18 February 1904 diary of Dr John Stewart Muir (1845-1938) of Selkirk

Wrote Pat¹ on 19^th          Friday morning was one of the freshest – 19°- 20° of frost [and] ice coming down the river in morning but it changed completely in afternoon

Took in case of Diphtheria although I have one of Typhoid. It is a case of Meikle’s in a family of 13.²

Nice dry day + quite calm. Drove to Broadmeadows to breakfast at 8.30. Mrs Lang³ looks very ill. Drove back to Bowhill + ‘Phoned for a nurse.⁴ After arranged about getting a D. case of Meikle’s into Hospital. Went on to Tushielaw + was just in time to get a lift on to Crook Cottage in Peter Smith’s⁵ wagon⁶ which was taking up Mrs Crozier.⁷ Found Mrs Johnstone⁸ very poorly. Drove straight home. My I managed to keep nice + warm all day till coming down when my fingers got perfectly benumbed + dead + the pain + tingling when I thawed them in hot water was intense. Got tea + then drove to Lindean + up to Broadmeadows again. Mrs Lang was much easier at night + her sons, who had been wired for, were countermanded.

¹ Patrick Rodger Stewart ‘Pat’ Muir (1879-1961), Dr Muir’s only son, living in New Zealand since 1902.

² This is an interesting reference. Meikles almost certainly refers to the work of Dr John Hally Meikle (1867-1945), M.A., B.Sc, M.D., D.P.H., medical practitioner and Chief School Medical Officer, Edinburgh. In 1906, at around the time he graduated M.D. at Edinburgh, he published an article in the Edinburgh Medical Journal on the epidemiology of diphtheria. That Dr Muir used his name in this context in early 1904 means that Meikle’s work must have attracted notice well before the article was published (though Dr Muir’s close connections with Edinburgh University Medical School and with the regional B.M.A. committees may explain that).

³ Margaret Pattison Lang née Graham (1821-1914), widow of Hugh Morris Lang (1817-1900), banker and landed proprietor, of Largs, Ayrshire and later Broadmeadows, Selkirk. She was a a close friend of Dr Muir.

⁴ Presumably Bowhill’s was one of very few telephones at this time, if even a well-set house like Broadmeadows did not have one.

⁵ Peter Smith (about 1864-), hotel-keeper at Tushielaw Inn.

⁶ The Editor is not sure precisely how Dr Muir’s travel worked. He had gone up by horse (his normal transport at the time it seems), switched to a wagon but, when the time came, was able to travel back independently. Did the horse follow the wagon perhaps?

⁷ Probably Elizabeth Crozier née Johnstone, recorded in the 1901 Census at Crook Cottage, Ettrick, with parents and her children Mary (1896-), Joan Wallace (1897-) and William (1899-). At the time of the Census her husband Allan Crozier, shepherd, was away. They had married 21 March 1895 at Ettrick.

⁸ Mary Johnstone née Hewitson (about 1853-1904), wife of William Johnstone, roadman, living at Crook Cottage.

⁹ Mrs Lang’s sons were Robert James Lang (1856-1914), William Graham ‘Willie’ Lang (1856-1943) and Hugh Lang (1857-), all born Largs, Ayrshire.

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/7, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1904]