Remote & Rural Remedies

"Letter from R. Clark"

Scarista, by Lochmaddy.

1851.

R. Clark was a medical practitioner in Harris.

Scarista was a district on the Isle of Harris in the historic County of Inverness. At present no additional information on this location is available.

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[[Letter]]

Scarista by Lochmaddy
2nd Octr 1851

Sir,
I now beg leave to return the Queries you
were kind enough to send with the answers. - The Medical
Practitioners in these remote quarters are certainly under
a debt of gratitude to the Committee of Enquiry, which they
can never repay, for the interest they have taken in a body
of men, the most useful and the worst requited for their la
borious duties of any set of men in Scotland. - Owing to the
dependant circumstances in which one & all of us are placed,
in consequence of our small incomes, we cannot hold that
status in society to which our profession entitles us, and are often
looked down upon even treated disrespectfully & contemptibly by people far our
inferiors in every sense. - We are in fact the slaves of thousands
of Masters. - In this parish the population is upwards of 3000
and by a triffling contribution to my small salary, I must be
the humble servant of every one of these, night & day. - I wish
you would send a qualified person amongst us to ascertain by
personal observation our localities. - and the superhuman
labor attendant on our professional avocations. -

A¹ mechanic in the South is a much more independent
man than a District Surgeon can aspire to. –

* Medical practitioners in these remote quarters ought to be
on the same footing as the parish clergymen. - Their labor
is a thousand times more, and more valuable in the eyes of
the community, their education is equal, if not superior, & their
education more expensive than that of a clergyman. –
There is also a drain upon them medical practitioners in
the way of medicines – cordials² &c³ our poor circumstances pre
-vent us from keeping pace with the improvements of the
day. - because, after feeding the body, there is none left for the mind. -

I have thus in as little space as pos
-sible, attempted to describe to you the condition of
myself & professional Brethren in the Western Islands,
and as such a body as the Royal College of Physicians &
Surgeons Edinr have taken our state into their consideration,
I am inspired with a hope that brighter days are begin
-ning to dawn upon us. - I may mention before concluding that
an enactment is the only thing to be depended upon -

I am Sir
Your Mo. Obt St R Clark

[[Additional Text]]

To the Convener
of the Committee of Enquiry
Royal College of Physicians
Edinr -

PS. Having no proper paper to transcribe this letter, I beg
you will overlook some inaccuracies, inseparable from a
hurried first impression -

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Explanatory notes:

1. Continues onto next page.
2. A cordial is an aromatic and sweetened spirit, serving as a soothing beverage to administer medicine.
3. “&c” is shorthand for etcetera.