My cold no better + I had a wretched night of coughing : fits of sneezing during the day. Touch of frost : nice calm day with a little sun. Saw a few cases + had a T + A1 + a cyst behind the ear [?] at Viewfield. Was not at church. After lunch took Kennedy2 for a walk to Gala Rigg. View very hazy couldn’t see Ruberslaw3 + the Eildons dimly. Jean4 kept in bed. Dressed her arm with Picric [acid] lotion + made an awful mess of the sheets5 Both Dr + Mrs Kennedy sang in the evening.6
1 Tonsils and Adenoids.
2 William Nicol Watson Kennedy (1888-1961), O.B.E., M.D., D.P.E., medical officer of health and school medical officer for Selkirkshire circa 1921 but by June 1921 recorded in a similar role in Croydon, Surrey (1921 Census taken 19 June 1921).
3 Rubers Law (if this reading is correct) is due east of Hawick, grid reference NGR NT581,155, and probably visible over Riddell and Hassendean from Gala Rig, NT496,275.
4 Jane Henderson Logan ‘Jean’ Pike née Muir (1877-1941), Dr Muir’s eldest daughter.
5 Picric [acid] lotion was used for burns, where it was supposed to give immediate relief, and other skin problems. The Editor has found nothing that explains its effect on bedding.
6 Kennedy (above) and his wife Mary Balfour Kennedy née Alison (1889-1978) had come to stay for a few days, see Dr Muir’s diary for 30 December 1922.
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/25, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1922]
Rumbling Clint's Scottish Notes 