Translation. Sir and very honoured Fellow-member, I have received, with many thanks, the notice relative to Dr. Fothergill, which you have done me the honour to address to me; and I am impatient to receive the edition that you are preparing of the Works of that great man. Permit me to tell you that, before pronouncing his eulogy, which will take place exactly in five weeks; I am in the greatest want of what information you may be able to give me. Likewise, I earnestly beg of you to send me as soon as possible a copy of what you have written historically on the Life and Writings of Dr. Fothergill cannot you send me the sheets already printed, which relate to him, or a manuscript copy of those sheets? In any language whatever, it is indifferent to me. The Royal Society of Medicine of Paris will receive with eagerness the Memoir you intend for it. I have communicated to this Society your Reflections and Notes relative to different plants. I have the honour to be, with the highest consideration, and the most sincere esteem, Sir, and very honoured Fellow-member, LETTER CCXXVII. DR. LETTSOм to Dr. Dixon. London, Aug. 13, 1811. It gives me great pleasure to observe the increasing inprovement in the population of Whitehaven, both as to health, and the increase of the inhabitants, which I cannot but in a great measure ascribe to the unremitting exertions, and professional skill of the character I am now addressing. There never was a period more honourable to the professors of medicine, than the present, when the gentleman, the scholar, and the philanthropist, are combined in so many numerous respectable individuals of the faculty. Most of the charitable institutions have arisen from their suggestions, and have been supported by their unremitting attention and pecuniary aid. In the most pestilential diseases, they approach in their persons the infected bed of sickness, and momentarily devote their lives to preserve those of others; without the command of leisure or care to themselves, they are the source of comfort to society, and the guardians of health to their friends. By their wisdom and judgment, they discover improvements, and excite attention to their execu tion for the public good. Had a Dixon not existed at Whitehaven, nor a spirit like his inspired another, what a melancholy state of disease and wretchedness would have been its lot! Population would have augmented in the grave, unde negat redire quemquam, and decreased out of it. But the professors of our art have become elevated by science, and adorned by humanity and beneficence; hence Innocuas placide Corpus jubet urere Flammas, Reflections suggested to my mind, from a sense of thy successful exertions, under various approaches of infectious and malignant diseases within the extent of thy practice. J. C. L. LETTER CCXXVIII. Dr. FOTHERGILL to Dr. LETTSOM. Dear Sir, Northampton, Oct. 27, 1779. Your successful efforts in laying open the artful snares and fraudulent practices of the arch UrineQuack, entitle you to the warmest thanks of the public in general, and to the united acknowledgments of the faculty in particular. For you alone undertook the Herculean task, when you ought to have had the joint assistance of the College, and every individual in the faculty, in hunting down this many-headed hydra, which has long com. mitted the most scandalous depredations in many parts of the kingdom. As As you have already crushed the principal head, it is to be hoped the rest will in time be totally subdued. But it must be confessed, to the shame of this country, that the growth of this and every species of quackery is at length become an evil of such magnitude, as to call aloud for the interposition of the legisla ture. The melancholy scenes which you have displayed, might have opened the eyes of those whose duty it is to watch over the lives of his Majesty's subjects; but what avail the most awakening exhortations to those who have long been in a sound sleep, as to the most important interests of this once flourishing empire? As soon as the third edition of your important pamphlet begins to be called for, if you will drop me a line I may, perhaps, furnish some few anecdotes concerning some Urine Quacks who have long infested some parts of this country; as the ignorance of these impostors is only to be equalled by their matchless impudence. I think every practitioner, of a liberal education, who feels any regard for the public weal, ought to join you with ardour in annihi lating these pests of society; in which laudable endeavours believe me few can be more sincere than, Dear Sir, Your much obliged and faithful servant, A. FOTHERGILL. LETTER CCXXIX. From the same. June 13, 1784. * * Your argumentum ad matrimonium is argumentum ad hominem; and as you have proved so clearly that even a bad wife (pardon the expression, for it is to be hoped there is no such creature existing) is better than none at all, I mean to reconnoitre the sex with all convenient expedition. Dame Xantippe confessedly stands at the head of ancient termagants, but yet I do not find that her provoked husband once ventured to call her a bad wife; probably owing to the reason you assign, viz. gratitude for the having taught him philosophy. Now though I revere his pacific character, and earnestly as I pine after philosophy, yet methinks I should wish to attain it at an easier |