American Medical Biographies/Thomson, Adam

by Henry Lee Smith

Thomson, Adam (—1767).

Adam Thompson was born and educated in Scotland, the date of his birth not having been ascertained. In his memorable and eloquent "Discourse on the Preparation of the Body for the Smallpox" he refers to "the Famous Monro of Edinburgh" as one of his first masters in the healing art.

He settled in Prince George's County, in the Province of Maryland, early in the eighteenth century. In 1748 he went to Philadelphia, where he continued to practise, his services being in demand throughout the colonies because of his eminence and success as an inoculator.

In 1738 he began his method of preparing the body for smallpox. It consisted of a two weeks' course of treatment or "cooling regimen" preparatory to inoculation, to wit: a light, non-stimulating diet, the administration of a combination of mercury and antimony, and moderate bleeding and purgation. He admitted that Boerhaave's Aphorism No. 1392^[1] advanced the "hint" that mercury and antimony properly prepared and administered "might act as an antidote for the variolous contagion." Dr. Thomson's phenomenal success with the method convinced him that "mercury under proper management is more of a specific agent against the effects of the variolous than the venereal poison." He was careful to give it within the bounds of salivation and to modify the regimen to suit the patient's age and constitution.

In his "Discourse" he says; "On every occasion for the space of twelve years where I have been called to prepare people for receiving the smallpox, either in the natural way or by inoculation — having prepared many for both — I have constantly used such a mercurial and antimonial medicine as Boerhaave has described, and I can honestly declare that I never saw one so prepared in any danger under the disease."^[2]

His explanation of the manner in which immunity is acquired against smallpox is most interesting, and suggests to readers of today Pasteur's exhaustion hypothesis. He states: "It seems to me highly probable that there is a certain quantity of an infinitely subtle matter which may be called the variolous fuel, equally, intimately and universally diffused through the blood of every human creature; in some more, in others less, that lies still and quiet in the body never showing itself in any manner hitherto discovered until put in action by the variolous contagion, at which time it is totally expelled by the course of the disease."

He found the average medical practitioner of America poorly educated, and therefore a source of danger in the community. He recommends in the discourse that the Legislature interpose in behalf of the safety of the people and appoint proper persons to judge of the qualifications of those permitted to practise.

Dr. Thomson delivered his "Discourse on the Preparation of the Body for the Smallpox" before the trustees and others in the Academy of Philadelphia, on Wednesday, November 21, 1750.^[3] It was published by Benjamin Franklin, and was reprinted in London in 1752, and in New York in 1757. It met with favorable reviews in America, England and France. Dr. Thacher ("American Medical Biography," 1828, vol. i, p. 66, refers to the "Discourse" in the following manner: "This production was highly applauded both in America and Europe, as at that period (1750) the practice of inoculation was on the decline. The author states that inoculation was so unsuccessful at Philadelphia that many were disposed to abandon the practice; wherefore, upon the suggestion of the 1392'd Aphorism of Boerhaave, he (Thomson) was led to prepare his patients by a composition of antimony and mercury, which he had constantly employed for twelve years, with uninterrupted success."

Drs. Redman (q.v.) and Kearsley (q.v.) of Philadelphia, 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 inoculation and was introduced as routine procedure in the first inoculating hospitals which were established near Boston, Massachusetts, in February, 1764. Dr. William Barnett was called from Philadelphia to supervise the work because of his reputation there as a successful inoculator. He used Dr. Thomson's method, but was not generous enough to admit the fact. (See address, Quinan, Maryland Medical Journal, 1883, vol. x, p. 115). In England, the method was highly recommended by Huxham, Woodward and others.

Woodville in "History of the Inoculation of the Smallpox in Great Britain" (1796, p. 341) quotes from Dr. Gale's "Dissertation on the inoculation of the Smallpox in America" as follows:

"Before the use of mercury and antimony in preparing persons for inoculation one out of one hundred of the inoculated died, but since only one out of eight hundred," and (Ibid., p. 342), by last accounts 3,000 had recovered from inoculation 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 Colonel Joseph Sims. She had issue only by Dr. Thomson, Mary Lee and Alice Corbin.

Dr. Adam Thomson died in New York City, September 18, 1767. The following notice of his death appeared three days later in the New York Mercury:

"On Friday morning early, died here, Adam Thomson, Esq., a physician of distinguished abilities in his profession, well versed in polite literature, and of unblemished honor and integrity as a gentleman."

H. Lee Smith.

Dr. Adam Thomson. H. Lee Smith. Johns Hopkins Hosp. Bull., 1909, vol. XX.

Amer. Med. Biog. Thacher. 1828. vol. i.

Condamine. Discourse referred to in Hist, de inoc. in Mem. de I'Acad., 1765. p. 521.

The Med. Annals of Maryland. Dr. E. F. Cordell. 1903.

Trans. Philos. Soc. Dr. Benjamin Gale. London, vol. Iv.

A Defense of Dr. Thomson's Discourse on the Preparation of the Body for Small-pox. Dr. Alexander Hamilton. Annapolis. Pub. by Bradford, Phila., 1751.

Lee of Virginia. Edmund Tennings Lee, M. D. Franklin Printing Co., Phila., 1895.

Monthly Rev. of London, April, 1752.

Med. and Phys. Jour., London. 1752.

The Early Hist. of Med. in Phila. Dr. George W. Norris. 1886.

The Med. Annals of Md., 1885. Dr. Jno. R. Quinan. Md. Med. Jour., 1883, vol. x.

Address to Mem. of Leg. of Md. James Smith. 1818. vol. viii.

Capt. John Hawkins' American Monthly Magazine. Margaret Vowell Smith. May, 1895.

St. Andrew's Soc. of the State of N. Y. Hist. Sketch, Centennial Celebration, N. V.. 1856.

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, 1750, Phila. Adam Thomson. B. Franklin and D. Hall, 1750.

Woodville, Hist, of Inoc. of the Small-pox in Great Britain, 1796.

1. Boerhaave's 1392'd Aphorism. Some success from antimony and mercury prompts us to seek for a specific for the small-pox in a combination of these two minerals reduced by art to an active, but not to an acrimonious or corrosive state.
2. Dr. Thomson makes a similar assertion in a letter which appeared in the Md. Gaz., Nov. 25, 1762.
3. An original Franklin print of the Discourse is on file in the Library of the surgeon-general's office, Washington. D. C. Copies of it may be seen in the Libraries of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland.