i vy diil.tV'Ubi) ill. 19 . R550%tv- y ^W. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 4 ^ • 1 * \ .. >t t f. https://archive.org/detaiis/b28042633 I t i * 4 # a*-t 1 I » <» r # 9 # # . JOUTf COAIGLEY .LETTSOM, M. & LoL.B F.B.S. RA.S. F.L.S. &<•« i^T. J^-c* Jofi^.i j8it l>y W SkeUvit. .ftay/^rd ; MEMOIRS OF THE O life and writings r:. OF THE LATE a ^ j* JOHN COAKLEY LETTSOM, &c. M.D; LL.D; F.R.S j F. A.S ; F.L.S ; &c. &c. WITH A SELECTION FROM HIS Corresipontintce, By THOMAS JOSEPH PETTIGREW, F.L.S. MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGF. OF SURGEOHS ; SURGEON EXTRAORDINARY TO THEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES THE DUKES OF KENT AND SUSSEX; SURGEON TO THE UNIVERSAL DISPENSARY ; FELLOW AND REGISTRAR OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY ; REGISTRAR AND SECRETARY OP THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY; koNORARY MEM- BER AND SECRETARY OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON ; LBCTURKR ON ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY, &C. &C. &C. Inspicere tanquam in speculum in vitas omnium Jubeo, atque ex aliis sumere exemplum sibi. TER. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED BY NICHOLS, SON, AND BENTLEY, Red Lion Passage, Fleet-Street TOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW. I8I7. r I TO FIELD MARSHAL HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE EDWARD, r DUKE OF KENT AND STRATHEARN, EARL OF DUBLIN, K. G. G. C. B. G. C. H. K. P. &c. &c. &c. &c. SIR, Appreciating as I do the flattering privi- lege granted me by Your Royal Highness of dedicating to Your Illustrious Patronage these Volumes, I cannot but he gratified with the reflection, that, however the work may be executed, the subject of it is not unworthy the high distinction thus conferred upon it. The benevolent themselves are alone capable of justly estimating benevolence in others : who then, is so competent to understand and to feel the excellencies and virtues of the lamented A 2 I IV DEDICATION. Philanthropist, whose character I have endea- voured, with a feeble hand, to delineate, as Your Royal Highness ? Your country pro- claims that the milk of human kindness flows a living and exhaustless stream through the heart of Your Royal Highness, which the hand of Death has frozen in the once warm and genial bosom of my departed friend. Dr. Lettsom needs no Panegyrist, To detail his useful and eventful life is to pronounce his highest eulogy. Yet, while the active sympathies of his cha- racter which are known, and which were fol- lowed by corresponding exercises of charity, have formed for him a mausoleum more mag- nificent than can be constructed by the proudest efforts of art—his highest praise lies yet con- cealed : it is every day emerging from alleys and hovels into which his bounty stole secretly —and it is heard in the sighs of those who miss the stream of which they drank, almost without themselves knowing the fountain whence it flowed. 4 DEDICATION. V Such was the man whose life forms the sub- stance of the succeeding pages—and over whose remains Your Royal Highness is extending the wing of Your protection : in so doing, You are not only illustrating departed worth, but shedding glory over Your own Princely Cha- racter. I have the honour to remain. Sir, Your Royal Highness’s most grateful and most dutiful servant, Thomas Joseph Pettigrew. Bolt-court, Fleet-street, January 1 , I8I7. , . ; C‘' ' / V-, * • * •» . , . V > V - ^ : V . ' tjffi ;*«w »<tv ttyqioi Mb itb.jn ' i ‘ivu "' h?6d:: ! fr ‘v • '^‘ - ; ' .t^l ml/' 'V ^ /filo :>or; ^ ;tjiri ,/h7<sv;^' ' > -•• ' orH^Oiiv'id .'iii? • -l'’'’^;,^-^ ’^‘‘ '- ' i- '<,. 'y'‘i'f: it' 'i'•'/^, "-• " ' i • O .uvs^ ,.., 'io- 1::^ - vj * ' ' ' ' J ,.*'* ‘‘‘y' ;;. T-' • -M ..:.r ^ ».:- .' . -•>; t r/v^ >^v ^ • 1 / ' - *c . r., . ri(^,'; :.;,V , ' * . ^’'z '•1 < f * , > , . V '.V<'i'v-'. ' —-t, .’• -; '• 'j ,.>.•• .f • '• .'.4 '. , V i' V ' ' I > '•> * *'^‘ ‘ V -J ’'*^v . / • •' * . Vs',v„v .' •''' V'. 1 "•v*i*.'»;i;:H’- •’' ' •'' • ’•' ’ • *», , . * i , -• ' • .„ ' - *1 » t .• . _ _ . > ‘ , V.. Ar PREFACE. The Collection of Letters now submitted to the Public have been selected from among many thousands, forming the principal part of the Correspondence of the late celebrated Dr. Lettsom. The Editor trusts that he has not committed to print any subjects calculated to excite unpleasant feelings in the bosom of any individual. His object has been, where Letters from dilferent Correspondents have occurred on the same subject, and expressing a difference of opinion, to admit the statements on both sides with the utmost candour. From all the Correspondents now living, with whom he could possibly communicate, he has solicited their permission for the printing of their Letters ; from all of them, without a single exception, he has received kind atten- tion, and by many he has been favoured wl th ; Vlll PREFACE. I the Doctor’s Letters to connect the Corre- spondence. To the relations of several of the deceased Correspondents he has also made simi- lar application, and has received like considera- tion. For these he is extremely grateful, and feels the highest satisfaction in making his ac- knowledgments to the following individuals : Sir Thomas Gery Cullum, of Bury, Suffolk, Bart. ; Rev. James Plumptre, B. D. of Great Gransden,Fluntingdonshire; Rev. John Glasse, Rector of Burnham, Norfolk, the !^xecutor of the late Sir Mordaunt Martin, Bart. ; Rev. Francis Wrangham, M. A. of Hunmanby; Dr. William Babington, of Aldermanbury Dr. Joshua Dixon, of Whitehaven ; Dr. Ed- ward Jenner, of Berkeley ; Dr. John Johnstone, of Birmingham; Dr. Jonathan Stokes, of Ches- terfield ; Dr. Joshua Walker, of Leeds; and to Patrick Colquhoun, LL.D. the worthy Magistrate of Westminster. 'To the Son-in-law of the late Dr. Lettsom, John Elliott, of Pimlico-lodge, esq. the Editor is under very great obligations, not only for access to the Correspondence, but for a Memoir of the early Life of Dr. Lettsom, written bv himself. To John Nichols, esq., and to Mr. John Bowyer Nichols, the Editor also feels deeply PREFACE. IX indebted for their kind assistance in the orna- mental part of the work, hy the loan of the plates of the birth-place of Dr. Lettsom, of the General Sea-Bathing Infirmary, and of Dr. Cuming ; and for several valuable hints in the prosecution of the publication. Several of the Letters appear in the form of Extracts. This has been deemed advisable when the whole of the contents of the Letter has not been thought proper, or sufficiently in- teresting, for publication. By this means the Editor has been enabled to introduce a greater diversity of correspondence than could otherwise possibly have been done, unless by adding to the number of the volumes. / The multifarious character and abundance of matter composing Dr. Lettsom’s Correspond- ence has occasioned the task of selection to be one of no small difficulty and responsibility. This collection might have been greatly en- larged, without any diminution of interest in the subjects ; but the work, even in its present form, has extended much beyond the original design of the Editor. The Editor conceived the idea, in the first in- stance, of accompanying the Correspondence with short Biographical Sketches of the Cor- respondents. He is already in possession of X PREFACE. considerable materials for the work, and may probably hereafter submit them to the judg- ment of the public. Since the printing of these volumes has been concluded, several Letters from various Persons have been transmitted to the Editor, for which he feels grateful, but is under the necessity of declining the use of them at pre- sent ; at some future opportunity he hopes to be enabled to improve what he has now per- formed ; and to facilitate that purpose, still re- quests of the Friends and Correspondents of the late Dr. Lettsom, to favour him with such let- ters and communications as are in their pos- session. It was the wish of the Editor to have arranged the Letters either according to the time at which they were written, the situation of the place whence they were transmitted, or the subjects on which they treat ; but it was found to be impracticable : it would have di- vided the Correspondence of dilferent indivi- duals, which it has been thought proper to preserve in the order of time in which the Let- ters were written : those from America are classed in succession, as they relate to similar topics. — — PREFACE. XI A few Letters originally intended to be printed have been suppressed : it has arisen from private considerations, and in some in- stances from the pressure of more important matter. The task has been one of considerable la- bour; for every Letter in the Doctor’s Corre- spondence which has hitherto come under the Editor’s notice, has been carefully perused by him. To this labour he has appropriated those hours not engaged by his professional pursuits, and many of those usually devoted to rest, for the execution of the most ardent of his wishes —to pourtray the genuine character of his amiable friend, Dr. Lettsom : that character, he conceives, may he duly appreciated by an exa- mination of the ensuing Correspondence, and a detail of his eventful life. Beyond this the constant aim of the Editor has not extended ; for ''No power of words. No graceful periods of harmonious speech Dwell on my lips : the only art I boast Is honest truth, unpolish’d, unadorn’d, !” Truth that must strike conviction to your heart Murphy’s Zenobia. : ' . , ;• K - .:r > f-.’l'U'l • od oi b- f.-o A ; cn- f ,'r( f" - .. «i. ;i . bM ini'j'S -"; - - „ - r jv'n .:i>’ tl '• M*?; » .« : ' j'sT..bi'^^;ui'> ‘J,-r '-IO .ran!' < J i -j .