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Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Moore, James

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1333862Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 38 — Moore, James1894Norman Moore

MOORE, JAMES or JAMES CARRICK (1763–1834), surgeon, second son of Dr. John Moore (1729–1802) [q. v.], was born at Glasgow in 1763, and studied medicine in Edinburgh and London. He published in 1784 'A Method of Preventing or Diminishing Pain in several Operations of Surgery,' in 1789 ' A Dissertation on the Processes of Nature in filling up of Cavities,' and in 1793 'An Essay on the Materia Medica, in which the Theories of the late Dr. Cullen are considered.' In 1792 he became a member of the Corporation of Surgeons of London, and resided in Great Pulteney Street. From 1793 to 1802 he lived in Lower Grosvenor Street, and from 1803 to 1824 in Conduit Street. He was a friend of Edward Jenner [q. v.], and in 1806 wrote two pamphlets in support of vaccination, 'A Reply to the Anti-vaccinists,' and 'Remarks on Mr. Birch's serious Reasons for uniformly objecting to the Practice of Vaccination.' In 1808 Jenner appointed him assistant director of the national vaccine establishment, and in 1809, when Jenner resigned, he became director. In that year, after the death of his brother, Sir John Moore [q. v.], at the battle of Corunna, he published 'A Narrative of the Campaign of the British Army in Spain, commanded by his Excellency Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore, K.B.,' which gives a plain account of the campaign and of his brother's death, with full extracts from the despatches and other official documents. The book is dedicated to his mother. He published in 1834 a fuller account of his brother, 'The Life of Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore,' in three volumes, which is the only one of his works in which his name appears with the addition of Carrick. He describes in it his own visit to the general when on service in Ireland against the rebels in 1798. He became surgeon to the second regiment of life guards, and continued his direction of the vaccine establishment. In 1811 he published 'Two Letters to Dr. Jones on the Composition of the Eau Medicinale d'Husson,' a quack medicine which he had discovered to consist of a spirituous solution of hellebore and opium. He published in 1815 'A History of the Smallpox,' dedicated to Edward Jenner, and in 1817 The History and Practice of Vaccination.' He had in 1809 communicated to the Medical and Chirurgical Society a paper 'On Gouty Concretions or Chalk Stones' (Transactions, i. 112), and seems to have paid much attention to chemistry. In 1825 he retired from practice, and died in 1834.

[R. Anderson's Life of John Moore, M.D., Edinburgh, 1820; Lists of the Corporation and College of Surgeons, 1792-1834, examined by Mr. J. B. Bailey; E. M. Crookshank's Hist, and Pathology of Vaccination, London, 1889, vol. i.; Baron's Life of Jenner; Moore's Works.]