Papers of David Skene: correspondence: Letter from George Skene, Edinburgh, to David Skene Letter from George Skene, Edinburgh, to David Skene in which he describes a mercurial preparation by Cullen. It is milder and more easily managed than more common preparations and consists of mercury combined with crystals of tartar. It had first been prescribed to a 19 year old woman who had an unidentified complaint which was possibly a venereal infection. He describes how it was made and comments on other methods of preparing milder solutions. He also discusses the lectures he has been receiving in Edinburgh. He finds that he cannot pick up as much as he would like of Cullen's lectures because he speaks too fast and he does not wish his students to take notes as some of them have published notes containing errors. He has all clinical cases in the wards with day to day updates and has two and a half quires of notes from Dr Gregory but less for Dr Black as he only does half a lecture a day, repeating what he said the day before. He also asks his brother permission for a new hat, 24 December 1768. 24 December 1768