THOMSON
445
THOMSON
cline. The author states that inoccula-
tion was so unsuccessful at Philadelphia
that many were disposed to abandon
the practice; wherefore, upon the sug-
gestion of the 1392'd Aphorism of Boer-
haave, he (Thomson) was led to prepare
his patients by a composition of antimony
and mercury, which he had constantly
employed for twelve years, with unin-
terrupted success."
Drs. Redman and Kearsley, of Phila- delphia, and others, first opposed the method, but later it was universally adopted in the colonies and was favorably received in England. It soon became known as the American method for inocu- lation and was introduced as routine pro- cedure in the first Inoculating Hospitals which were estabhshed near Boston, Massachusetts, in February, 1764. Dr. William Barnett was called from Phila- delphia to supervise the work because of his reputation there as a successful inocu- lator. He used Dr. Thomson's method, but was not generous enough to admit the fact. (See address, Quinan, " Mary- land Medical Journal," vol. x, p. 115, 1883.) In England the method was highly recommended by Huxham, Wood- ward and others.
Woodville in "History of the In- oculation of the Small-pox in Great Britain" (p. 341, 1796) quotes from Dr. Gale's "Dissertation on the Inoculation of the Small-pox in America," as follows:
" Before the use of mercury and anti- mony in preparing persons for inocula- tion one out of one hundred of the inocu- lated died, but since only one out of eight hundred," and (ibid., p. 342) by last accounts, 3,000 had recovered from inocu- lation in the new method by the use of mercury and antimony and five only had died, viz. : children under five years of age." Dr. Gale and others conceded Dr. Thomson to be the most successful inoculator in America.
Thomson married the widow of James Warddrop, of Virginia. She was Lettice Lee, daughter of Philip Lee, of Virginia, a great granddaughter of Richard Lee, the emigrant. After Thomson's death
she married Col. Joseph Sims. She had
issue only by Dr. Thomson, Mary Lee and
Alice Corbin.
Dr. Adam Thomson died in New York City on the eighteenth of September, 1767. The following notice of his death ap- peared three days later in the " New York Mercury:"
"On Friday morning early, died here, Adam Thomson, Esq., a physician of dis- tinguished abilities in his profession, well versed in polite literature, and of unblem- ished honor and integrity as a gentle- man." H. L. S.
Dr. Adam Thomson (H. Lee Smith), Johns Hopkins Hosp. Bull., 1909, vol. xx. Amer. Med. Biography (Thacher), vol. i, 1828.
Condamine. Discourse referred to in Hist, de. inoc. in Mem. de I'Acad., p. 521, 1765. Cordell, Dr. E. F. The Med. Annais of Maryland, 1903.
Gale, Dr. Benjamin. Trans. Philos. Soc, London, vol. Iv.
Hamilton, Dr. Alexander. A Defense of Dr. Thomson's Discourse on the Preparation of the Body for Small-pox, Annapolis. Pub. by Bradford, Philadelphia, 1751. Lee of Virginia. By Edmund Jennings Lee, M. D., Franklin Printing Co., Phila., 1895.
Monthly Review of London, Apr., 1752. Med. and Phys. Journal, London, 1752 Norris, Dr. George W. The Early Hist, of Med. in Phila., 1886.
Quinan, Dr. Jno. R. The Med. Annals of Md., 1885. Md. Med. Jour., vol. x, 188:3. Smith, James. Address to Mem. of Leg. of Md., vol. viii, 1818.
Smith, Margaret Vowell. Capt. John Haw- kins' American Monthly Magazine, May, 189.'>.
St. Andrew's Soc. of the State of N. Y. His- torical Sketch, Centennial Celebration, 1856, N. Y.
Thomson, Adam. A Discourse on the Preparation of the Body for the Small-pox, and the manner of receiving the Infection, as it was delivered in the Publick Hall of the Academy, before the Trustees and others, on Wednesday the twenty-first of November, 17.50, Phila. B. FrankUn and D. Hall, 1750. Woodville, Hist, of Inoc. of the Small-pox in Great Britain, 1796.
Thomson, Samuel (1769-1843).
Associated with a system called the Thomsonian and as having implicit faith in steam and in lobelia as curative agents Thomson should not by any
