one five-thousandth of a grain of strychnia. He continued to develop fresh applications of his discoveries and to publish them in the ‘Lancet;’ but his throat affection gained ground and prevented his taking sufficient food. He died at Brighton after a long and painful illness on 11 May 1857, and was buried at Nottingham. A ‘Marshall Hall’ fund was founded in 1873, and placed in the hands of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, to encourage research in the anatomy, physiology, or pathology of the nervous system, by giving a prize every five years for the best work done and recorded in English during the previous five years; the prize-winners have been in 1878 Dr. Hughlings Jackson, in 1883 Dr. Ferrier, in 1888 Dr. W. H. Gaskell.
Hall's versatility is shown by his papers on the ‘Higher Power of Numbers’ and on the ‘Signs used in Algebra’ in the ‘Mechanic's Magazine’ for 26 Aug. and 30 Sept. 1848, by his ‘Suggestion of a National Decimal Pharmacopœia’ in the ‘London and Edinburgh Monthly Journal of Medical Science,’ 1849, and by his new forms of conjugation and declension for Greek verbs and nouns, printed for private circulation, and approved by Dr. Donaldson, author of the ‘New Cratylus.’ At Rome in 1854–5 he made rapid progress in Hebrew under a rabbi. His professional income rose from 800l. in 1826 to 2,200l. in 1833; his discoveries in physiology for some years diminished his practice, but it latterly increased to 4,000l. a year. In matters of professional etiquette he was very strict. He was calm and prompt in emergencies, straightforward in his moral treatment of patients, and he abhorred coaxing, wheedling, and cant.
A great part of his scientific work was done at night, after a day's hard work. Many of his works were written in his carriage between his visits. He always recorded results of experiments at once. His readiness to reply to attacks gave some offence, but he showed neither vanity nor petulance. He was a man of strong Christian faith.
By his discovery of reflex action Hall rescued an obscure class of convulsive affections from unintelligibility, and explained with remarkable ingenuity the mechanism of the convulsive paroxysm. The treatment of epilepsy was made rational by him; the use of strychnia in spinal diseases, the discouragement of excessive blood-letting, and the ready method in asphyxia, are among his most valuable achievements. He wrote tersely and well, in French as well as in English; Louis, the great French physician, said of his ‘Aperçu du Système Spinal:’ ‘De ce petit ouvrage tout plaît au premier abord, la forme et le fond. … Vous êtes un écrivain consommé, même en français.’
Hall was below the middle height, with strong well-made features, clear forehead, and bright keen eyes. He found a devoted helper in his wife, who afterwards compiled and wrote his ‘Memoirs,’ which, though laudatory, are attractive. Hall had an only child, a son Marshall, born 1831, now a barrister. Hall wrote the following separate works: 1. ‘The Diagnosis of Diseases,’ 1817; 2nd edition, 1834; 3rd edition issued in 1837, as part of 11. 2. ‘On the Mimoses; or a Descriptive, Diagnostic, and Practical Essay on the Affections usually denominated Bilious, Nervous, &c.,’ 1818; the second edition bore the title, ‘An Essay on Disorders of the Digestive Organs and General Health, and on their Complications.’ 3. ‘The Effects of Irritation and Exhaustion after Parturition, Abortion, &c.,’ 1820. 4. ‘On the Symptoms and History of Diseases,’ 1822. 5. ‘Medical Essays,’ 1824. 6. ‘Commentaries on the Diseases of Females,’ with plates, 1826; 2nd edit. 1830. 7. ‘Observations on Blood-letting, founded on researches on the Morbid and Curative Effects of Loss of Blood,’ 1830. 8. ‘An Experimental Essay on the Circulation of the Blood,’ 1831. 9. ‘Eupædia, or Letters to a Mother on the Watchful Care of her Infant,’ 1831. 10. ‘Lectures on the Nervous System and its Diseases,’ 1836. 11. ‘Principles of the Theory and Practice of Medicine,’ 1837. 12. ‘On the Functions of the Medulla Oblongata and Medulla Spinalis, and on the Excito-motory System of Nerves,’ 4to, with plates, 1837. 13. ‘Diseases and Derangements of the Nervous System,’ 1841. 14. ‘Gulstonian Lectures,’ 1842. 15. ‘New Memoir on the Nervous System,’ 4to, with plates, 1843. 16. ‘Practical Observations and Suggestions in Medicine,’ two series, 1845, 1846. 17. ‘Essays on the Theory of Convulsive Diseases,’ 1848. 18. ‘Six Essays on the Theory of Paroxysmal Diseases of the Nervous System,’ 1849. 19. ‘Synopsis of the Diastaltic Nervous System,’ 4to, with plates, Croonian Lectures, 1850. 20. ‘Synopsis of Cerebral and Spinal Seizures,’ 4to, Croonian Lectures, 1851. 21. ‘On the Threatenings of Apoplexy and Paralysis,’ 1851. 22. ‘Synopsis of Apoplexy and Epilepsy,’ 4to, Croonian Lectures, 1852. 23. ‘Suggested Works on the Thames,’ 1852. 24. ‘The Twofold Slavery of the United States,’ 1854. 25. ‘Aperçu du Système Spinal,’ Paris, 1855. 26. ‘Asphyxia; its Nature and its Remedy,’ 1856. 27. ‘Prone and Postural Respiration in Drowning, and other forms of Apnœa,’ 1857. The titles of forty
