Letter 1755

Posted on August 2, 2016 by -

Patrick Blair to Hans Sloane – August 18, 1711


Item info

Date: August 18, 1711
Author: Patrick Blair
Recipient: Hans Sloane

Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4042
Folio: ff. 299-300


Original Page


Transcription

Blair asks for Sloane’s opinion of the copper plates when he plans on publishing Blair’s ‘Treatise on the Elephant’. Patrick Blair was a botanist and surgeon whose papers were published in the Transactions. In 1715 Blair joined the Jacobite rebellion as a battle surgeon but was captured and condemned to death. He was visited by Sloane in prison in the hopes the latter might secure a pardon. Sloane was successful and the pardon arrived shortly before Blair’s scheduled execution (Anita Guerrini, Blair, Patrick (c.16801728), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2568, accessed 31 May 2011]).



Patient Details

  • Patient info
    Name: N/A Patrick Balir's Friend's Son
    Gender:
    Age:
  • Description

    The boy 'was seizd with a violent pain in his left hypochondre' that lasted for three months. He has pain in his 'Lower extremities', which comes and goes. After Blair medicated him he suffered a 'severe fall'. His spine has been inspected, but there is nothing wrong with it.

  • Diagnosis
  • Treatment
    Previous Treatment:

    Blair gave the boy 'Emeticks then purgatives and vermifuges [...] with stomachiks, hypochondriacks', which allayed the malady for a fortnight.


    Ongoing Treatment:

    Cold bathing did the boy some good, giving him strength and reducing inflammation. Blaire applied 'strong penetrating Liniments along the spine'.


    Response:

    Blair asks for Sloane's opinion.

  • More information
  • Medical problem reference
    Pain, Stomach, Inflammations, Back