FREDERIC HERVEY FOSTER QUIN - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 44434

F. H. F. QUIN
The father of British homeopathic medicine accepts an invitation to dine with Queen Victoria.
Autograph Letter signed: "F. H. F. Quin", 4 pages (integral leaf), 4x6. Molgsare Mansion, n.d. ("Friday". To "Dear Miss Taylor", in full: "I shall be charmed to have the honor of dining at St James Palace tomorrow Saturday and present my dutiful respects to Her Royal Highness, and have the honor of meeting the Duke 'en partie guarée'. Many many thanks for your kind & thoughtful hints about there being no stairs to mount. This horrid cold weather has crippled me in the 'bud', don't laugh, I allude to the 'bud' of my second childhood which is hastening on, only my brain instead hardening with the ice as I fear softening. I am nevertheless yours very faithfully". Frederick Hervey Foster Quin (1799-1878) was the foremost British advocate of homeopathic medicine. After study and travel on the Continent and service as personal physician to Prince Leopold, future King of Belgium and uncle of Queen Victoria, Quin set up practice in London in 1828. He founded the British Homeopathic Society (1844) and the London Homeopathic Hospital. The well connected Quin was a frequent guest at elite social gatherings like this one, using his charm to raise funds for his hospital and other projects and to popularize his alternative medical system. Then, as now, homeopathic medicine was controversial, and the dinner invitation at the palace must have been quite interesting if Queen Victoria's personal physician, Sir John Forbes, was also present. Forbes, reflecting the view of the medical establishment, deemed homeopathy "an outrage to human reason." Lightly toned and creased. Multiple mailing folds. Minor ink smears throughout letter (legible). Otherwise, fine condition.