DEP/DUA/1/35/17 (Transcript version)

William Henderson

1784

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N^o9. May 28. 1784

Wm Henderson at 8. is troubled with an affection of his left arm extending from the top of the shoulder to the tip of his fingers.

It is attended at times with [exception] soreness & pain, he says it always feels weak & stiff, & sometimes he is incapable of moving it. the motion is always very limited, so that he cannot raise it to his head. The affected arm appears manifestly smaller than the othr & at present it is covered with a number of little red spots which however have only appeard since electrical sparks were drawn from it. The pain is particularly severe & the looseness stiffness chiefly felt at at the joint of the shoulder.

Pulse 100 & apparently of the same strength in both arms.

Appetite good. Belly regular, but he sleeps ill in the night from the pain in his arm.

His mother says, that the first symptoms of this affection appeard about three years ago, after being bruised in a fall from a wrestling match with some of his companions & she thinks the complaints have originated from that accident, as the pain of the left arm has continued more or less, ever since that period. But they are now more severe than before & the wasting of his arm with the loss of motion seem gradually to encrease. He has used no medicines.

Elic. Indies scintilla electrica ex brachio affecto.

May 29. The electricity has been regularly continued, & his mother thinks that the arm has been rather more paind than before he can however move it rather better & more extensively.

Cont. Electr. u. a.

June 5^th He continues to move his arm better than formerly but there is no change in its appearance & he still complains of the pain

Cont Electr. u. a.

June 12^th Has continued the electricity regularly & moves his arm with more ease but the pain has rather been aggravated for two days past & there does not seem to be any change in the appearance of the arm

Cont. Electr. u. a.