[William McDougall, Anglo-American psychologist and eugenicist.] Typed Letter Signed ('Wm McDougall') to the psychologist Millais Culpin, regarding 'that strange creature Spray' and his 'therapeutic claims'.

For the recipient Millais Culpin (1874-1952), see the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip from mount adhering to reverse. Folded a number of times. Addressed to 'Doctor Millais [corrected in autograph from 'Miller'] Culpin | 55, Queen Anne Street | Cavendish Square | London, W. 1'. The letter begins: 'My dear Culpin: | It was good of you to interest yourself in that strange creature Spray. Your findings about him agree very closely with my general impression, but I had hoped that you might find opportunity to put his therapeutic claims to a test. The most remarkable of the claims that he made to me was that he could remove cataracts in one short sitting. I think he is quite sincere about this, and I don't quite see how he arrived at this belief.' The subject of the letter may be George H. Spray [George Hill Spray (1899-1974)?] whose 'collection of published works', 1943-1969, 'submitted for the degree of D. Sc.' at Oxford, is now in the Bodleian. From the distinguished autograph collection of the psychiatrist Richard Alfred Hunter (1923-1981), whose collection of 7000 works relating to psychiatry is now in Cambridge University Library. Hunter and his mother Ida Macalpine had a particular interest in the illness of King George III, and their book 'George III and the Mad Business' (1969) suggested the diagnosis of porphyria popularised by Alan Bennett in his play 'The Madness of George III'.