the result was that, in striving to overdo, he ended in doing nothing, decamped to Adelaide, in the course of years returning to Melbourne, and dying obscurely in a remote corner of the colony.* P. CUSSEN, the first appointed Government Medical Officer in Melbourne, was familiarly known as " Old Cussen," a painstaking, indefatigable official, though in reality there was m u c h more fuss than real work in him. Like all his successors, he had a wearying, worrying time of it, yet he clung to his scantily-paid billet from 1837 to 1849, when he died, and was succeeded by Dr. Sullivan (since dead). In the course of 1882 a controversy was raised in the Melbourne Press as to w h o was thefirstPublic Vaccinator in the colony. A certain medical gentleman claimed to be so, but on very erroneous grounds, for there can be no question that Dr. Cussen was such. T h efirstofficial notice on the subject is a communication signed " E . Deas Thomson," the Colonial Secretary of N e w South Wales, dated "Colonial Secretary's Office, Sydney, 29th July, 1839," and published in the Government Gazette of the period. It thus c o m m e n c e s — " In order to avert the calamities which must necessarily follow if the small-pox be introduced into the colony, and to keep up a constant supply of vaccine lymph, His Excellency the Governor directs it to be notified that children will receive vaccination gratis if taken to any of the public hospitals, or colonial surgeons throughout the colony every Tuesday, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon," & c , &c. N o other deduction can reasonably be drawn from this extract than that the performance of public vaccination was amongst the duties assigned to colonial surgeons. It was so performed without any question for m a n y years by the class of officers referred to, until subsequent special legislation m a d e provision for public vaccinators. There were two medical "Davids," staunch pillars of the Presbyterian Church, in 1840. Dr. David Patrick was an elder, and Dr. David E. Wilkie one of the managers. Patrick combined the worldly offices of a grower of wool and a curer of men, accomplishing the former at a place called Cathkin, on the Goulburn River, and attending to the latter in a surgery in Russell Street; but his colonial career was not a long one, and his death was m u c h regretted. Wilkie was one of the best-known practitioners, and had perhaps the largest run of lucrative business of any of them. In other respects he was a useful citizen, and went into political life some years later, representing the Eastern Province in the Legislative Council, of which he was once Chairman of Committees. But his status as a politician never approached that of the physician ; and the one grand mistake of his life was his donning the robe of a Soothsayer, and predicting as positively as did Dr. C u m m i n g the early approach of the Millennium, that the Y a n Yean as a means of a water supply for Melbourne would be an utter failure. Both the doctors survived the futility of their confident predictions. Dr. Wilkie lived for many a long year amongst us, and no doubt, on a hot-wind day, enjoyed thefilteredbeverage of Y a n Yean as much as any other thirsty person. H e died in Paris, April, 1885, during a visit to Europe. DR.
F. M'CRAE was another squatting doctor, with a good professional prospect, but he dabbled a good deal in stations and politics, ultimately transferring himself to Sydney, where he died (20th April, 1850), at the comparatively early age of 43.
DR.
after a short partnership with Barry Cotter, started for himself, and for some time had only a moderate practice; but he was a quiet, mildly-mannered m a n , w h o patiently bided his time, and the time came when no practice in Melbourne exceeded his. H e was the first physician to the Jews, thereby securing an advantage of no small account; and on he went upward, until, professionally, there was not m u c h further for him to go. H e was a general favourite with his patients
DR. ARTHUR O'MULLANE,
- Subsequent to the publication of the above, I received the following from a correspondent, M r . F. M . D. Cotter, which, in satisfaction to - .v.™' V P P ci t h o ."S h ' d ? not necessarily endorse the correctness of his statement, or imply the incorrectness of m y own :-Dr. Cotter, in the early part of 1840, in notifying his having entered into partnership with Dr. O'Mullane, states it is not his intention to take an active part in practising his profession. In the same year he volunteered, and his services were accepted, to take charge of the quarantined passengers of the fever ship (so-called) Glen Huntly, his medical report appearing in the Press up to the time of the release from quarantine in 1841. 1 X "?™ sufficiently successful in his affairs to allow of his returning to the old country, his intended departure being advertised in connection with the sale of his effects. H e held a large interest in Wilson and Co., as also city property, and left power of attorney for the administration of his affairs in his absence from the colony. During his absence at home great depreciation in the value of property, and consequently large failures, took place; and on his return to the colony in 1843, to look after his interests, he found himself bereft of all his proper!) and ruined, his attempts to recover something from the wreck being ineffectual, the affairs of the persons having turned insolvent being so mixed up in each other. Dr. Cotter subsequently removed to N e w South Wales, where he practiced his profession for m a n y years.-[THE A U T H O R ] .
