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I was honoured with your Letter of Con¬
sultation; and although the case proved fatal
before it arrived, and much sooner than there
was any reason to to expect, yet it was a
very considerable consolation to me, & to his re¬
lations, that your sentiments so nearly con¬
curred with mine. The very day I wrote you
(Septr. 7 5) Mr. Waldie. came from this place, in
a carriage, & thought himself better for the
ride. Upon the road, he drank some butter
milk, and afterwards a good deal of small
beer. Soon after he was siezed with vomiting,
without pain in the stomach. This symptom,
together with the cough, continued without a¬
batement for 24 hours. He could be prevailed
upon to take no medicine, & would scarcely
drink any thing stronger than cold water. On
the morning of the 7th. of Septr. the vomiting abated.
He began to rattle in his throat, & to breathe la¬
boriously. His pulse was little altered; but both this
morning & the Day before, I observed a strong Pulsa¬
tion in the carotid & temporal Arteries. At 11 o Clock
he got up in bed, had an effort to cough; his
countenance in a moment became pale & livid;
& he died without a struggle. Might not this sud¬
den death be owing to some desease in the heart.
itself {illeg} large blood Vessels...M.r George Waldie
his Heir, will either write you himself, or
make a friend of his wait upon you soon.

I am now my, Dear Sir, about to consult you con¬
cerning a case, which more nearly concerns me. My
wife has long been in an unfavourable way. Although
I am affraid, it may be out of the power of medicine
to remove her desease, yet it will be a great comfort
to me to have the opinion of one whom I esteem the
first Physician in the Kingdom. At one period
of the Desease, I have looked upon the case to be
a spasmodic cough; at another a Chronic Catarrh;
but now I am affraid, it will terminate in Phthisis.

Mrs. Clark is fortyfive years of age, and the
catamenia still continue regular. She is of a large
make, her neck rather short, her chest well
formed; she was naturally of a florid complexion,
plethoric, and became corpulent after the age of
20; but not to such a degree as to render her
unactive. She has been the mother of Six Childn.
& in the has suffered much by miscarriages, &
uterine haemorrhages after delivery. After her
second child her legs became adematous; & ever
since that period she has been obliged to wear
flannel rollers. She lived formerly in London,
but since I became connected to her in 1774
she has lived in the country; & since that period
has enjoyed a good state of health, except that
her recovery after delivery has stil been slow;
& that about four years ago she had a very
severe catarrh in Autumn, which however yielded
to V. S. & a total abstinence from Animal food.
For three years past she has never became
pregnant.

In march last she was seized with the
usual symptoms of catarrh; & the [desease] not
withstanding every precaution increased with
the warm weather. In the middle of June the
cough became exceedingly severe, in the fits her
face almost became livid, her urine was forced
off, & her whole frame violently agitated; & accom¬
panied with a sense of fulness, & exqusite transitory
pain in her legs & arms, to the very end of her toes

A variety of medicines have been tryed;
the chief of which have been V.S. Pil. Scillit. Lact
Ammon. Mist. [Oleas?] cum [Elix. Parg?]; the [steams?]

To
Doctor Cullen
Professor of Medicine
in the University of
Edinburgh.

Dr Clarke C
Mrs Clark --
Septr. 1780.
v. xi. p. 78