| Description Of Item | Handwritten in neat style by William Cullen, this essay is in the form of a letter to an unknown correspondent. The addressee has made complaints about the imperfections in the study of medicine which the author endeavours to correct placing more responsibility with the patient. The author lists six 'non-naturals' as important to a hypochondriacal patient's regimen: air, diet, exercise, the passions of the mind, excretions and sleep and watching. Although written as a fair copy there are a few pencil amendments in the hand of Cullen’s 19th-century biographer, Dr. John Thomson. The volume is not dated but the context of the essay, as well as the style, suggest it may have been undertaken to solicit patronage, placing it in the 1750s or 1760s. Indexed.
This appears to be the final, or near final, draft of Cullen’s ‘An Essay on the Hypochondriac Disease in a Letter’. Earlier, partial drafts of this same essay in Cullen’s hand can be found in the Cullen Papers held at the University of Glasgow’s Special Collections: see MS Cullen 337. Also, an extensive handwritten transcription of this version of the essay can be found at MS Cullen 405 (likely in the hand of William Thomson, one of John Thomson’s sons).
In terms of provenance, this volume was sent to the College by Dr David Craigie (on behalf of Allen Thomson, son of John Thomson) in February 1861. In a letter accompanying the donation, Craigie provided a list of the manuscripts that were being donated, which included 'One quarto Volume: Manuscript, Red Morrocco [sic]. On the Hypochondriac Disease', which is this very same volume - also bound in red Morocco. For further details, please consult the bound RCPE Minutes, 1859-1861, pp. 5383-87.
This volume was reclassified from ANO/8 to CUL/7 in February 2024 following research by Dr Jeff Wolf who was able to confirm that this item was in Cullen's own hand. |