III. An Account of a Dropfy in the left Ovary of a 
Woman , aged 58. Cured by a large Incijton 
made in the Side of the Abdomen, by Dr. Ro- 
bert Houftoun. 
AUGUST 1701. I was in the Country, with a 
*** Patient, the Lady Anne Houftoun , Wife to Sir 
John Houftoun, Baronet *, in the Shire of Renfrew , 
ten Miles from Glafgow , North Britain. This 
charitable Lady prefs’d me with great Earneftnefs to 
viflt a Tenant’s Wife, who lay bedridden, of an un- 
common Difeafe, which no Phyftcian, or Surgeon, 
who had feen her, could give any Name to, or ac- 
count for. She inform’d me, the ablefl of that Coun- 
try had forfaken her, and declared her incurable, fo 
that I could lofe no Reputation by the Refult of my 
Endeavours. 
In order to oblige this worthy Lady, and in Com- 
paflion to the Diflrefs of a poor Woman in fo deplorable 
Condition, deferted and given over on all fides, I went, 
determined to do every thing in my Power for her Re- 
lief. She was in the 58th Year of her Age, her Name 
was Margaret Millar . 
She inform’d me that her Midwife, in her laft 
lying-in, at 45 Years old, having violently pull’d away 
the Burthen, (he was fo very fenfibly affeded by a Pain, 
which then feiz’d her in the left Side, between the 
Umbilicus and Groin, that fhe fcarce ever had been 
free from it after, but that it had troubled her more, or 
lefs, during 13 Years together*, that for two Years paft 
flic had been extremely uneafy, her Belly grew very 
large. 
