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160
On May 13, Hall lectured again at the Mechanics' Institute on
the "Structure and Functions of the Human Voice" , a lengthy revfew of
_\-JbJ ch occupied the editorial columns of the Daily News on May 15 . Such
a p ; oinent pub lication of this lecture was an indication of the extent
- to whch Miller and Hall were involved in matters pertai,_ning to health .
Once again Hall extended his subject beyond the customary limits to dwell
rather ironically upon the dangers of alcoho lic drinking . Speaking of
a man upon whose throat he had once operated after an attempted suicide
caused by alcoo lism, he said :
The last home of his mortal remains is in the burying
ground of the Bothwell Church - a speaking monument and an
- instructive monitor to those who would seek to know the
end of the drunkard, and sorry am I to say, that a vast
proportion of his neighbours there - in their "narrow houses" ,
have been untimely hurried there by the same merciless foe to
health, happiness and life. In this general clime,
drunkeness is, as yet, either directly or indirectly almost
the only enemy to long and vigorous existence the Tasmanians
have to contend with. But for this insatiable destroyer, my
profession would be almost a sinecure.
The next day , the Daily News celebrated the first anniversary of its
birthday with a forceful reiteration of its principles -
independence
.of opinion and truthfulnes s, allied with "unswerving integrity, steady
perseverance and unmoved fixity ·of purpose in asserting truth and
demanding justice for all".
In July, 1856, Hal l's new scientific approach to problems of
Pub lic Health, based on objective statistical enquiry, found expression
in an article, "On the Medical Topography and Vital Statistics of the
City of Hobarton, Tasmania, and its Southern Sub-Districts, for 185511 ,
which was pub l
hed in four separate parts, in July and October 1856, in
April 1857 and in April 1858 respectively, in the Australian Medical
Journal , the organ of the Medical Society of Victoria which was founded
in 1855.
The article was carefully written , lucid, comprehensive,
detailed_ - one of the best descriptions of Hobarton written in the
nineteenth century; but it was also much more than that . It was an
attempt by Hall to do for Hobart Town what men like Doctors Forbes ,
Shapter and Hastings and the "Health of Towns" Commissioners did for
various cities and towns in England - to make a comprehensive , statistical
study of the city so that it could be compared with other cities in
gngland and Europe, and the results of any future sanitary reforms
assessed.
Pointing out that the science of vital statistics had assumed
a new and most important aspect, he wrote: