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Lewis Gordon of Techmury about 50 years of Age
about whose Make & Complexion I need say nothing
as he is personally known to you, enjoyed Health &
a sound Constitution till about 1st Augt 1777 when
he was seized with pains in the Abdomen which had
more the appearance of Spasm than Inflammation
attended with obstinate costiveness which for several
days resisted repeated Injections, all the various gentle
& drastic Cathartics that could be thought off, exhib¬
ited with & without Opiates, Annodyn Liniments, Fric¬
tion &c until being putt into a Semicupium breast high
he fainted, & in that state made a most copious Discharge
which relieved his pains, & gentle laxatives readily pro¬
duced their natural effects afterwards, but a Species of
low nervous fever immediately supervened which held
him in a very uncertain state above a month, & I have
not thought his health so uniformly stable since. ––

In January 1778 or 9 after many wandering Pains &
threatenings he had a regular fitt of the Gout alternately
in both feet –– has had many threatenings since
from such wandering pains sometimes in his breast
under the Sternum strikeing thro' to the Spinal Vertebræ,
in his thighs & Arms & sometimes for a moment in his
feet as if suddenly punctured with a sharp Instrument
but no regular paroxysm. ––

This past Summer & Autumn Company & Business led
him into greater irregularitys in point of Regimen than
usual, which, I presume, brought on a slow, remitting,
irregular fever attended with his old complaint of obsti¬
nate costiveness about the 20th Octr –– The Costiveness
after resisting Injections, various Cathartics & Tobacco-¬
smoke thrown up the Anus yeilded to a Solution of ℥3
Sal Glauber: taken as fast as his Stomach could bear &
the fever subsided almost instantly after, so that in a
few days he was able to be removed to his own House
distant about 20 Miles in a Chaise but has never yet re¬
covered any tolerable degree of health: –– he has been
generally distressed with such Erratic pains as above
mentioned sometimes affecting his head, frequently

What chiefly deserves notice in his present State
are an universal Debility & relaxation of the whole
Nervous & muscular Systems, Languor, Lassitude
inaptitude to motion, such weakness & tremor of his
hands that he can with difficulty carry a Spoon or
glass to his Mouth & tho' he can clench his fist, can¬
not extend his fingers, in the ends of which he some¬
times complains of a little numbdness – his Appetite,
tho' less than in health is as much as I wish him to
have for his present Exercise, his drink 'till lately
good small Beer & Punch, not choosing Red Port
which he has now used for some days ––

Mr Gordon, since I knew him (above 30 years)
has lived as sober & regular when alone at home,
& as Social & convivially when abroad or exposed to
Company as any man of my acquaintance ––
Some days he will have Sallys of his usual fun &
good humour, others his Spirits low & depressed, says
he cannot venture on horseback for his Head, the cold
& weakness, & goes but too rarely out in his Carriage.

In his illness 1777 I was startled at a singularity in
his Pulse exceeding anything I had ever felt in Ano¬
ther –– in the space of two minutes often in One
it has beat at the rate of 60 & full, 150 small & tre¬
mulous, above numbering undulating & creeping, & all¬
ways intermitting, the more rapid the oftener ––

I have felt his Pulse often in his best health since
& found the same irregularity in a less degree – at
present it is sometimes better but often as above:
I have often known people have an intermitting Pulse
in health, but never such an unaccountable Variety.

Exercise, particularly on Horseback when possible,
the flesh brush ¼ hour every morning & night ––
Mustard Seed swallowed daily, a teaspoonfull or
two of Vinum Antimoniale, & a glass of warm Aro¬
matic Bitter Wine are what has been prescribed

Memorial
To Doctor Wm Cullen
12 Janry 1782.