The tryal of Mr. Daniel Sutton, for the high crime of preserving the lives of His Majesty's liege subjects, by means of inoculation — John Shaqi
The tryal of Mr. Daniel Sutton, for the high crime of preserving the lives of His Majesty's liege subjects, by means of inoculationSutton, Daniel
History
The tryal of Mr. Daniel Sutton, for the high crime of preserving the lives of His Majesty's liege subjects, by means of inoculation
Sutton, Daniel
Smallpox -- Vaccination -- Great Britain -- Early works to 1800; Sutton, Daniel, 1735-1819
_Couns. for the Cr._ Mr. President, and you gentlemen of the jury,
it is now late, and you must necessarily be fatigued by your close
attention to a long tryal. I shall not, therefore, trespass on your
patience, by a circumstantial reply to the elaborate speech which you
have just heard; I shall only intreat you to recollect the tenor of our
indictment, and the positive evidence by which it hath been proved. You
have too much understanding to be improperly biassed by fine speeches,
and too much integrity not to determine a cause of such importance
according to the laws of justice and equity.
_President._ Gentlemen of the jury, Daniel Sutton, the Prisoner at the
bar, is indicted for the high crime of preserving the lives of his
Majesty’s liege subjects, by inoculating, or causing to be inoculated,
twenty thousand persons, in the space of three years, and by secret
medicines and modes of practice unknown to this College, and to all
other practitioners.
The first witness produced, in support of this heavy charge, was Mr.
Robert Houlton, who swears positively as to the number of persons
inoculated, and tells you he had his information from the Prisoner’s
own books. He is no less positive on the article of secret medicines,
by means of which the Prisoner has a power, unknown to the faculty, of
causing the pustules to disappear at pleasure.
Dr. Baker, the second witness, gave you a clear account of the
Prisoner’s general practice, but as he related nothing of his own
proper knowledge, his evidence, in law, proves nothing against the
Prisoner at the bar.
Mr. Chandler, the third witness against the Prisoner, relates the
practice of one of his accomplices, by whose means many have been
preserved; and he likewise told you, that the composition of the
medicines is not known.
These are all the evidence produced in support of the indictment. We
come now to those that have been examined in behalf of the Prisoner:
the first of which was Dr. Ruston, who, by the result of a course of
chemical experiments, has discovered the composition of these secret
medicines; consequently, at the time when this indictment was laid,
they were not secret medicines. This witness likewise informs you, that
mercury, which appears to have been the chief ingredient, hath been
long in use, especially in America, as a preparative to inoculation. He
told you also, that the regimen prescribed by the American physicians
was very similar to that of the Prisoner at the bar, and that he
himself, pursuing the same general plan, has been no less successful
than the Prisoner at the bar; and he concludes with declaring, that he
does not believe him possessed of any secret to which his success can
be attributed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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