| Ref No | MS/238d/1/67 |
| Title | Sir William Watson, London, to Richard Pulteney |
| Description | News of the illness of General Pulteney; hopes Pulteney has been remembered in his new will. The previous evening was spent with Sir John Pringle and Dr Franklin, who had just returned from Paris. Watson gives an account of their respectful treatment by the King of France and a disapproving description of the French method of medical consultation. All physicians concerned examine the patient and in the presence of friends and relations and sometimes the patient, each comments on the anatomy and physiology of the case and recounts in turn the symptoms and plan for a cure. This gives rise to frequently warm and sometimes angry discussion; physicians are not infrequently supposed to aim more at convincing the bystanders of the propriety of their opinion than their brethren. He commends Pulteney's perusal of Haller's Physiology.
Lord Mansfield told Watson that the Empress Queen [Maria Theresa] had presented [Gerard] Van Swieten with the sum of about twenty five thousand pounds for curing her of the smallpox, as she called it. "A most Princely Fee." |
| Date | 12 Oct 1767 |
| Level | Item |
| Extent | 1 letter |
| Language | English |
| Creator Name | Watson, Sir William M.D. Ph.D. F.R.S. (1715-1787) Physician, Botanist and Electrician |
| Access_Status | Open |