On the cure of scrofulous diseases attributed to the Royal Touch.

  • Hussey, Edward Law, 1816-1899.
Date:
[1853]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the cure of scrofulous diseases attributed to the Royal Touch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    ON THE CURE OF SCROFULOUS DISEASES ATTRIBUTED TO THE ROYAL TOUCH.1 BY EDWARD LAW HUSSEY, SURGEON TO THE BADCLIFFE INFIRMARY, OXFORD. The subject I propose to bring before you is the custom of touching by the Sovereigns of this country for the cure of scrofula, as recorded chiefly by medical authorities who lived during the five or six centuries it prevailed, and illus- trated by the observations of historians and other writers of repute. It has scarcely been noticed by enquirers of this century; and it is due to a professional friend,2 whose attention had been directed to it, to premise that he first suggested the enquiry to me, and pointed out many sources of information. Such as the facts are, collected from the multifarious works throughout which they are scattered, I have thought they are worthy of being brought together, and that in their present shape they will not be undeserving of the attention of those who take interest in the investigation of our Natural History and Antiquities. The disease, which is still seen by surgeons in its most aggravated and inveterate forms, though less frequently per- haps than formerly, seems to have been peculiarly the scourge, as it was the inheritance, of the mixed races settled in this island. Its first outbreaks are generally seen in the glands ; they swell, become inflamed, the tissues around partake of the inflammation,—matter, the product of inflammation, forms and is discharged through the skin, which opens by ulceration. In mild and otherwise favourable cases, where the patient is young, or free from more serious constitutional disease, the mischief ends here ; the wounds heal, the glands return almost to their former diminutive size, and the patient 1 This paper was originally addressed to the Ashmolean Society at Oxford, and was afterwards read at a meeting of the Archaeological Institute, in London. And this seems a fit opportunity for acknow- ledging the kindness with which I have been allowed access to the Bodleian and Radcliffe Libraries. 2 Mr. H. Spencer Smith, Senior Assist- ant Surgeon to St. Mary’s Hospital,