| Description Of Item | Letter from J Saidler, Millholme House Asylum, Musselburgh, to Thomas Laycock. Letter details experiments with snuff, ammonia and opium as treatment on patients with epileptic fits. Saidler concludes that snuff ‘[keeps] off the fit’, whereas strong ammonia brings a patient out of a fit. Saidler mentions a ‘malingerer’ who regularly takes snuff, and pretended to have fits, but stopped after being treated with ammonia. Saidler asks Laycock for more advice. The paper is embossed with a Millholme House Asylum, Musselburgh stamp. |