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Second President,
1757-1758.
It is greatly to be
regretted that so little record has been left of one who was the second
President of the Society, especially when tradition points to Dr. Adam
Thomson as the originator and prime mover in the organization of Saint
Andrew’s Society of the State of New York. He is said to have taken his
degree as physician at Edinburgh and shortly afterward to have come to
America, and finally settled at Upper Marlborough, Prince George’s
County, Maryland. He died on the 18th September, 1767, in the City of
New York, as the following extract from the New York Mercury, issue of
the 21st September, 1767, shows, viz.:
“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
Honour and Integrity as a Gentleman.”
He was well and widely
known throughout the Colonies and repeatedly sent for to superintend
operations in different parts of the country. Notwithstanding the
arduous duties of his practice, he found time for much study and
research, and was the originator of the so-called “American Method” of
inoculating for smallpox, which became the accepted method of procedure
throughout America, and was favorably received in England. He began to
inoculate by this method as early as 1738, and in 1750 published a tract
upon the subject. It was entitled, “A Discourse upon the Preparation of
the Body for Recovery of Smallpox,” delivered in the Public Hall of the
Academy before the Trustees, November 2d, 1750, by Adam Thomson, a
physician in Philadelphia. This tract was published by Benjamin Franklin
in 1750, in quarto form, of 24 pages in length, and reviewed in the
London “Medical and Physician’s Journal” of 1752, at page 307, with
commendation. It reached a second edition in 1752, and a third edition
in 1757.
In the same year a Dr.
Alexander Hamilton, of Annapolis, Province of Maryland, defended Dr. A.
Thomson’s published letter on “Inoculation,” and thereafter Dr. Thomson
published a letter on “Inoculation” in the Maryland Gazette, issue of
the 18th November, 1762.
Dr. Thomson appears to
have taken up a residence in Philadelphia in 1748, for he was a founder
of the St. Andrew’s Society of that city in 1749, and subsequently was
elected Vice-President in 1751. He must have removed to New York City
about 1755, for he became one of the founders and the first
Vice-President of Saint Andrew’s Society of the State of New York in
1756, and was elected President in 1757. Undoubtedly his association as
a founder of the Philadelphia society led him to establish a like
society in New York, and the fact that the early Constitution of the New
York society was taken from that of the Philadelphia society is strong
evidence of Dr. Thomson’s leadership in the foundation of this ancient
and honorable organization.
Some further facts
concerning him may be learned from his will, which was dated the 16th
September, 1767, and proved and recorded in the New York County
Surrogate’s Office on the 26th September, 1767. In this instrument he
writes himself “of Upper Marlborough, Province of Maryland, and mentions
one Alexander Skinner, son of Ann Skinner, of the Province of Maryland;
one Andrew Thomson, son of Thomasina Furnis; one James Thomson, son of
Rosanna Ryley; to all of whom he leaves certain legacies. He wills the
rest of his estate to his daughters, Alice Corbett Thomson and Mary Lee
Thomson, naming as executors, his wife, Lettice Thomson, of the Province
of Maryland, Thomas White, of the City of New York, merchant, and Peter
Middleton, of the City of New York, Doctor of Physick.
A prolonged search for
any of his descendents living at the present time and for a portrait has
been made, but without success. |
