According to Thatcher in his "Modern Practice," published in 1826, "tuberculosis, scrofula, or 'the king's evil,'" is in its nature peculiarly inveterate, and is most generally handed down by parents to their off-spring. Children possessing the most lively disposition and a maturity of understanding superior to others of their age, are those most liable to scrofula. It most commonly affects children of a lax habit, with smooth, fine skin, fair hair and rosy cheeks. It seldom makes its appearance before the second year of age, generally from the third to the seventh, and rarely makes its first attack after puberty."
In many ways this is to-day a correct picture of a case