REMARKABLE CURES, OF GOUTY, BILIOUS, AND NERVOUS CASES, RELATED By the Patients themselves, and published at their Desire, In SUNDRY LETTERS TO JOHN SCOT, M.D. Author of An Enquiry into the Origin of the GOUT, &c. &c. &c. Nec, quia desperes invicti membra Glyconis, Nodosa corpus nolis prohibere chiragrâ? Est quodum prodire tenus, si non datur ultra. Hortii, Epist The SIXTH EDITION. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR: And sold by Richardson and Co. under the Royal-Exchange; E. Newberry, Corner of St. Paul’s Church-Yard; W. Walter, Charing-Cross; J. Debrett, Piccadilly; And R. Faulder, New Bond Street. The pills are to be had only at the Author’s house, No. 30, Great Titchfield-street, Cavendish-square, Price 10s. 6d. each Box—they may be conveyed, toge- ther with the Directions under a Frank. A Guinea or two may be safely sent by post, if the sum inclosed be marked on the out-side of the letter. As no general directions, nor any fixed mode using the same medicine, will suit every case and all constitutions; those who wish to have the directions and the medicine particularly suited to their case, may consult the Author as his house personally, or by letter; he is at home every day until noon, and in the evening after four. He is fee’d in the manner of other physicians, and on that foot- ing attends patients at their own houses. REMARKABLE CURES, OF GOUTY, BILIOUS and NERVOUS CASES. From J. Gell, Esq. Captain in his Majesty’s Navy. Dear Doctor, As I am very soon going down to my ship, shall be obliged to you for a fresh supply of your pills, as they always carry off the fit, and in my case answer the intent; from the experience of three years never once found myself deceived. Whenever any symptoms appear of the Gout, five or six of the pills have generally carried off the gouty matter, and never found myself out of health, since I took them. I am, dear Doctor, &c. Your most humble servant, London, June 30, 1780. J. GELL. From [4] From Mr. Waterhouse, Cumberland-House. Sir, After having been much afflicted with the head- ach, and a sickness every morning, and frequently at other times of the day, particularly if I had walked too fast; these complaints continued on me about the space of two months, at the conclusion of which period, I was at- tacked with a fit of the Gout in my foot, which lasted about twenty hours, and then a swelling came on; the day after, my friend Mr. Shaw called on me, whose family have many of them been (to my knowledge) mar- tyrs to the Gout, and he himself afflicted with it in the most violent degree; he told me of your pills, whose effects had relieved, when no other medicine had, though he had been under the care of the most eminent phy- sicians; he likewise referred me to another acquaintance, who had experienced their salutary effects. In con- sequence of this information, I wished to try them myself; I took your pills, and found they had the effects my friend told me they would have; and in three or four days I was quite relieved: but the most extraordinary thing was, they had no effect on me, after the fit was quite gone; but being of a relaxed habit of body, I was subject to catch cold, which brought on the same Complaint, but on taking your pills again have been immediately relieved, therefore think it a duty incumbent on me to express my obligations to you for so valuable a relief as they procured me, who am, Your very humble servant, London, June 28, 1780: W. WATERHOUSE. From (5) From Mr. William Napier, Music-seller to their Majesties, in the Strand. Sir, I had been for some years subject to the periodical attacks of a regular Gout, the fits of which sometimes confin- ed me for six weeks at a time, and each fit left me much weakened, and seemed to make very alarming alterations in my constitution. I first took your pills in the very commencement of a fit that seemed to threaten a severe confinement; but they discharged all the gouty matter in three days, and on the fourth day I found myself perfectly well; since that period, whenever I feel a threatening fit, I take a pill or two, which never fails to carry off every symptom of it. I therefore have taken every opportunity to recommend them to all my acquain- tances, and hope for the good of those that are troubled with this dreadful disorder, that you may meet with the success they deserve, I am, Sir, Your much obliged servant, London June 18, 1780. WILL. NAPIER. From Mr. Robert Shaw, Hosier, Strand. Sir, My father was very much afflicted with the Gout, and my brother died of an irregular Gout at York, at the age of forty-six; it is five years this month since I was (6) was seized suddenly with a most excruciating pain under the short ribs of my right side; it was somewhat relieved by a glass of brandy, but soon returned with redoubled violence, extending like a cramp or spasm all over my arms, shoulders and neck, so that I was unable to move even a finger without sufFering the most dreadful agonies, as if the nerves and sinews all over the parts afflicted were actually under immediate laceration; by di- rection of a physician of eminence I was blooded, which did not much relieve me, but some warm cordials, ordered afterwards by the same physician, made me perspire a little, and at the end of twenty-four hours the pain abated; some smart purges which I took increased the relief; but for three days complete I was unable to leave my bed; and after all, the disease only seemed to change its sta- tion, and fix in the stomach, neck and breast, extending as far as the shoulders; I was in danger of being choaked with wind; and an extraordinary swelling in all my veins, and sense of strangulation every half hour about my throat, together with so acute a pain extending across my breast, from one shoulder to the other, that I remained fixed and jivitted in whatever spot I happened to be at the time I was seized; and three or four times in every night was obliged to jump out of bed, left I should be strangled, and to stand still for a considerable time unable to move; for the least motion exasperated the force of the lacerating spasm that seemed to tear to pieces every thing upon my breast, arms, and neck. In the course of four years I consulted several of the most eminent physicians in Lon- don, and took a variety of other advice and abundance of medicines, but without any material abatement of my com- (7) complaints, which were so much increased by eating or fasting, that for two hours after breakfast, and two hours before supper, I was in exceeding great distress. A little, however, before Christmas, 1778, being seized with a pain in my great toe, all my usual complaints vanished, and whilst my toe continued swelled and inflammed, I en- joyed a perfect respite from all the other pains; but all the former distressing symptoms returned as soon as the pain and swelling left my toe. In which unhappy state I was when you took me under your care, almost unable to execute the duties of my profession; every hour in every place, especially in the street, if I had attempted to walk in cold weather, I was liable to be bound down by such spasms and strangulations, that instantly deprived me of the power of moving any way, and I expected nothing but immediate suffocation. After taking your pills a few days, I found great relief, and I continued to take them according to your directions until they ceased to operate, and I was free from my distress: and when at any time, a sudden change of weather, an accidental cold, or some other cause brings back my disorder in any degree, three or four of your pills never fail to carry it off. This testi- mony of the efficacy of your remedy, I think myself obli- ged to give for the benefit of others, and in gratitude to you for that degree of health I at present enjoy ROBERT SHAW. From (8) From the Right Hon. Lord William Seymour. Believe me, dear Sir, I rejoice to see that you have been prevailed on to publish your most Excellent Remedy for the Gout, Bilious and Nervous Complaints; I should think myfelf guilty of the highest ingratitude, were I not to acknowledge the great and most surprising benefit I have received from it, at the same time requesting you to make such use of this testimony of mine, as you shall think most proper. I was for many years afflicted with violent pains in my stomach, with almost a constant sickness, especially after my meals; I applied to the Faculty in every part of the country where I chanced to be, but found only a tem- porary relief from their prescriptions, and that of a short duration. They all agreed that my complaint was bilious, but none of them hit on a remedy powerful enough to re- move it. My disorder increasing, I put myself under the care of an old acquaintance and friend, a gentleman, whose experience and practice, as a physlcian, justly intitle him to be first in esteem and reputation in Bath; I followed his prescriptions for near three months at home, when he de- sired me to come to Bath, and try the waters there; this I did for thirteen weeks, constantly drinking the waters and following his directions; my disorder stiil increased, and its dreadful and tedious effects, together with the great quantities of medicine I had taken, had so relaxed my nerves that I was scarce able to walk across my room; in this situation I left Bath with little hopes of recovery, being told that I must no longer depend on the effects of medicine, and that change of air was the only thing left for (9) for relief. I had not been long at home before I most for- tunately met with General Morris, who kindly listened to my complaints, and told me that he had once long laboured under the same disorder, had severely felt every symptom I complained of, and after consulting the most eminent of the faculty, found no relief till he applied to you, who gave him some pills that in a short time restored him to per- fect health. The General, who in a few days afterwards went to London, most kindly waited on you with a de- scription of my case, and I received from you a box of pills with your directions how to conduct myself; after taking about six or seven of them, I discharged great quan- tities of bile, my spirits and strength increased daily, and my sleep (which I had long been a stranger to) was sound and comfortable, in less than a month I was able to ride on horse-back ten or a dozen miles without fatigue, my appetite returned, and my food, which before served only to breed phlegm, now digested, and nourished me; I now enjoy better health than I have for many years, and when I find any returns of my complaint, it is less violent, and a pill or two certainly removes it. I am, dear Sir, With sincere respect and esteem, Your grateful and affectionate humble servant, July 5, 1780. WILLIAM SEYMOUR. B From [10] From the Honourable Major General Murray, M.P, &c.&c. Dear Sir, As I understand you are going to dispose of your pills in a more publick manner than you have hitherto done, I think it but justly due to their merits, to render my testimony of the benefit I have not only myself derived from them, but also a variety of persons of all ages both in America and this country, labouring under Gouty, Bili- ous and Nervous Complaints, to whom during the course of seven years, I have administered them, and from whom I never failed to receive thanks for the relief I helped them to. From a severe gun-shot wound I contracted a bad state of health, accompanied with a variety of disagreeable symp- toms, and amongst others, a frequent and painful acidity- in the stomach and a constant pain in the ball of the left thumb, attended with small livid spots; and this pain was always severest, when the acidity and other complaints in my stomach raged the most: for eight years I never was entirely free from these disorders. I consulted several eminent physicians, with little advantage, and without ob- taining from any of them a satisfactory account of the na- ture of my disorder, although by my own observatlon I was enabled to describe to them an evident affinity between the complaints in my stomach, and the pain in the ball of my thumb, because when, according to my custom, I took a couple of table spoonfuls of magnesia, the pain in my thumb [11] thumb became very moderate and only just percep- table. You may recollect that about seven years ago, one morn- ing when you came to breakfast with me, you found me extremely ill, and that of that worst kind of illness which effects the spirits, as well as the body; you immediately- told me I was loaded with bile, that if I was inclined to make the experiment, you would answer for it, that in less than forty-eight hours I should be perfectly relieved; I accordingly took some of your pills and they relieved me within the time you mentioned; I continued to take one pill every night for the space of ten days, and from that period I never had a return of the pain in my thumb. Whenever I find an uneasiness in my stomach, I take one of your pills for the space of three or four nights, and they never fail to remove it. Wishing you therefore every success, I am, with esteem, dear Sir, Your most sincere and obedient servant, London, June 6, 1780. JAMES MURRAY. From [12] From Sir William, Murray, Bart. Dear Sir, The cough and pain in my breast are almost gone, but if they recur, I shall observe your directions, and till they be perfectly gone, I shall eat little meat; I must beg you will send me a box of pills once in five weeks at least: as I cannot think of at any time allowing myself entirely to run out of the only medicine which ever gave me real or lasting relief, after having for years tried all that have been prescribed for me by the ablest physicians in this country and on the continent; and I cannot come upon this subject without returning you my hearty thanks for the de- gree of health I enjoy, and which I had given over hopes of ever attaining, as well as from the ill success of all other prescriptions, as from the conviction I had that all but yourself had mistaken my case, in not admitting it to be a flying Gout. Believe me, Dear Sir, your’s sincerely, May 14, 1780. W.M. Lieutenant General Morris, M.P. &c. &c. Was subject to frequent attacks of a regular Gout in the extremities, which were always proceeded by complaints in his stomach; sometimes he had symp- toms which were deemed Bilious, and sometimes he was seized with the most violent spasms and cramps in his sto- mach, [13] mach, having all the appearance of an inflammation of that part; being of an athletic, muscular make, and of re- markable activity in his profession, the confinement which these illnesses occasioned, became intolerable to him. About five years ago, he began to take the pills, has occa- sionally taken them according to the printed directions ever since, and is at present not only freed from every symptom of Gout, or disorder in his stomach, but possesses an unin- terupted state of health in every respect. From Mrs. Macaulay, Vauxhall. Sir, I rejoice much, to hear that you are making your valuable pills public. I am also told, that many of your patients are giving you their Cases, to publish for the good of Mankind. If my testimony can be of any service even to one of my suffering fellow-creatures, I give it with a hearty good will. From a sendentary life and a variety of disagreeable events, I became subject to nervous complaints, and others, that by Gentlemen of the Faculty were termed Bilious; the first were generally followed by the last; that is, after being distressed with tremor, depression of spirits, want of sleep, &c. these symptoms terminated in acute pains in the stomach and bowels. I applied to physicians of the first eminence, and the last gentleman that attended me is at this time amongst the first and most distinguished of the profession in London; but without the least relief. One evening [14] evening, in an agony of pain, having seen them taken by an infant of five years old, I took one of your pills, which in a quarter of an hour removed my pains, and composed all the agitations of my nerves: and the same happy effect they have never failed to produce ever since, which is now five years. Their operation seems to be that of an opiate with me, for they very seldom purge, yet at the same time I must observe, that the least particle of opium has at all times the efFect of discomposing rather than compoposing my nerves, so that I am convinced there is nothing of that drug in the pills. I am, Sir, Your much obliged humble servant, Vauxhall, July 16, 1781. M.M. From Mr. J. Brooks, Clothier. Sir, Being informed that many of your patients are send- ing you their Cases, I am happy to have the oppor- tunity of offering mine, with my request, that it may be made public. I have for some years been subject to the attacks of a regular Gout, the fits of which confined me near six weeks at a time, each fit left me much weakened, and the disease seemed to be making very alarming altera- tions in my constitution. I have taken your pills in the very commencement of a fit that seem'd to threaten a se- vere confinement, and they discharged all the gouty mat- ter [15] ter in a few days, and I was able to go about my business as usual. I therefore have taken every opportunity of re- commending them to all my acquaintances, and hope for the good of those that are troubled with this dreadful di- sorder, that your pills may meet with the success they de- serve. I am, Sir, your much obliged humble servant, Melksham, March 21, 1781. J. BROOKS. Cumberland-House, Pall-Mall, March 26, 1781. Sir, Permit me to acknowledge the great benefit I have received from your pills; and I think it a duty in- cumbent on me to make the case known for the good of others. About nine years ago I began to be troubled with the Gout, since that, have had many regular fits, which have confined me sometimes longer and sometimes shorter; by the recommendation of a friend, I began to use your pills, since which time they have never failed to carry off the first symptoms of the disorder, and it has never in the least confined me. From the certain proof of the good effect of your pills, I shall take every opportunity to recommend them. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, WM. GRAY. H. Willoughby, Esq. Attorney at Law. Sir, I am told you are going to publish another edition of your patients cases, and I am happy to offer you mine with [16] with my request that it may be made public. About April last, I was seized with a violent giddiness in my head, a loss of appetite, and an amazing waste of flesh, with a to- tal relaxation of my nerves; in this state I was not able to ride a mile from my house, and almost incapable of transact- ing my business which is that of an Attorney—I fortunate- ly heard of the efficacy of your pills from some persons who had taken them in the neighbourhood, and immediately sent you a state of my case, requesting you, that if you thought they would be of service to me you would send me a box, which you did. I had not taken them a fortnight, before I found amazing benefit, as my strength began to re- turn, and I was in less than three weeks able to ride about and transact my business as usual. Whenever I have found the least return of my disorder, which has been but seldom, I have had recourse to your pills, and found immediate re- lief. I now enjoy good health, and find myself more ac- tive than I have been for many years past, and am, with gratitude, Your most sincere and obedient servant, Melksham, Wilts, Feb. 19, 1781. H. WILLOUGHBY. Sir, I had been long troubled with a violent pain in my stomach, and a swimming in my head; the swimming in my head was so very alarming to me that I have been oftentimes under the necessity of catching hold of some- thing to save me from falling; for these complaints I had advice from some very eminent medical people, but with- out receiving any benefit. Two years ago I was seized with the Gout in my great toe, which caused my foot and ancle [17] ankle to swell very much; and while the Gout continued there I was entirely free from my former complaints: at this time a friend of mine, who had been afflicted with the Gout, called to see me, and advised me to take your Pills, and accordingly sent me a box that day, together with a printed direction how to use them; I took one that night going to bed, and after taking four or five more, I was able to walk about my room, and three days afterwards to go abroad, as usual, about my business; since that period, when by catching cold, by sudden change of weather, or by little irregularities, my old complaints in my stomach and head seem to threaten to return upon me, a few of your pills always carry them off, and set me perfectly to rights, and I never enjoyed better health than at present; and if this testimony can be of any use to you, you have my free permission to make it public, and I will myself take every opportunity of recommending them to those who stand in need of them. I am, Sir, Your much obliged humble servant, Stafford-Row, near Buckingham-Gate, March 29, 1781. MALM. MACPHERSON. From Captain Stawell. In the year seventy-four, I was attack’d with the Gout, and some fits that since have been so severe as to con- fine me for months, one indeed for six. In the intervals be- tween the regular fits, I have been occasionallv plagued with a variety of Complaints in my stomach, bowels, and head, all which I supposed to originate from a flying Gout, as they all vanished during a regular Paroxysm of the Gout. C About [18] About a year ago, I accidentally met with your Treatise on this disorder, and finding your Theses to correspond with my complaints exactly, began to take your pills. They have produced the effect you describe in your book, one never failed to clear my stomach which was formerly so distressed: nor to shake off any attack on my feet, which has been made three or four times during the last year. About three weeks ago, I was seized with a regular and violent attack on my foot; by taking two pills, I was en- abled to travel near two hundred miles; but shortly after my arrival in town, I catched cold and exercised too much and was again laid up. The disorder having now arrived at a crisis, and being regularly established in my foot, I had the most complete opportunity of trying the virtue of your pills. The evacuation from even one pill, has been mon- strous, tho’ neither my spirits nor strength were ever dimi- nished by it. I continued, however, to take one almost every night. The discharge subsided in proportion as I got strength in my foot, ’till at last, the pill produced little or no effect; then, Sir, I was perfectly cured. This fit has lasted but eight days, was never violent, nor confined me an hour to my bed; and I am convinced that without the enormous discharge, which the pill produced, I should have suffered as severely as formerly, which was as much as man could suffer. My case may do you as much credit as any you have published. I beg you may make use of it as you think proper, and that you will believe me, Sir, Your grateful and most obedient servant, EUST. STAWELL, Late Captain in the 44th Regiment. May (19) May 2. I forgot a most material information, which is, that through the severity of the Gout, I was obliged to quit the service, having with difficulty done my duty in Ame- rica, as soon as the winter season came on; and I was so crippled from the severity and length of fits, that I could scarcely walk. From Colonel Sherriff—Copy. Dear Sir, I shall, with very great pleasure, embrace every opportu- nity to give my testimony in favour of the safety and efficacy of your pills: they have been of infinite service to me, having cured me of a bilious disorder, with which I bad been oppressed for more than twenty years, without receiving any relief worth mentioning, although in that time I consulted Physicians of the highest reputation; your pills have removed all my complaints, and you are wel- come to make what use you please of this recent proof of their good effects; and I remain, Sir, your obliged servant, Old Alresford, Hants, Nov. 24, 1781. WILLIAM SHERRIFF. From Captain Handfield, late of the 40th Regiment of Foot. Sir, For above eight years I suffered the most painful and distracting symptoms of a flying unformed Gout, which attacked my head, breast, neck and every part of my [20] my body in succession; and when fixed in my head, which was frequently the case for months together, I not only endured the severest torture, but was deprived of memory, judgement and sleep. It is impossible for me to enumerate all that was inefectually prescribed, and all the means I in vain used to obtain relief, I had long dispaired when I was persuaded by Colonel Sherriff, to try your pills, which in a very short time, to my unspeakable happiness, and the astonishment of all my friends and acquaintance, removed every complaint; some imprudencies having again occasioned a relapse, I have a second time been so much relieved by your remedy, that I have not a doubt but it will compleat the cure as soon as this unkindly weather is over. You may use this testimony as you please, to encourage others to try the medicine by which I have been so singularly benefited. I am Sir, yours, &c. Guildford, December 4, 1781. E. HANDFIELD. From Miss C. Mitford. Sir, Having long been troubled with a variety of bilious and nervous complaints, of a very distressing, sin- gular, and alarming nature; and having, without the least benefit, used great abundance of medicines, and other means recommended by Physicians of the highest charac- ter, I was reduced so low that, not without reason, my re- covery was despaired of by all my acquaintance. But I am happy to tell you, that your pills have been of infinite service to me, and that I have now hardly any symptoms remaining of my former disorders. I ever remain, Sir, your most humble servant, Guildford, Nov. 21, 1781. C. MITFORD. From [21] From the Right Honorable Lady Augusta Murray. Sir, I am happy on every occasion to acknowledge the bene- fit I have received from your advice. I shall be extre- mely so, if by such my acknowledgements I can be of any service to you. After having been for two years much afflicted with Bilious and Nervous disorders, and having tried the prescriptions of other physicians, and a foreign climate, without obtaining any relief, I was, in the course of a few weeks restored to health, by the use of your medi- cines, to which I always have recourse when any symptoms of the above disorders threaten me. I am, Sir, your humble servant. Ochtertyre, Nov. 26, 1781. AU. MURRAY. From Michael Bruce, Esq. Son of Sir Michael Bruce, Bart. Sir, For many years I was afflicted with complaints which by the Physicians I consulted, were sometimes term’d Bilious, sometimes Nervous, and sometimes thought to proceed from an irregular Gout; my chief distress arose from a depression of spirits, without almost any respite, and which, together with a constant watchfulness hardly ever being able to sleep, rendered life a burden to me; in this way you found me; I took your pills, and in the course of three weeks I had not a symptom of all my former illness. What is very remarkable, the pills operated like an opiate, procuring me the very first night I took them found and re- freshing sleep. I ever remain, Sir, your obedient servant, MICHAEL BRUCE. [22] From Mr. Crook, Coach-Maker, Queen-Street, Lincoln's- Inn-Fields. Sir, For many years I have been subject to a rheumatic Gout, which gradually increased in the severity and length of its attacks; insomuch that last year I was not a single day free from it, and six months of that time I was confined to my bed; in the course of this severe illness I was attended by gentlemen of the faculty, and took an in- finite quantity of drugs, but without being sensible that I was benefited by any thing that was done for me; In June last I was again seized with my cruel disorder, and had been confined several days, when a gentleman of rank and fashion, for whom I was doing some business, with great marks of friendship advised me to send for you; I did so, and by following your advice in point of diet, and taking one of your pills every night, I was able to go out to my business in the course of eighteen or twenty days; and from the first, the pills gave me infinite relief, by abating my pains, and procuring me some refreshing sleep every night. You are welcome to add this case of mine to those you have already printed, that those who may be suffering in the same unhappy way, may know where to find relief. I ever remain, Sir, Your most obedient, and obliged humble servant, Octoher l, 1782. THOMAS CROOK. From William Masterman, Esq. M. P. &c.&c. Sir, I had your favour on my return from an excursion west of this place; my thanks are due for your kind en- quires [23] quiries after my health; I attribute my recovery entirely to the medicine you administered to me, and the regimen you recommended, which I have hitherto punctually ad- hered to; my strength is greatly restored to me, tho' I do not grow much in flesh. I have taken but two of the pills at different times since I have been here, discovering some symptoms like those you pointed to, and in that case recommended them to be repeated; they had the most perfect effect, and left me with the same advantages I had before experienced. Many who had been witnesses of my recovery, and who laboured un- der complaints like what mine were, have had the use of the pills no longer necessary to me; and others have, I believe, procured them from you in London; the accounts I have are very flattering, and I make no doubt as those benefits are more generally known and experienced, you will receive a suitable reward for the merits of your most valuable medicine. If my name can, in your opinion, be serviceable, you are at liberty to use it. I am, Sir, Your very faithful and obedient humble servant, Trinity, October l, 1782. W. MASTERMAN. Mr. Masterman's case was a gouty consumption, constant cough, and spitting of blood, total want of appetite, and of sleep, which, in the course of two years, brought him very low in- deed—he was cured in six weeks by the diet and pills, and con- tinues in perfect health. From [24] From the Rev. Mr. John Harrison, Rector of Bighton in Hants. Sir, As I learn by a particular friend of yours, that you have another edition of your gouty and bilious cases in the press, I think myself bound in justice to yourself, as well as humanity to the afflicted part of the public, to give you a particular account of the very singular success with which your pills have been attended in my own family.— The case alluded to is simply this: An old lady about seven- ty years of age (mother of my wife) who for thirteen years past has been so cruelly tormented with the gout, as to be frequently confined (particularly for the last five or six years) for two months at a time to her chamber and bed. After a very slow recovery from a most severe fit, which had con- fined her to her room for nine weeks in the spring of 1781; finding, about the month of October following, the alarm- ing symptoms of a fresh attack, I advised her to make an immediate trial of your pills, of which I had seen such hap- py effects in a worthy neighbour of mine.—Her left hand at this time was rapidly swelling on the back part, and by the next morning had got nearly to the bend of the elbow. In this situation (after much persuasion) she consented to take one of your pills: a most painful night on that, and the two following, succeeded the inflammation as usual, but not the least advance farther towards the elbow, either of the swelling or inflammation; tho’, on most former occa- sions, the same period of time had, generally speaking, confined her to her bed. The only perceptible effect the pills (25) Pills had, was that of promoting a gentle perspiration in the feet, when to the great surprize of herself (as well as the whole family) after taking only nine Pills, the fit, which wore at first so threatning an aspect, entirely dis- appeared, she recovered in a few days the use of her hand, and what is still more extraordinary, though before almost incapacitated from walking even on the soft turf of a gar- den-walk, she has so far recovered strength, from the intire absence of the gout, ever since the taking of your pills, as to be able to walk with ease to herself on smooth ground almost every day when the weather permits. I should have mentioned, that the gouty swellings in the joints of the fingers, &c. are greatly reduced, and the thumb of the right hand, which had been nearly rigid for some years, is become so far pliable, as to be now used with ease. Such, Sir, are the truly wonderful effects of your invaluable pills, as falling under my own particular notice and observation. You would have had a much earlier acknowledgement of their happy effects, had I not chose to have waited the result of one clear year, in order to obviate the objection, which might otherwise have been made respecting the reiterated force of the next attack. As yet we have had no symptoms of a return, and when- ever it happens shall have recourse with confidence to your pills. If you think the above plain account of a real matter of fact, can be of any use in recommending them to the attention of the afflicted, you have my per- mission to add this to the rest of your patients cases. I have only to add my best wishes, that your excellent pills may meet with the general success they so justly merit, and subscribe myself with great respect, Sir, Your (unknown) humble servant, Bighton near Alresford, Nov. 5, 1782. JOHN HARRISON. D Rector of Bighton in Hants. [26] From the Dowager Lady Bampfylde. Sir, Piccadilly, Sept. 9, 1783. Being perfectly restored to health by your excellent medicine, if your adding the following account to those letters you have already published, can be of any service, it will make me extremely happy, as I shall ever embrace every opportunity of expressing my grateful ac- knowledgments of the efficacy of your pills. It is about twenty-five years since I felt the first at- tack of a disorder which has greatly distressed me ever since. Sometimes I experienced all kinds of nervous agitations, languors and depression of spirits. When it affected my head I was seized with giddiness, excruciating pain, which for a time deprived me of my eye-sight and hearing; on my breast it opprest me with an asthma, which prevented me from using any excercise. It produced a swelling in my stomach, and in my throat, with a constant con- traction and uneasiness in my bowels, and pain in my loins—On my legs it brought sweliing so great and so fixed, that it was pronounced a confirmed dropsy, and treated as such. As I had, without success, tried almost every medicine, and being more than sixty years of age, I almost despaired of getting any relief; but hearing of your pills, I deter- mined to try them, and under your direction, as you in- formed me that all my complaints proceeded from an ir- regular or rather unformed gout. The first pill procured me more ease than I had experienced for twenty-years— the second brought on a small but regular fit of the gout, on both feet and one hand. It is now but a fortnight since I first applied to you, and after taking nine of your pills, I am in better health, strength, and spirits, than I have enjoyed for thirty-years, and my appetite, and rest, perfectly (27) perfectly restored. Whenever I again find the least symp- tom of my former complaints, I shall have recourse to your pills, and most sincerely hope you will meet with all the success you so justly merit. I am, your humble servant, J. BAMPFYLDE. From Captain Handfield, late of the 40th Regiment of Foot. [Second Letter *.] Sir, As I think the testimony I sent you formerly may not appear thoroughly satisfactory to those to whom I am not known, I take the liberty of sending you the following, which I wish to have inserted in your next edition of cases. I have taken your pills with the hoped for success, being now in as perfect health, as I was ten years ago, with this difference only, that I am more susceptible of cold than I was when younger, which obliges me to have recourse to the pills every month or six weeks, and after taking them a few nights I am quite set up again. I beg leave to return you my sincere thanks for your humane attention to me during my illness, by which you have recovered me from death’s-door, as all my acquaintance can testify. I am, Sir, with the utmost gratitude, Your obliged and obedient servant, Guildford, June 13, 1783. E. HANDFIELD. From Mr. Henry Coles, one of the Clerks of the House of Commons. When I applied to you, my chief complaints were a violent depression of spirits, a swimming in my * For Captain Handfield’s first letter, see p. 19. head, (28) head, a strong pulsation on the brain, near the crown of my head; at all times a difficulty in collecting my ideas, and often a very alarming loss of memory, that seemed to threaten the very worst and most dreadful consequences that can happen to a rational being. In this melancholly way I had been for nine years, in which time I had tried all that the most eminent of the faculty could do for me, and even every quack medicine that promised relief in ner- vous disorders; but all without the smallest success. Under your own direction, I took your pills, and altho' I have taken only two boxes, I thank God I find hardly any remains of all my former complaints, except from the fatigue of business and close confinement upon extraordi- nary occasions. The operation of the pills has been so very gentle with me, that I have never been sensible of any other effect than a very moderate increase of perspiration. I am, Sir, your humble servant, HENRY COLES. A list of symptoms which arise from a disordered state of the nerves, but not Gouty. Wind in the stomach and intestines, heart-burning, sour belchings, squeamishness, and vomiting of watery stuff; tough phlegm, or a black liquor like the grounds of coffee; want of appetite and uncommon craving for food, and indigestion or debility; faintness and sense of great emptiness about the stomach when hungry; a strong desire for rare and uncommon sorts of food, or for things that can afford no nourishment; a visible swelling or inflam- mation of the stomach, especially after eating; sometimes with cramps in that viscus; an oppression about the præcor- dia; an uneasy tho’ not painful sensation about the stomach, attended with low spirits, anxiety and sometimes great timidity (29) timidity; strong pulsations within the belly; spasms in the bowels and distensions of several portions of them; violent colic pains; a rumbling noise from wind passing through the intestines; the body sometimes too lax, oftner bound; pains in the back and belly, resembling those of the nephi- ritic kind; a sense of irritation and heat in the neck of the bladder and urethra, with a frequent desire to make water; a great discharge of limpid urine, at other times a frequent spitting. Sudden flushes of heat over the whole body; shiverings, a sense of cold in certain parts, as if water was poured on them; at other times an unusual glow; flying pains in the arms and limbs; a troublesome pain in the back and between the shoulders; pains, attended with hot sensation, shifting, often from the sides or back to the inte- rior parts of the abdomen; cramps, or convulsive motions of the muscles, or of a few of their fibres; sudden startings of the legs and arms; almost constant involuntary motions of the muscles of the neck and head, or arms and legs; a general convulsion, affecting at once the stomach, bowels, throat, legs, arms, and indeed almost the whole members of the body, in which the patient struggles as in a violent epileptic fit; long faintings, in some cases following one another after short intervals; palpitations or trembling of the heart; the pulse very variable, frequently natural; sometimes uncommonly slow, at other times quick; of- tener small than full, and on certain occasions irregular and intermitting: a dry cough, with difficulty of breathing with a constriction of the lungs, sometimes returning pe- riodically, yawning, the hiccup, frequent sighings and a sense of suffocation as if from a ball or lump in the throat; fits of crying and convulsive laughing; although in the day time the patients are more generally pretty cool, and the (30) the pulse sometimes slower than natural, yet in the night, especially in the time of sleep, hot flushings often spread over the whole body; the pulse becomes quicker and stronger, and a faintness or some degree of sickness at the stomach is felt. A giddiness, especially after rising up hastily; pains in the head sometimes returning periodically; a violent pain in a small part of the head, not larger than a shilling, as if a nail was driven into it; singing in the ears; a dimness of sight and appearance of a thick mist, without any visible fault of the eyes. Objects are sometimes seen double, and unusual smells are perceived; obstinate watchings, attend- ed sometimes with uneasiness which is not to be described, but which is lessened by getting out of bed; disturbed sleep; frightful dreams; the night-mare; sometimes drow- siness and too great inclination to sleep, fear, peevishness, sadness, despair; at other times high spirits; wandering thoughts, impaired memory, ridiculous fancies; strange persuasions of their labouring under diseases of which they are quite free, and imagining their complaints to be as dange- rous as they find them tronblesome; they are often angry with those who would convince them of their mistake. Patients, after having been long afflicted with many of these symptems (for all of them never happened to any one person) sometimes fall into melancholly, madness, the black jaundice, a dropsy, tympany, consumption, pal- sy, apoplexy, or some other fatal distemper. Symptoms imputed to irregular and wandering Gout. Flying pains, spasmodic contraction, and sudden sen- sations of heat and cold, in the muscles and exteriour parts of the body. A want of appetite and two great cra- ving (31) ving and faintness; a nausea or vomiting, flatulent swell- ings, rumbling in the bowels, watching, low spirits, cramps, convulsions, and violent pains in the stomach and bowels. An increased secretion of salvia, from an irritation of the vessels of the salivary glands; a ball of wind in the throat; a spasmodic asthma in the lungs; palpitations and irregular motions in the heart; an ex- cessive flow of pale urine, or sometimes nephritic pains in the kidneys; a hemicrania or pain in one half of the head; the calvus hystericus, or shooting pains in the head. Be- sides these, I have seen many other symptoms occasioned by an imperfect or an irregular gout; such as delirium or mania; an inflammation in one of the tonsils of the throat; a troublesome dysuria, or frequent desire to make water; a violent itching between the toes; a severe pain about the cartliago ensiformis, or breast bone, returning twice or thrice a day, especially upon any strong affection of the mind or effort of the body, and sometimes attended with a painful sensation in the middle of each arm; a sense of burning heat over the surface of the body, except the legs, while in the mean time the skin was scarcely sensi- bly hotter than in a state of health, and the pulse was un- der eighty in a minute. In one patient I met with a slight, but frequent returning gonorrhæa, from a gouty humour falling in the vessels of the urethra; and in an other, an uneasy itching of the scrotum. I have seen three cases of a sharp pain in the testicles, from the same cause. In one of these there was a considerable swelling along with the pain, both which went off upon the gout com- ing into both the feet. All this is confirmed by observing that persons, who have been but little troubled before with these symptoms, commonly called nervous, upon the rheumatic, or rather gouty (32) gouty pains, leaving their feet, hands or loins, have been seized with an irregular intermitting pulse, giddiness, faintness, difficulty in breathing, nausea, vomiting, flatu- lency in the stomach and bowels, depression of spirits, and other symptoms of the like kind. Such complaints, if the patient has been subjecl to the gout, or has gouty relations, are justly imputed to the gouty matter leaving the extremities, and fixing on the head, or viscera of the breast or belly. FINIS Just published, The Second Edition, Much Enlarged and Improved, &c.&c. Price Three Shillings and Six-Pence, sewed, An Enquiry into the Origin of the GOUT; Where- in its various Symptoms and Appearances, together with those of all Nervous and Bilious Disorders, are traced to their Cause, and a safe and certain Mode of remedying them proposed. By JOHN SCOT, M.D No. 30, Great Titchfield-Street, Cavendish-Square. Sold by Richardson and Co. Royal-Exchange; E. New- berry, St. Paul's Church-Yard; Walter, Charing-Cross; Debrett, Piccadilly; Faulder, Bond-Street.