Page:Early History of Medicine in Philadelphia - George W Norris.djvu/42

 covered with oiled silk, were at first ridiculed as effeminate by the newspapers (1772); hut some of the professionals, at the head of whom were Drs. Chancellor and Morgan, had the hardihood to carry them, and they soon came into general use.

Contemporary with the latter practitioners whom I have mentioned was who settled in Philadelphia in the year 1718. He was originally from Edinburgh, but came here from Prince George's County, Md., whither he had emigrated in the early part of the century. In 1750 he published "A Discourse on the preparation of the body for the Smallpox; and the manner of receiving the infection," a production which was highly spoken of both in Europe and in this country. At the period it was written, inoculation seemed to be on the decline, and Dr. Thompson asserts that the practice of it was so unsuccessful in Philadelphia that many were disposed to abandon it. It was upon the suggestion of the 1392d aphorism of Boerhaave that he was led to prepare his patients by a composition of antimony and mercury, which he states he had constantly employed for twelve years with great success. Dr. Thompson died in the city of New York in September, 1767, and is described as a