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Paper, 'An account of an extraordinary cure by sweating in hot turff [sic], with a description of the Indian hot houses' by Paul Dudley

Reference number: CLP/14ii/16

Date: 13 November 1723

Description

Dudley shares the case study of a patient who, having 'taken a great surfeit' which deprived him of the use of his right arm for nine weeks, is instructed to lay upon hot turf for three quarters of an hour, after which the patient 'found himself much eased and refreshed'. He describes the tradition of hot houses practiced by communities of 'Aborigines' or 'Indians' [Native Americans] in New England and Nantucket.

Subject: Medicine

Published in Philosophical Transactions as 'An account of an extraordinary cure by sweating in hot turff; with a description of the Indian hot-houses; by the Honourable Paul Dudley, Esq; F. R. S.'

Read to the Royal Society on 23 January 1724

Reference number
CLP/14ii/16
Earliest possible date
13 November 1723
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
2 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

Paul Dudley

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Citation

Paul Dudley, Paper, 'An account of an extraordinary cure by sweating in hot turff [sic], with a description of the Indian hot houses' by Paul Dudley, 13 November 1723, CLP/14ii/16, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/clp_14ii_16/paper-an-account-of-an-extraordinary-cure-by-sweating-in-hot-turff-sic-with-a-description-of-the-indian-hot-houses-by-paul-dudley, accessed on 05 December 2025

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  • Classified Papers

    The 'Classified Papers' of the Royal Society are papers from British and international natural philosophers and scholars categorised according to subject areas.

    Dates: 1592 - 1741

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