DEP/ABJ/4/4/3 | Letter from Ralph Carr, Dunston Hill, Gateshead, England to John Abercrombie relating to cholera | He is a magistrate on the Board of Health and is glad that cholera is getting attention from the medical profession in Edinburgh. He draws attention to the fact that diarrhoea precedes cholera and describes how they sent hand bills door to door to get people to report the first symptoms of diarrhoea. Unfortunately this was not until half the mortality had already occurred. He suggests that increasing the reporting of diarrhoea should be a priority for all Boards of Health and that young surgeons should be sent round all poor homes to investigate. | 22 Jan 1832 |
DEP/ABJ/4/4/4 | Letter from Joseph Knaggs, Gateshead, England to John Abercrombie relating to cholera | He had received a request from Ralph Carr to send in information about cholera cases. He has treated 131 cases with 34 deaths. He describes how he treats the diarrhoea and the collapse or asphyxia. | 8 Feb 1832 |
DEP/ANO/5/4 | Volume of notes ('Douglas'), author unknown | Possibly notes from a work titled 'Vicera Abdominalia' by Douglas which includes sections on the structure of the liver, spleen and pancreas and digestion. | c1770 |
DEP/ANO/33 | Index to a volume of papers, provenance unknown | The index may be from a bound volume of papers given to a medical society or similar. The list is 'Observations on Phrenitis Vera' by Walter Craufurd; 'Remarks on Ascites' by J Borland; 'Observations on Dyspepsia' by J Rogerson; 'On Hepatitis' by W Cochran; 'Some Observations on Acute Rheumatism' by Robert Sime; 'On Fluor Albus' by William Graham; 'Observations on Small-Pox' by James MacDonald; 'Considerations upon Palsy' by Thomas Addis Emmet; 'On Diabetes' by James Forster; 'On Catarrh' by Adam Mitchell; 'On Pleurisy' by John Barrow; 'On Phthisis Pulmonalis' by J Rutter; 'On Jaundice' by Mr Cassillis Shaw; 'On Cholera' by William Steedman; 'On Hydrothorax' by J Hamming; 'On Chin-cough' by J Towers; 'On Dysentery' by Samuel [Fitt?]; 'On Hypochondriasis' by J Laidlaw; 'On Puerperal Fever' by W Scott; and 'Observation on Menorrhagia' by J Towers. | 1784-1785 |
DEP/AWP/5/1/62 | 'Of Digestion' by William Pulteney Alison | Fair copy with a draft version. | 1820s-1850s |
DEP/AWP/5/1/64 | 'XVII - Of Digestion' by William Pulteney Alison | Dated from a reference opposite the last page. Draft copy. | c1835 |
DEP/AWP/5/1/92 | 'Peritonitis, Gastritis and Enteritis' by William Pulteney Alison | Draft copy. | 1820s-1850s |
DEP/AWP/5/1/119 | [Heads of Lectures on Physiology] by William Pulteney Alison | These are not titled so may not have been intended for lectures. Includes sections title 'Of Respiration', 'Of Digestion', 'Of the Mental Phenomena', 'Of the Physical Effects of the Mental Acts', 'General Observations on the natural agency of mind and body', 'Of the parts of the nervous system', 'Of the function of generation', 'Of the state of the body during its growth and decline', 'Of the differences between the sexes', and 'Of the varieties of mankind'. Draft and undated. | 1820s - 1850s |
DEP/AWP/5/1/134 | Untitled essays on digestion, absorption, secretion and the lymphatic system by William Pulteney... | Incomplete essays. Draft copies. | 1820s - 1850s |
DEP/AWP/5/1/223 | Notes for lectures by William Pulteney Alison | Alison has given notes under the following headings (where they can be deciphered): Additions to Introductory Lectures; Additions to Introductory Physiological Lectures; Respiration; Animal Heat; Addition to Lectures on Fundamental Laws of Belief; On ganglionic nerves; Introductory to Pathology; Heads of Lectures on Scrofula; Reasons for thinking the effect of cold and other causes of disease; Organic Diseases; Reasons for thinking that a morbid poison acts as a sedative in fever; notes on abdominal [diseases] including dysentery; on pleuristic effusions; Organic disease of heart and great vessels; and Contagion. It ends with a list of books to be consulted. Dated from reference on the last page. | c1829 |
DEP/AWP/5/4/6 | 'Outlines of Pathology and Practice of Medicine' by William Pulteney Alison | Loose printed sheets with some annotations. Part I pp33-48, pp81-96, 129-272 and Chapter III 'Of the Chronic Diseases of the Heart and Blood Vessels' pp 573-578, Chapter IV 'Of Chronic Diseases of the Organs of Digestion and Assimilation' pp579-652 and part of Chapter V 'Of Chronic Diseases of the Organs of Urine and Generation' pp 653-660. | 1843 |
DEP/AWP/5/7/4 | [Extracts of notes on medical subjects by William Pulteney Alison] | Includes: 'Inflammation of the Mucous Membrane from Dr Abercrombie on Diseases of the Stomach and Abdomincal Viscera'; 'Description of the Yellow Fever from Blane's Observations'; 'Erysipelatous Peritonitis from Dr Abercrombie on Diseases of the Stomach and other Abdomincal Viscera 1828'; 'Extracts from A P Wilson Philip's Experimental Enquiry into the Laws of Vital Functions'; 'Extract from John Cooke's Treatise on Nervous Diseases Volume I'; 'A Brief Account of Microscopical Observations on the particles contained in the pollen of plants and on the general existence of active molecules in organic and inorganic bodies by Robert Brown'; 'Of the Causes of Nervous Disorders from Robert Whytt's works 1768'; 'Of the causes which promote the circulation of the fluids in the very small vessels of animals R Whytt's works'; 'Mechanism of the Human Skeleton from Arnott's Elements of Physics 1828'; 'Of the Nature and Uses of the Nervous System from Cooke's Treatise on Nervous Diseases'; 'On Uterine Irritation and its Effects on the Female Constitution 1823'; 'From Darwin's Zoonomia';and 'Observation on Cancers by Henry Fearon surgeon to the Surrey Dispensary 1789'. | 1830s |
DEP/AWP/7/3/3 | Letter from the secretary of the Medical Committee of the Edinburgh Board of Health [Dr Gregory... | From the collection of William Pulteney Alison. He asks about the efficacy of any particular treatments and how the cases of diarrhoea differed from the cases of cholera. | 18 Nov 1831 |
DEP/AWP/7/3/6 | Daily reports of Diarrhoea and Cholera Cases | From the collection of William Pulteney Alison. They are dated 15 November, 21 November, 2 December, 5 December, 6 December, 7 December and 9 December. One of them is annotated with the names of newspapers possibly to be sent the information. These may have been included in the letters from James Gibson. | Nov 1831-Dec 1831 |
DEP/BAD/2/11 | Paper on 'of the Nutritive Functions', unknown author | From the collection of Sir David Barry. In the introduction this work was to cover digestion, absorption and course of the chyle, circulation of the lymph, circulation of venous blood, respiration and circulation of arterial blood. The headings covered are 'Of food and drink', 'Of Aliments', 'Of drinks or potable fluids', 'Apparatus of Digestion', 'Accumulation of food in the stomach', 'Changes of the food in the stomach', [Formation of chyme], 'Action of the large intestine', 'Accumulation and passage of fecal matters in the large intestine', 'Changes of the fecal matters in the large intestine', 'Expulsion of the fecal matters', 'Of the digestion of fluids', 'Accumulation of fluids in the stomach...', 'Action of the small intestine on the potable fluids', 'Remarks on eructation, regurgitation, vomiting etc', 'Modification of digestion in different ages', 'Of the absorption and course of the chyle', [The lymphatic vessels], 'Circulation of the lymph', 'The venous blood', 'Apparatus of the venous circulation', 'The right arteries of the heart', 'The pulmonary artery', 'Circulation of the venous blood', 'Passage of the venous blood through the right cavities of the heart' and 'Passage of the venous blood through the pulmonary artery'. The first part on digestion has a break after page 8 and the last section appears to be incomplete. Two different sizes of paper are used and at least two different handwritings. Other items in the collection may form part of this work. | 1820s |
DEP/BAD/2/23 | [Paper on function of digestion], unknown author | From the collection of Sir David Barry. Lists the different parts of the alimentary canal. | 1820s |
DEP/BRO/1 | Student notes by unknown individual from lectures of John Brown on elements of medicine | Title as given on volume is 'Lectures on the Elements of Medicine by Dr John Brown'. Subtitled 'The Brunonian System 1785'. The section headings are: 'Method of Cure' (para 85); 'Of the Phlogistic Diathesis' (para 130); 'The Seat of Excitability', 'Of Predisposition', 'Of Different Menstruation', 'Of the Menorrhagia', 'Of the Epistaxis', 'Of the Haemorrhois', 'Of the Asthenic Disease of the Alimentary and Abdominal Viscera taken together', 'Of the Angina', 'Of the Scurvy', 'Of Hysteria', 'Of the Phthisis Senilis or Asthenic', 'Of the Cystirrhea', 'De Podagra validiorum', 'Of the asthma', 'Spasm', 'The Anasarea', 'The Colicodynia', 'The Dyspepsodynia', 'Podagra imbecillinum', 'The Hypochondriasis', 'The Hydrops', 'Epilepsy', 'In Paralysis', 'Apoplexy', 'Trismus', 'Tetanus', 'Of Intermittents', 'Dysentery', 'The Cholera gravior', 'Synochus', 'The Typhus simplicior', 'The Cynanche gangrenosa' and 'The confluent small pox'. It is not known who took the lecture notes. | 1785 |
DEP/COJ/1/1 | Journal of John Dixon Comrie | During a brief stop at Murmansk, before finally making port at Archangel, Comrie visited the military and the Russian hospitals and went for a walk on the hills.
As their convoy passed along the coast, Comrie watched with interest the effects of the ice-breaker on the enormous floes, and thought about Richard Chancellor (whom he mis-names Sir Richard Challoner) who in 1553 sailed from England to found the settlement at Archangel to trade with Moscow.
Comrie arrived in Archangel on 27th May, to find the No. 53 stationary Hospital housed in the seminary building attached to an imposing monastery. He was also responsible for another three hospitals, and available to advise the French or Russian hospitals if required. Much of his time was spent reviewing cases among the British for discharge and return home, or dealing with outbreaks of dysentery and scarlatina among the Russians.
On his second week, Comrie took a trip up the River Dvina inspecting field hospitals, one of which was partly on board two river barges. He mentions the Russian 'felshers' who were country practitioners with a basic medical training, and draws and describes the Russian village bath-houses.
Back in Archangel by June 11th, the first social event of the week was to attend the Russian nurses' 'at home', when they drank tea, conversed in French and played polite party games. He later describes a samovar in detail. On the Saturday, by contrast, he visited the Russian Sanitary Officer's house in the evening, where they dined at midnight and did not leave until 1.30 am. Comrie here tasted his first Vodka, which he found too fiery and bitter.
Comrie was particularly interested in the scurvy cases among the prisoners in Kegostroff Island Hospital who were successfully treated with a diet of vegetables and beans. He had wired London for a camera to record these cases. It finally arrived on 13th July, and some of the photographs were reproduced in his paper on the subject. [Source: biography written by archivist Joy Pitman, c1990; see biographical file] | 14 May 1919-21 Aug 1919 |
DEP/CUL/1/2/1288 | 'Method of Cure for the Plague and Dysentery' by Doctor William Spence of Borland | From the collection of William Cullen. Copy of the paper signed by Wm [William] Spence at Dunfermline, Scotland. | 27 May 1782 |
DEP/CUL/2/1/4 | William Cullen's clinical lectures | The lectures cover a number of diseases and give a description, prognosis and cure and includes case notes. Subjects covered and patients' names: palsy - Jean Cockburn; rheumatism - Barbara Campble [Campbell], Alexander Heron, Isobel McArthur, William Bell, Thomas Hamilton, Margaret Stewart; hysteric disease - Janet Seton, Mary Fraser; melancholia - James Allan; scrophula - William Hay; jaundice - Katherine Hamilton; dysentery - Andrew Robertson, John Madoe; gonorrhea virulenta, gleet and pox - Donald McRaw, James Davidson, Grant Murdoch Kellock; intermittent fever - Laurence Barr, William Jordan, James Garrow (anasarca after intermittent), Mary McDonald; continued fevers - Jean Davidson, Anne Ogilvie. From p335 the volume includes 'Observations on the Symptoms of Continued Fevers by Dr Whyte' with case notes for James McNab. | 5 Jan 1764-16 Jan 1764 |