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184
it is not merely the hobby of dreaming philosophers,
or a theme only for zealous , troub lesome, notorietyseeking
busy-bodies, but that it is studied and
appli'ed by the practical working philosophers and
philanthropists moving in the most active spheres of
life. In fact, by ' all who are in earnest to improve
the health and comfort and prolong the lives of their
fellow men. It is one of practical importance to
you all.
To a man like Hall, whose vision and insight were exceptional
for his age, entrenclied ignorance was a source of despair and an
insurmountab le barrier.
By mid- 1857 he realized there was little point
in appeali_ng to the nebulous mass of Hobarton society;
-·
instead, he
decided to concentrate his efforts on those who, since they often held
po.sitions ' of authority, might be expected to understand the logic of his
arguments and to act either individually or corporately.
Impatient of
the epithets so often applied to him - the dreamer, the busy-body, . the
troublemaker, the notoriety-seeker - and acutely aware of the hostility
he had already evoked in the Royal Society, he spent every moment he
could spare from his professional duties from July to September on the
preparation of a paper, 11The Vital Statistics of Tasmania for the Year
185611 , to be presented to that body, in the hope that the careful
comparisons he instituted between the rates of mortality existing between
the two principal towns , Hobarton and Launceston, the various country
localities of the island, and the town and country districts in England,
would prove of future benefit to the community, and convince those in
influential positions of the need for reform.
Hall's elaborate and much publicized paper was read on Tuesday}
September 8, in the presence of many Hobarton notables including W. Henty J
the Colonial Secretary; T.J. Knight , the Solicitor-General; and several
memb ers of both Houses of Parliament .
the immediate and violent reaction it occasioned.
But Hall was quite unprepared for
At the conclusion of
the paper, Bedford, the Medical Officer at the Queen 's Orphan Schools ,
swiftly criticized as erroneous , unjust, and founded on insuffici ent dataJ
certain of Hal l's statements concerning the mortality at the Schools;
obj ected that two or three years , during which the greatest mortality
prevailed, were selected for a mean instead of an average being deduced
from a series of a dozen years or more.
He also strongly criticized
Hall's statement that there was a marked deficiency of gluten in
Tasmanian wheat as compared with that produced elsewhere, and that the
children at the Orphan Schools should be given three-quarters of a pound
he