[Page 1]

From having been rather more than usually
occupied for eight or ten days past I have been prevent¬
ed from letting you know the event of Mr Lawsons
case, which I mean't sooner to inform you of. Soon
after I came home from Edinburgh his feverishness again
became very considerable, and was attended, every
two or three days, with one circumstance or another
strongly marking the danger that was to be apprehended.
Two different times I was alarmed, for a day or more,
with the appearance of a bad sore throat, with many aph¬
thous sloughs, which however soon yielded to gargling,
or rather syringing. –– Frequently he had attacks of
coughing and breathlessness. –– Considering all things
when his pulse became weak and irregular, which it
did in a remarkable manner, about three weeks ago,
I did not hesitate to declare that he was certainly dy¬
ing, which was rendered the more probable when he be¬
gan to grow slightly delirious, as he did in a day or
two after. –––– Nothwithstanding all this however he again

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mended in such a manner as gave his family hopes
of his recovery, his pulse becoming firmer and regular,
his head clear, and even his appetite good. –– This
amendment however lasted but a few days; the cir¬
cumstances above mentioned, – or others of a similar
nature, soon returned, and after much struggling, he
died the end of last week. –– It would be quite need¬
less to trouble you with any account of my mea¬
sures in this situation, which were as well adapted
as I could make them to the symptoms of the
day. – On account of their varying so much from day
to day, I was prevented, more than once, from writing
you when I intended doing it, - seeing that it could be
of no use. -- I hope you will believe that, in all cases,
I have never omitted writing, when there was the
least propriety in it.

For two or three days before Mr Lawson died he com¬
plained of ↑very↑ acute pain in the small of his back, on the right
side; that is, in the region of the Kidney; and, during that time,

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there was an almost entire suppression of urine. ––
On examining his body the right kidney was quite
sound, and contained nothing. – The left kidney was
somewhat larger than usual; a good part of it,
when viewed externally, was livid, as if from the effect
of inflammation; and its pelvis contained two stones;
one of which perhaps might have passed the ureter,
for he voided one nearly as large last year (tho it
stuck some hours in the Urethra;) –– the other, being
at least four times larger, it is probable would never
have left the Kidney; – and, from its fixed [seat and?]
irritation, I suppose, a small suppuration was [beg[un]?]
from which, when the knife reached ↑it,↑ a good tea-¬
spoonful of pus flowed. –– The thick and very dark-¬
coloured urine which I formerly mentioned, continued
more or less to the last. –– In the Bladder there
were no stones found, – as indeed there was no rea¬
son to expect them; – and it contained but very little
Urine.

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To
Doctor Cullen
Physician
Edinburgh

✍
Dr Gilchrist
Concerning Mr Lawson
September 1781
XIII. p. 68