James Simpson Autograph Letter Signed. Ten pages on three bifolia, 4.5" x 7.25"; Edinburgh; November 1, 1855. A lengthy letter to a Dr. Meigs with excellent medical content regarding a patient of Meigs that Simpson subsequently treated. In part: "When she first came here these were present 1) Very considerable hypertrophy & induration (of the posterior... particularly) of the cervix; contraction of the os. & oblique version of it forwards; & the general body & fundus of the uterus was enlarged. 2) There was a soft – painful tumor – of the size of a small hens egg – but elongated – in the site of the right ovary – or rather of the abdominal extremity of the right fallopian tube... 3) There was a general state of neuralgic tenderness in the whole reproductive parts. I divided the os. laterally & pretty freely – to relieve the stricture - & with the... of the attendant hypertrophy subsequently disappearing also - & then sent her to Kreustnach in Germany to use the Iodine & Bromine water there. She came back bot much improved in general health but with the ovarian tumor quite gone & the uterus much reduced in size. There was still a firm horny induration in the posterior lip. I applied freely... to it & lat it down. It is now quite soft & apparently quite reduced in size... There still remains a considerable amount of neuralgia. For it I have recommended the use of carbonic acid & vaporic of chloroform locally; & I have given her two drugs in which I have far most trust in such cases – bromine & arsenic – to use internally for several months..." Signed, "J Y Simpson." Sir James Young Simpson (1811-1870) was a Scottish obstetrician who was the first to use ether as an anesthetic during childbirth. He was also the first to use chloroform as an anesthetic. Condition: Flattened folds, with a few ink stains that occurred at the time the letter was originally penned. Dealer's pricing in pencil at the top right corner of the first page. "Dr. Simpson" is written in pencil at the top of page 9 and "Sir J.Y. Simpson Scotch Physician" is written at the top of the blank integral page of the last bifolium. Ink burn throughout. HID03101062020 © 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved