Gentlemen of the jury, I make no doubt but you are perfectly convinced that the Prisoner is guiltless of the crimes specified in the indictment. But his accusers, not satisfied with their general charge, have, in the course of their evidence, endeavoured to convict him of dealing with the Devil; they have endeavoured to prove him guilty of witchcraft; they have endeavoured to make you believe, that, by means of a certain medicine, and a magic circle drawn with a pen round the pustules, with the addition of a prayer repeated (backwards I suppose) by his officiating clergyman; I say, they have endeavoured to persuade you, that, by the help of the black art, he is able to make the pustules retire at the word of command. But, gentlemen of the jury, I beg you will remember, that Dr. Dimsdale has clearly explained this matter; he told you, That these supposed pustules were nothing more than a rash, which frequently accompanies the small-pox, and which naturally retires of it’s own accord, without the assistance of the black art, and, consequently, that the Prisoner at the bar is no conjurer.
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.
The Counsel for the Prisoner then recalled Dr. Baker; who declared, that preparing persons for inoculation with calomel, and other purgative medicines, is a common practice; that the success, ascribed to the Prisoner, is not owing to any peculiar virtue in his medicines, but chiefly to the free use of cold air; and that this part of his practice is now very general, and not his own invention.
The next witness was Dr. Kirkpatrick; who testifies, that for many years past he hath been accustomed to prepare his patients in a manner very similar to that of the Prisoner at the bar.
Dr. Gale informed you, that he always prepared his patients with calomel.