Cullen

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

 

[ID:1256] From: [AUTHOR UNKNOWN] / To: Dr William Cullen (Professor Cullen) / Regarding: Captain W R Wilson (Patient) / 30 March 1776 / (Incoming)

Letter from John Ash concerning the case of Captain Wilson, and begging to differ over Cullen's opinion of the case - which has been misrepresented - as being epileptic rather than apoplectic. The patient's reading of William Cadogan's A Dissertation on the Gout and on All Chronic Diseases (1771) is mentioned.

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Metadata

FieldData
DOC ID 1256
RCPE Catalogue Number CUL/1/2/356
Main Language English
Document Direction Incoming
Date30 March 1776
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 John Ash concerning the case of Captain Wilson, and begging to differ over Cullen's opinion of the case - which has been misrepresented - as being epileptic rather than apoplectic. The patient's reading of William Cadogan's A Dissertation on the Gout and on All Chronic Diseases (1771) is mentioned.
Manuscript Incomplete? No
Evidence of Commercial Posting No

Case

Cases that this document belongs to:

Case ID Description Num Docs
[Case ID:57]
Case of Captain W. R. Wilson whose 'seizures' Cullen attributes to 'nervous weakness'.
5


People linked to this document

Person IDRole in documentPerson
[PERS ID:1]AddresseeDr William Cullen (Professor Cullen)
[PERS ID:500]PatientCaptain W R Wilson
[PERS ID:502]Patient's Physician / Surgeon / ApothecaryDr John Ash
[PERS ID:1]Patient's Physician / Surgeon / ApothecaryDr William Cullen (Professor Cullen)
[PERS ID:2298]Other Physician / SurgeonDr William Cadogan
[PERS ID:145]Patient's Relative / Spouse / FriendMrs Wilson

Places linked to this document

Role in document Specific Place Settlements / Areas Region Country Global Region Confidence
Place of Writing Birmingham Midlands England Europe certain
Destination of Letter Edinburgh Edinburgh and East Scotland Europe inferred

Normalized Text

[Page 1]
Sir.


Mr Wilson communicated to me
a Letter he had received from you
in Answer to an Account he had
transmitted to you, unknown to me
in order to take your Opinion on
his Case: and I return you my
best thanks for your kind expressi¬
ons of esteem for my Character &
Experience but as we differ so
much in our method of treatment
of Captn. Wilson; I thought it a duty
I owed both to you & myself to
give you the trouble of a Short
Letter on his Complaint as it ap¬
peared to me when I visited him.



[Page 2]

No man can have a higher Opinion
of your Judgement in Medicine than
myself: And have a much greater
one of your Medical Abilities than
my own: but when we differ so widely
in our Opinion of (on) the same Case,
I must be induced to entertain no
favorable Opinion of my own Judge¬
ment, unless I could flatter myself
at the same time. But the Case had
not been truly represented to you.
I am taught to think as favora¬
bly of your Candour as I am
of your Abilities. Will you give
me leave to ask you, if the Case
was not represented to you as an
Epileptic One? If so, I entirely
agree with you in your method
of Treatment. But I do assure


[Page 3]

you that Mr Wilson's Siezures, for
he had ↑two↑ attacks on the same day,
and I was with him before the
second came on, were truly Apo¬
plectic
, and from debility
Mr Wilson apprehensive of some
heriditary Title to the Gout, hed
been a faithful Disciple of Dr
Cadogen's ever since the publica¬
tion of his Treatise: 1 and no man
has observed a Stricter and a more
Abstemious regimen of Diet than
he has done, & did at the time
he was siezed. ---


The trouble I give you of this
Letter, for I will ↑not↑ intrude any
longer on your time, is entirely
unknown to Mr Wilson & do not
wish to have you take any notice
of it to him: he has enjoyed perfect



[Page 4]

health ever since the time of his
recovery from these alarming
Siezures: the true nature of which
were in some measure softened
at the time, in tenderness both
to himself and his amiable Wife.
I do not wish to trespass on your
engagements to sollicit the favor
of an Answer, but the honour
of a Letter from you will receive
all due regard from


Your most Obedient &
very Humble Servant
John Ash

Birminghem.
Warwickshire.
30. March, 1776. --

Notes:

1: William Cadogan, A Dissertation on the Gout, and all Chronic Diseases, jointly considered, as proceeding from the same causes; what those causes are; and a rational and natural method of cure proposed. Addressed to all invalids. (London: 1771), was a much-reprinted account of how to manage this fashionable condition.

Diplomatic Text

[Page 1]
Sir.


Mr Wilson communicated to me
a Letter he had received from you
in Answer to an Account he had
transmitted to you, unknown to me
in order to take your Opinion on
his Case: and I return you my
best thanks for your kind expressi¬
ons of esteem for my Character &
Experience but as we differ so
much in our method of treatment
of Captn. Wilson; I thought it a duty
I owed both to you & myself to
give you the trouble of a Short
Letter on his Complaint as it ap¬
peared to me when I visited him.



[Page 2]

No man can have a higher Opinion
of your Judgement in Medicine than
myself: And have a much greater
one of your Medical Abilities than
my own: but when we differ so widely
in our Opinion of (on) the same Case,
I must be induced to entertain no
favorable Opinion of my own Judge¬
ment, unless I could flatter myself
at the same time. But the Case had
not been truly represented to you.
I am taught to think as favora¬
bly of your Candour as I am
of your Abilities. Will you give
me leave to ask you, if the Case
was not represented to you as an
Epileptic One? If so, I entirely
agree with you in your method
of Treatment. But I do assure


[Page 3]

you that Mr Wilson's Siezures, for
he had ↑two↑ attacks on the same day,
and I was with him before the
second came on, were truly Apo¬
plectic
, and from debility
Mr Wilson apprehensive of some
heriditary Title to the Gout, hed
been a faithful Disciple of Dr
Cadogen's ever since the publica¬
tion of his Treatise: 1 and no man
has observed a Stricter and a more
Abstemious regimen of Diet than
he has done, & did at the time
he was siezed. ---


The trouble I give you of this
Letter, for I will ↑not↑ intrude any
longer on your time, is entirely
unknown to Mr Wilson & do not
wish to have you take any notice
of it to him: he has enjoyed perfect



[Page 4]

health ever since the time of his
recovery from these alarming
Siezures: the true nature of which
were in some measure softened
at the time, in tenderness both
to himself and his amiable Wife.
I do not wish to trespass on your
engagements to sollicit the favor
of an Answer, but the honour
of a Letter from you will receive
all due regard from


Your most Obedt. &
very Hble. Servant
John Ash

Birminghem.
Warwickshire.
30. March, 1776. --

Notes:

1: William Cadogan, A Dissertation on the Gout, and all Chronic Diseases, jointly considered, as proceeding from the same causes; what those causes are; and a rational and natural method of cure proposed. Addressed to all invalids. (London: 1771), was a much-reprinted account of how to manage this fashionable condition.

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