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Your last kind letter dated 28th of July prescribed
the Diuretic Infusion for carying off the swellings which I had
then too long laboured under from Doctor Sutherlands neglect {illeg} to
accquaint yow of my case. The Medicine however had the
desired effect as indeed has all your other prescriptions for me.
They have constantly opperated in the presise manner yow
told before hand and I expected by this time from my gradual
recovery which was not in the least impeded but rather
promotted by the Setting in of the cold weather to have had
nothing to trouble yow with further than to advise yow of my
recovery and to express my gratitude to yow for having advised
such medicines as under God have been the means of my wellfair.
But an unlucky Circumstance Obliges me again to have recourse
to yow for more advise I am seased with the Rheumatism or
Sciatica or I know not what to call it but it is a most painfull
and excruciating disorder in the joint of my right Haunch
which effects my thigh downwards and is very painfull at
times under the lidd of my Knee and I am some what afraid
that the confinement from this disorder added to my having been
obliged to keep the House pretty long from another cause which I
shall just mention may exhaust the Little stock of health I
had just begun to enjoy from the former exercise I took on
Horseback About Ten weeks ago I began to be prevented from
riding on horseback by a Boil on my left Hip which had made
its first appearance in Spring last but afterwards went back
without coming to maturity leaving only a little hardness and
the Shin somewhat discoloured untill the Infusion had almost
caried off the Swellings when the hardness increased and grew

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broader and it was with some difficulty brought to Supperation
by Polticing it with boiled onions amongst bread & milk
and it has since made a considerable discharge. This circumstance
disabled me from riding on horseback and confined me to the
house for no less than five or Six weeks during whicb I durst
not even walk much through my Room but was obliged to Sitt
almost constantly in a Chair, {illeg} Just when I thought I was
within a few days of being able to Settout again upon horseback
I was seized with this grievous pains in my right side which
by the by was the side which I had always Sitt with next to the
fire from a tendency which I found my right Ancle had to swell
in order to keep it warm. At first the pains attacked my knee and
haunch and became gradually more severe shifting betwixt the
two joints and sometimes attacking my whole thighbone to
such a degree that I was scarce able to limp through the Rooms
with the utmost assistance which I could take from a Strong
Staff in my hands for two or three weeks the pains continued in
this way and were tolerable except when I altered the Position of
my body after sitting sometime erect by leaning back to my Chair
or bringing my body more forwards when the pain would have
Stung me in the lisk in a most dreadful manner as if the
Point of a Sword had been entered in that part & run exactly
through the joint which left a ↑[gnawing?]↑ pain after it as if one had been
cutting of my thigh by the Haunch joint [In?] this way matters
continue untill within these three or four days that I have unable
to walk even upon Crutches and have much pain even while lying
in my Bed where I now am being obliged to employ my Clerk
to write this Letter for the Pain is so [violent?] now that if I attempt
to walk & when I am getting out and into bed or making any other
motion with my body or Legs that I am Stung almost constantly
with severe pain I think it is a Suden contraction of the muscular

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Flesh nerves and tendons and is turned into something like a
Cramp for when I make the least motion or streach my leg a little
farther out the usual one of these Stings or sudden contraction
make me instantly draw up my leg and thigh towards my body
with the most intense pain which I cheefuly feel sometimes
in the outside of my haunch joint and sometimes on the inside
of it in my lisk. If I mistake not their is a very great tension in
the Sinews of that thigh and leg as I dare not for pain streach
it Straight out or put it in that position as if I were standing
erect upon it from this state of the case I must beg yow will
advise me what method I shall take to get the better of this
most painfull of all my maladies I still keep by the diet yow
ordered me and have no inclination for animal food which
indeed I always found did not agree with me my Pulse is rather
Stronger and not quite so frequent and my Belly has con[stantly]
continued perfectly regular neither bound nor loose [Fo?]{illeg}
the drops for my Stomach once a day and now & then some of the
pectoral pills but am indeed very little troubled with wind at
all now I keep my thigh wrapt in Flannel and have had the
warm plaister mentioned by Buchan ¹ at my Haunch joint
for Six days past without any good effect I had almost forgot
to tell yow that my Stomach is rather better and my appetite
fully as keen as before I was seized with this disorder in Short
my Spirits are as good & my Heart as heall as before except when
these grivous Cramps seize me which make me roar out as if I were
[cutt?] in peices.

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William Cullen Esquire
Professor of Medicine
Edinburgh

✍
Mr Watt Burntisland
December 1780
XI. p. 122.