153 



not unlike that with which the poet Key, at a later period, 

 spied out the starry flag on Fort McHeury. 



The establishment thus equipped, the first of the kind 

 in the country, was placed in charge of two eminent 

 specialists in their department of physic, Dr. Hall Jackson 

 of Portsmouth, N. H., who had practised in London, and 

 an assistant, Dr. Ananias Randall, from Long Island. The 

 American, and not the Suttonian method, was practised, 

 and to this Col. Pickering soon became a convert. Be- 

 sides the professional supervision thus secured, the enter- 

 prise enjoyed the countenance and endorsement of eminent 

 local practitioners, who made haste to enter themselves 

 as patients. Dr. Ebenezer Putnam, sen'r, of Salem, 

 "set oft* for Cat Island" for inoculation, October 25, and 

 on Nov. 12, he with Dr. Elisha Whitney of Beverly, and 

 Drs. Nathaniel Bond and Elijah Dix, united in publishing 

 a card as patients of the Essex Hospital. Dec'r 3, Dr. 

 Humphrey Devereaux, a leading physician of Marblehead, 

 died there, at the age of 43, "universally regretted." 

 Col. Peter Frye, Mr. Eaton, and other leading citizens of 

 Salem, were there as patients. 



The first class entered Essex Hospital, Oct. 19, 1773. 

 It consisted of 103 persons of both sexes, filling the 

 institution to its utmost capacity, went down "in high 

 spirits," and, as the buildings and outfit were all fresh and 

 uninfected, was not unnaturally attended to the island by 

 a very large concourse of the best quality of the neigh- 

 borhood. After leave-taking in the assembly room, the 

 island was cleared of the throng and inoculation pro- 

 ceeded. The high spirits with which the party entered upon 

 this strange experience suffered no abatement. Death did 

 not invade their ranks, and so mild a type of the dis- 

 order was induced, notwithstanding the autumnal weather 

 which was accounted as a little unfriendly for the first 



