| Description Of Item | He received a letter from Cullen via Dr Bain who had started a practice in Devon. He recounts the medical problems of Devon namely endemial colic ('mentioned by Musgrave, Hexham and Mr Geo [George] Baker is certainly Sir the same as the colica pictonum') and he notes that its rise was coeval with the introduction of cider as the common drink. He goes on to write about gout ('the inhabitants of the county of Devon were more afflicted with the gout than those of any other') and quotes at length from his own research. He advocated the use of convicts, of their own free will, to conduct experiments on the links between colica pictonum, palsy and gout. He finished by asking for Cullen's comments. |