Inaugural address to the Epidemiological Society, delivered on November 3, 1880 / by Sir Joseph Fayrer.

  • Joseph Fayrer
Date:
[1880]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Inaugural address to the Epidemiological Society, delivered on November 3, 1880 / by Sir Joseph Fayrer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    S<j 3 honoured name has disappeared from their rolls; but I doubt if any have suffered, in proportion to their numbers, so much as we have, in the loss of Dr. E. C. Seaton, Mr. H. Leach, and Dr. E. Goodeve. Dr. Edward Cator Seaton was one of the founders and presidents of our Society, and it was during his early connexion with it that he commenced the researches into the subject of vaccination and small-pox which are embodied in his valuable reports, and ultimately led to that important measure, the Compulsory Vaccination Act of 1853.. It is in connexion with this that his name has attained a wide reputation, for certainly no one has done more towards promoting the diffusion of Jenner’s great dis- covery, and in systematising the methods by which it has been so largely extended to the people. His writings on vaccination and small-pox are well known as authoritative works on the subject, in regard to which his name will stand on record as that of a public benefactor. Dr. Seaton's public services were not confined to his efforts in respect of vaccination. As an inspector under the General Board of Health, he was much interested in, and actively con- cerned himself with, other sanitary subjects ’; and his selec- tion as the British representative at the Sanitary Conference held at. Vienna in 1874, of which he made a valuable report, bears witness to the esteem in which he was held as a sani- tary authority. In 1876 he succeeded Mr. Simon, C.B., as Medical Officer to the Local Government Board, to which he had previously been Assistant Medical Officer. His extensive knowledge of sanitary science, his administrative capacity and sound judg ment, made him a peculiarly fitting successor to his distinguished predecessor. Dr. Seaton enjoyed good health until a year or so after he became Medical Officer to the Local Government Board, when signs of impairment ap- peared. The duties, which were v.ery arduous, had severely taxed his strength, but he continued to perform them for a year longer, when his medical adviser deemed it expedient to enjoin rest and change, which advice he prepared to follow. About this time a severe domestic affliction made a deep and profound impression on him, and must have aggravated the depression of his general health. He returned to work, however, in June, feeling anxious to resume duties in which he might find that solace which perhaps is the best remedy for such a sorrow. Some improvement in his health followed, but it was only transient, for in the following October, when on a visit in Warwickshire, he was seized with an attack of hemiplegia, from which he partially re- covered, and hopes were entertained that his valuable life would be prolonged; but they proved illusory, for he sank under a second attack on January 21, 1880, in the sixty- fourth year of his age, deeply lamented by his family and by a large circle of friends. I had only recently made his acquaintance, but was, as others must have been, much attracted by his gentle and courteous manner and bearing ; and felt that in him we had lost a sterling friend, the public a learned physician and sanitarian, and the Government a valuable officer,—would that I could have added that the public recognition to which his services eminently entitled him had been accorded ! His valuable life closed too soon, but not too soon to have left an example which those who follow in the walk of life to which he devoted himself may feel pride in attempting to imitate.
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