The person, who gave her this medicine, is a Barber and Peruke-maker at Bow. I applied to him several times, to inform me what it was he had given her. The affair was talked of so much in his neighbourhood, and the man threatned by the woman's husband, that for a long time I could not get him to tell me, till I told him, I had been informed where he bought the medicines; and the time of the day, that he had them, corresponding with the time of his giving them to the woman, and that I knew it was tincture of myrrh, he at last told me, that he had frequently given the above quantity of an ounce and half of it in an ague; that it had never done any harm; and hardly ever failed to cure. Upon which information, I carried some tincture of myrrh to the woman, who tasted it, and is well assured it is the same liquor the barber gave her in her ague-fit.
I am, with respect,
Your obliged and obedient Servant.
Richard Grindall.
L. A Letter to the Rev. Tho. Birch, D.D. Secret. R.S. from John Pringle, M.D. F.R.S. inclosing Two Papers communicated to him by Robert Whytt, M.D. F.R.S.
Pallmall-Court, St. James's, Dec. 10. 1757.
SIR,
Read Dec. 15, 1757.
ABOUT three weeks ago I put into your hands an extract of a letter, I had then received from Dr. Whytt, containing a postscript to his Observations on Lord Walpole's Case; and slightly mentioning some doubts he had then about the justness of Dr. Springsfeld's experiments with lime-water, from some trials he himself had made, upon reading that gentleman's curious treatise on the extraordinary lithontriptic quality of the waters at Carlsbad in Bohemia. Within these few Days, Dr. Whytt having favoured me with a full account of those experiments, I have herewith sent you his paper, in order, if you please, to lay it before the Society; which the author desires may be done, in case these observations should be judged useful.
The other paper inclosed was sent me by the same hand, to be likewise presented to the Society, as a well-attested instance of the electrical power in the cure of a palsy. To the other testimonies I have subjoined what Dr. Whytt says in his letter to me, by way of strengthening the evidence. I shall only add, that since Mr. Brydone, the author of this account, has omitted telling how long the patient has continued in perfect health since the operation, it appears she must have been well for some months before the date of his paper; because, before the end of last summer, Dr. Whytt transmitted the same case to me, which I then returned, in order to have it drawn up in a fuller manner, and with other vouchers besides the gentleman, who performed the cure. The Doctor has been so good as to comply with my request, having procured a more ample account of the circumstances from Mr. Brydone, and the attestation of two ministers, besides that of the patient herself.[200] My difficulties being thus removed, I believe I may now with freedom offer this very curious case to the attention of the Society.