud have wished, that in my
last letters I have been rather inpertinent & indiscreet - in
troubling ↑you↑ with circumstances that may be deemed indelicate
& invidious, & on the whole that you woud rather wish to
discourage so ↑in↑discreet a correspondent while at such a
distance - Yet at the same time I cannot help thinking
your humanity will forgive the man however you may blame
his manner, when you consider the state I was in when I
wrote both last times, and that any Patient is circum¬
stanced as I am to Dr Cullen must in any extremity look
up to him with uncommon confidence, & write to him on
his case more fully & with less reserve than to any other
man on earth -- But I will not trouble you any farther
with my conjectures - & impute the whole I woud seem to
complain of to my own pecularities - & the vast distance be¬

---

[Page 2]

tween us which makes a correspondence on such cases very trouble¬
some --- And I begg leave now to trouble you with a short ac¬
count of my present situation - and which may be very fully
supplyed by my good friend & Partner Mr John Lindsay
who will deliver you this -- He performed all the good of¬
fices of a friend to me when in ↑my↑ worst state, & was present &
assisting of all the Operations

My Rheumatick Complaints are all gone long ago, tho
I am well aware the disposition remains, I think I know well
how to gaurd against its return -- As to Veneral Complaints
the running still continues, tho I think & believe as you woud
have me that the infection is long ago gone - I believe
also had I staid at home last summer after I got over my
other complaints, avoided exercise & followed the mild
temperate regimen you prescribe I must long ere now been
fully restored - but unhappily in the then very disordered
& relaxed state of the urethra I undertook as I wrote you
a journey of 200 miles from home to bath in warm

---

[Page 3]

water which I had no occasion ↑for↑, & if I had coud have
been procured at home - where I got exposed to every
accident of weather & had accomodation - here I caught
the Rheumatism again - & here I was ply'd with Cinnabar
& other mercurial preparations - which only served to
make me worse - and after I got home - what more
mercury purges & infections I suffered - have ↑been↑ already
told - such fatality never attended poor Devil
It had been surely better my business had been finish'd
at first ~ But to return the running is rather
less that when I wrote you - tho the colour varies a
little now and then as you said it woud - I also
have still have so much of the sensation of a
Chordee (or stricture, are they the same?) as satisfies
me the urethra is not entirely restored - I remem¬
ber when you took me in hand at home the running
had then continued 12 months but without any Chordee
after the first three weeks - And the running gave
way to the regimen you laid me under & 3 months

---

[Page 4]

interdiction from {illeg} - this now tho seems of a much
severer obstinate kind - your state of my case is very accurate
& agreeable with my feelings, at present however I cannot
think the neck of the bladder affected, whatever it was
at my worst last winter, nor tho I had them then do I think
I have any troublesome strangureous sympon - just now
I believe I have rather a more frequent stimulus to make
a water than if all we were well, & get free from that in¬
continency I had {illeg} in the winter which was so great
after I began to get a little better of the strangureous
symptoms, that I used scarcely to have time to un¬
button - this now tho is not the case for I may have
perhaps more stimuli and a few other indiscribable sen¬
sations different from a sound state, I think I have the
urine at sufficient command so as that it is not ↑in that respect↑ trouble¬
some, -- a laxity tho & occasionall swelling of the urethra
with a very small degree of chordee still I think remains
For this as you direct I have left off drinking altogether

---

[Page 5]

except where the water is bad I mix a little wine - I
eat milk & Tea to breakfast & supper & dine tem¬
perately as fresh meats - and drink plentifully of water
or what is mild. If this practice will do I can easily
follow it up for any length of time - and as to Ve¬
nery if that was altogether necessary to abstain from
I coud do that also - for I can submit to any thing you
will positively direct - However once a week on a
average is my present allowance - I make water
tollerably well, tho there always seems yet as if some
was left in Urethra, which requires stroking out
let me make water ever so deliberately - there seems
but little heat to remain - & the stream joins
oftener than before - On the whole I am in such a
state I know not whether from what you wrote last
I shoud use the Bougies or not - If I coud do well
without to be sure I woud much rather - In there
has been too much freedom used with my Urethra
already

---

[Page 6]

But on the other hand if you will be clear of this being a
more certain & speedy cure for this inveterate business I
woud glady attempt them - As we have a good {illeg} here
I believe in Strachan which I experienced in his intro¬
duction of the [Cathetic?] when two others here had like
to have destroyed me by their rough attempts - I was
uncertain about the safety of using the cold bath & there¬
fore declined it this summer as you was silent on it
in your last - I have also since then declined all farther
intercourse with the Faculty here - nor have I thought
proper to communicate or show to them any part of
your last letter. I will wait with patience till I hear
from you again, observing in the mean time the regimen
of temperance in eating &ca, & altogether avoiding spiritous
liquors --

There has been a sensation also which I may mention has
within these 6 weeks been a little troublesome to me (for I
do not remember it before so particularly) it is not very

---

[Page 7]

alarming for I rather incline to think it proceeds
from Rheumatick affection or some other temporary
accidental cause, & not from any matter forming
It is an uneasy feeling on that side ↑(the left)↑ of the anus
where the operation was performed, especially when
I stand up, & a little stiffness in the gut when at
stool a little more than formerly I think - I feel
the bone on that side closs to the anus when I press
it with my finger so sore as makes me sometimes
think it altogether a kind of Rheumatick affection
of it at other times I think I can feel the cicatrixes
of the wounds a little sore to the touch - the chief
uneasiness I think I feel when I stand up when I
sit down its easy - I think its not at all like the
pain arising from the formation of matter - and at
this time I am now writing I think there is no other
pain when I press it such as may be always ex¬
pected from a part that has undergone such an
Operation - Yet I thought I woud mention it --

---

[Page 8]

In consequence of the heat of weather & to long ride I have
had I was seized with the usual fevers for ten days but
they went off without taking any thing - I do not observe
they have made any alteration on the running

On the whole {illeg} I woud begg a few more generall
directions from you relative to my present habit - & par¬
ticularly whether I shoud use the Bougies or not - & the Cold
bath - and whether the regimen I have mentioned I observe
will suffice or it shoud be still lighter - Your re¬
turning the half of the fee I sent by Mr Spence to
another circumstance - that makes me fearfull of my
having been irksome to you I have desired Mr Lindsay
to get it of him & deliver to you again which I begg
you will permit - And if there is any thing here Mrs
Cullen or you wish for that I can procure for you
Mr Lindsay will be a good hand ↑to perform↑ me by & doing so you
will much oblige me - Mr Lindsay will give you some
news here which are very exhausting & very
{illeg}

---

[Page 9]

can ¹ in such a manner as that by conceiving their affairs
to be in no worse if not better condition than when we
as a benefit intended us were admitted Partners, & that from
a consideration of all circumstances since we came
out it hath not been in our Power to make them in
better condition -- and that the finishing of their busi¬
ness with the Assistance we will always be willling
to throw in can as well be done without us as with
us -- I say if happily they might be made to see
{illeg} case in this its true light, they might be of
use in helping us to the Justice we require - & may
be the means of doing this indeed in the way we
wish in an amicable freindly manner -- On this
footing & on it alone woud I be willing to Join
them in any new trade -- but we will not at least
its clear I cannot lose any more time - I must

---

[Page 10]

get into some business which we may so far be Judges of
in every instance & over which we may have always the
command & not the business of us, in a word a busi¬
ness thro which at all times we may so see thro
as to be able always to prevent loss - as well as
prosecute every favourable circumstance to the ex¬
tent of our limits --- with them I woud wish to be
concerned - and it woud be worth their while to
have our stock of experience, & thrown in -- & that
sollicitude & anxiety [for?] repairing our lost time --
which will be a sufficient {illeg} to every thing
requisite for the good conduct of a business --
But you'll attempt this with caution, & may
possibly soon see they are much the reverse, of what
I woud wish them - the sooner you see this the better
if with certainty - that aught to determine as to the

---

[Page 11]

whole at once - God secure you & give either a
final success with them in what we want - or such
quick discernment - as may enable you to defeat
all their {illeg} against us ---

As to myself I woud not trouble you with
any thing about health having been quite free from
the fevers I had in Petersburg after my return from
Charlotte - But having read Buchan's book of
medicine ² wherein he treats a little on a Gleet
& I think I now understand mine to proceed from
some remaining ulcer or ulcers in the urethra
& not such a gleet as generally shows itself ↑most↑ when the patient is stimulated
with venerations or when at sto↑o↑ll - I have no such {illeg} syptoms - mine may in generall be squeezed and thick
by pressing the top of penis --
I wish you to acquaint Dr Cullen of this - the
perineum is now quite well & I believe the pain
I complained of to you in Ano arises from the wound
the stiffishnes {illeg} sensation I find is now chiefly felt when I stand up or strain making water
solely -- only I wonder at it now as I think it has
not usually been so since I was Cut -- Now I
↓do take this also over to the Dr. if he apprehends nothing from these sensations after↓
↓[observation?] of the Operation↓, it wil so far be a relief - & if he apprehends anything he will de¬

---

[Page 12]

↑rect the treatment & perhaps in time such directions as may prevent - tell him also how I suffered to↑
↑the piles, & how I seem to↑
↓be of them now↓
wish Chiefly to know of Dr Cullen of a regimen
of milk & roots woud allow me to go out about
my business & cure this running ↑this {illeg} has not agreed with it - tho I have all along↑ ↓& the heats of urine Ditto as temperate as you saw me↓ (little or no Chordee
remaining sometimes none at all & never much of it)
& what time it might take - or if I might live
as {illeg} seen me & expect a cure in time - or if
he woud advise Bougies - how even they will
effect a cure - & if I own no {illeg} {illeg}
of them becoming ↑frequently↑ necessary to me from the
present use of them -- & what other directions he
may think necessary in this - as ↑well as↑ applicable to my
whole habit ↑ & in a word say that this running &ca proves very obstinate↑ -- After conversation with you -- I
will ↑not↑ say of what consequence all this is to me - & of
the faith I have in your to effect it for me I
trust I will after have occasion to let the deed
show proof --- Tell Uncle Robert that I

[Start of margin text]
He cannot be too particular to me, its for my self I want his advice -
either hapily that it may suffice with my own management or
if unhappily I shoud have occasion to use any of the {illeg}
here again - I may be enabled to know how far to go with them in safety
this is the generall reason for wishing to have Dr. Cullen's Opinion & not an impertinent desire to
to see him & his pupils or any of the Faculty here differing an Opinion & as my
confidence {illeg}were natural for me to have {illeg} for his {illeg} [End of margin text]