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to
correct fa lse impressions and irrespons ible attitudes , to sound
warnings , and to give the necessary scientific facts.
To Mi ller's
carefully worded question if many non-medical persons vaccinated, he
replied.
I have found such to be the case in many parts of the
colony. Old women are reported to do so with needles
in Hobart Town ; but, worse than all, I have heard that
matter from cows • teats has been used, under the impression
that it was the genuine cow pox. Of course , it is known
to all wel l-informed men that smallpox has not yet existed
in cows in Tasmania , and, therefore, the introduction of it
into the human system from the cow could not yet be
effected. The spurious matter of other diseases thus
propagated may cause very serious evils . 7
·.
Again, when Dr J. Grant of Launceston suggested in the Cornwall Chronicle
on August 31 that farmers should notify medical men if they saw pimples
or pustules on the udders or teats of cows in order to secure a more
effective supp ly of lymph , Hall accused him of causing 11irreparable
mischief" .
Thence ensued a sharp exchange of medical opinion in which
Hall was accused once more• of 11cacoethes scribendi11 to which he angrily
retorted;
My 'cacoethes scrib endi '
in the cause of human ity , sanitary
improvements and national progress , having won for me
the
honours and commendations of the highest authorities in the
medical and allied sciences in England and elseWhere, I can
afford to smile at the
low estimate at which Dr Grant rates
my zealous , persevering and unselfish labors . Possib ly ,
I might have better served my own pecuniary interests in
bucolic speculations , and by disregarding the honorary
claims which medical science etc. has upon every medical
man to aid in its advancement . 8
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He then obliterated Grant 's statements in a
long, scientific discussion
of the medical intricacies of vaccination with quotations from the writings
of Jenner and the "ever-to-b e-quoted" Ceely of Ayl esbury , maintaining that
Grant had proved beyond all doubt that he, at least , had not read all that
had been said and done in connection with vaccination up to the present
time;
indeed, Hall harl: good reason to believe that he alone in Tasmania
possessed the books alluded to .
Actually, he was annoyed with Grant for
bringing the sub ject into pub lic debate and casting suspicion en the
efficacy of the lymph obtainab le in Tasmania, arming "all prej udiced and
careless parents with a feasib le excuse for refusing or delaying the
7
B
H.A.P. , 1863/90, S2 , p. 13 .
Mercury , Sept . 1, 5 & 12, 1863 .
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