286 Medicine. 



which he drew upon himself by this measure i$ 

 scarcely credible. The physicians in general highly 

 disapproved his conduct. Dr. Douglass/ one of 

 their number, who had received a regular medical 

 education in Scotland, his native country, stood 

 foremost in the ranks of opposition. He wrote > 

 declaimed, and employed all his influence against 

 the intrepid innovator. The medical gentlemen 

 were joined by the populace, who were so much 

 inflamed against what they esteemed a species of 

 murder, that Dr. Boylston was in danger of his 

 life,'^ and Dr. Mather was scarcely less an object 

 of popular indignation. But the greater propor- 

 tion of the Clergy of Boston embarked in sup- 

 port of the measure ; they preached and wrote'' in 

 favour of it, until, at length, their influence, greatly 

 confirmed by the success attending Dr. Boylston*s 

 practice, gradually overcame the opposition; and 

 near three hundred persons were soon after inocu» 

 lated in Boston and the neighbouring towns.^ 



y Dr. Douglass is said to have been a man of learning and talents. He 

 published some small medical pieces, and corresponded with Dr. Golden, 

 of New- York, who, in one of his medical communications, speaks of him 

 in terms of high respect. He was, however, conceited and arrogant, 

 and behaved with great disingenuousness in his opposition to Boylston. 



z Dr. Boylston's house was attacked with so much violence, that he and 

 his family did not consider themselves safe in it. He was assaulted in the 

 streets, loaded with every species of abuse, and execrated as a murderer. 

 Indeed, many sober, pious people were deliberately of opinion, when he com- 

 menced the practice of inoculation, that if any of his patients should die, 

 he ought to be capitally punished. A bill was brought into the Legislature 

 for prohibiting the practice, under severe penalties, and actually passed the 

 House of Representatives ; but some doubts existing in the Council, its pro- 

 gress was arrested, and it never became a law. See Hutchinson's His- 

 tory of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 247, &c. 



a The neivspapers teemed with pieces on both sides of this interesting 

 controversy; and especially with some of a very virulent character, from 

 the opponents of inoculation. The Couraut, a newspaper edited at that 

 time by a brother of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, took a decided part with 

 Douglass and his coadjutors. The young philosopher was then an ap- 

 prentice in the office, and employed his opening talents in favour of the 

 same deluded party. M. S. Letter of the Rev. Dr. Eliot to the Authotx 



i HuTCHiK son's History of Massachusetts ^ vol. ii. 



