SAMUEL BARD. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED, 1 AUGUST 1764, TO JOHN BARD

Three pages (7 1/4 x 9 in.; 184 x 229 mm) on a bifolium, Edinburgh, 1 August 1764, docketed on the integral blank "Dr. John Bard | at | New York"; tear where wax seal previously affixed, not affecting text, two old hinges located at top and bottom of center fold.

A letter with compelling medical content penned by Samuel Bard, physician to George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, and later founder of Columbia University's Medical School: "Since I have been from home, I have often considered with much surprise, the amaising obstinacy of my cousin Becky Campbells Disorder in her head. I have looked round the Hospitals I have attended, in hopes of meeting with something similar to it, but hitherto in vain. however there is one Medicine whose good effects in many scorbutic cases I have been a Witness to, which I believe has not yet had a tryal in hers, & which for her sake I could heartily wish might be put to a fair experiment. I mean the Merc: sub: cor:," Bard suggests, referring to mercurius sublimatus corrosivus, or mercuric chloride, a highly corrosive poison once used to treat ulcers and other inflammations. 

In the present letter, Bard in effect details the various symptoms of scurvy, an affliction that was not yet fully understood in 1764. In addition to communicating various ailments and subsequent treatments, Bard also refers to Pontiac's War, writing to his father: "I am very sorry to hear by the publick Papers that the Indian War is not at an End. I cannot conceive what it is these People are aiming at, but I am afraid, we ourselves are not intirely blameless."