DEP/DUA/1/31/29 (Normalised version)

John Burr

1782

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December 21 – 1782 N^o28

John Burr. at 25 A mason of a fair complexion, complains of a troublesome & painful itching of the scrotum & on his thighs. There are a few red pimples on the thighs but none on the scrotum. He has sometimes found a difficulty in passing his water, which he says is often very thick, has a copious whitish red sediment & an acrid bitter & pungent taste but this is not constant. He is sometimes troubled with an itching over his whole body, but this is a less frequent & troublesome occurrence than that of the scrotum. There are no visible pimples but on his thighs

His disease is not contagious. He is sometimes affected with flatulence at stomach which he supposes to be connected with his other complaints as they generally occur most severe at the same time viz after eating. He has no other dyspeptic symptoms at present but has formerly been troubled with them. He finds very little difference from the nature of the food he takes & even thinks his affection worse at present when he is living on fresh meat & vegetables than it was some time ago, when feeding chiefly on oatmeal & salt provisions in Ireland. The itching is always aggravated by heat, & is frequently intolerable when sitting by a fire or when he first becomes warm in bed but it does not prevent his sleep. Pulse about 80, Tongue natural at present but he says it is dry & parched in the morning. Belly regular, appetite good but he is much troubled with thirst especially in the night time. In the evening he has been much affected with a stuffing in his nose, which however is relieved by a coryza.

The itching began four years ago when he was in Ayrshire, & he attributes it to a heat in his blood.

He positively denies having ever received any venereal infection.

About ten years since after exposure to cold when his body was much heated he was seized with vertigo sickness & headache, followed by a loss of motion in all his large joints unattended with any pain in them. In the space of 15 months the use of his limbs gradually returned to him owing more to nature as he supposes than to any medicines. About the same time the hair fell off from every part of his body which has never grown again. He has never enjoyed a good state of health for these last ten years. He has taken purging salts & other medicines without any benefit.

January 4. Cap Antim crud. pp. ℥p. bis indies

11. Has observed no effect from his powders excepting that he thinks his belly rather more bound. Cont

Antimon sed cap Jii. bis indies nec non laventar partes apprim. [affect] solut. saturn.

18. The itchy feeling is nothing diminished from the saturnine solution.

Interm. Solut. Saturn. & illin p. aff. Ungt Satur. Cont. Antim.

25 Is less distressed with the itchy feeling. Cont. Med.

February 8. The itchy feeling now almost entirely gone

Cont. Antim. ppt & Ungt Saturn. u. a.

22. The itchy feeling about the scrotum now entirely gone, but he complains of similar uneasiness in other parts of his body Cont. Antim & Ungt u. a.

March 8. The ointment has been omitted & the itchy feeling has since that been somewhat increased Cont. Ungt Saturn & Antim u. a

15. The itchy sensation is again much diminished Cont. Ungt Antim ppt. u. a.