Thomas Beddoes to John Rollo, 14 April 1797
April 14th, 1797.
You ask my present opinion on consumption. Allow me generally to say, I have now no chemical theory of any one disease. I never held any such opinion. In different ways (at lectures, and in publications), I started conjectures to be compared with facts; and now I think all those conjectures are shewn to be erroneous by facts. I used to think my hypothesis on scurvy very probable, and I was confirmed in this idea by Dr. Trotter. But I at present think we were both mistaken. Good, however, has arisen from these speculations, as they have brought forward observations, which otherwise apparently would never have been made; and some of these observations are useful in practice. When I publish my view of the medical treatment to be pursued in the pneumatic institution, I will unfold what I here say, and add my reasons.
Published: John Rollo, An Account of Two Cases of the Diabetes Mellitus: with Remarks, as They Arose during the Progress of the Cure. To Which Are Added, A General View of the Nature of the Disease and its Appropriate Treatment, Including Observations on Some Diseases Depending on Stomach Affection; and a Detail of the Communications Received on the Subject since the Dispersion of the Notes on the First Case. ... With the Results of the Trials of Various Acids and other Substances in the Treatment of the Lues Venerea; and Some Observations on the Nature of Sugar, &c. (London, 1797), p. 146–47.