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Your old Patient Mr Alexr McDonald left this
last week to be in Edinburgh, about the time this will get
to your hand, with a son, whom he carries in with him
for your advice. This son, about three or four & thirty
years of age (a chip of the old Block) has been very frequently
in venereal scrapes. In the Month of March last I was
consulted by him for a deeply ulcerated Venereal sore
throat, for which he underwent a very serious Mercurial
course, & was kept spitting till both he & I were satisfy'd
that he was perfectly well –– Soon after this and indeed be¬
fore he had recovered much strength, as ill luck would have
it, he married a fine young Girl. He ↑had↑ lived but two weeks
or three with her, when he went on a voyage, I think it
was to Christiana, & returned home the latter end of June
or beginning of July - He then complained of pain in
his throat, & sharp shooting pains through his left
Ear such as he had when the Tonsil had been ulcerated
but upon inspection, nothing was to be observed, excepting

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a little fullness in the Uvula & Tonsils. I learnt from
him that during the time of his being from home, he had
complained much of pains in his Throat, & violent headachs,
for which he had been at one time, bled & Blistered, and
frequently purged - About the middle of July, I got a
message telling me that he had been suddenly struck
speechless - Before I got to the house he had as sud¬
denly recovered the use of his Tongue, & I found him
laughing, & entertained with the fright his friends had
been put into. That same Evening he had another attack
of the same Sort which in like manner went of before I
reached the house - Another & another succeeded, till
late that Night, that he got the fatal Stroke which
deprived him both of Speech, & the use of his right
Arm & Leg, from neither of which he has recovered
more than you see –– I need hardly trouble you with a
Detail of the Bleedings, Purgatives, Embrocations,
bathings, Blisters, Issues &ca. that were employed
in the beginning, & in the course of the Ailment, as
symptoms indicated - But I must not pass over a
circumstance, which has been a remarkable and

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troublesome one in the Case. About the middle of September
he shewed marks of great uneasiness about his Throat -
At the same time a great number of Blotches appeared
on all parts of his Body - I suspected the old Leaven, and
was confirmed in my suspicion by finding upon examining
his Throat, a sordid Ulcer on the Tonsils of both sides ––
He was immediately put on a gentle Mercurial Course
with Decoctions of Sarsaparilla – but the sores yielded
nothing, till after a long while that a salivation was
raised & kept up for many weeks - It is but five or six
weeks that since the soreness of his Mouth from
the Mercury has dissapeared - I observed only the
night before he left this, (for I had not seen him nor
heard of him for 5 or 6 Days before) a little nasty
sore, in the inside of his under lip –– I know not
from what Cause - I beg you will enquire into his
wifes state. She has got a sore on her Leg of the same
kind with the many her husband had. She has been
taking some Mercury for it, but not enough to cure
it. Indeed, poor thing, she has not been able to take the
proper care of herself –– I must refer you to her for any
further information about the Cases that may be needed

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Dr William Cullen
Physician
Edinburgh

✍
Mr Fullarton
Mr Macdonald & Spouse
25 January 1778
8 p. 52