William Douglass
William Douglass was an influential eighteenth-century Scottish physician, cartographer, and historian born in 1691. He educated himself at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Utrecht, earning a degree in medicine in 1712. Douglass began his medical career in Bristol, England, before relocating to Boston in 1719, where he became the only licensed physician and established a successful medical practice. Alongside his medical work, he engaged in various intellectual pursuits, including botany, geographical surveying, and historical documentation, resulting in notable publications like "Plan of the British Dominions of New England" and "A Summary, Historical and Political, of the First Planting." Douglass became embroiled in a significant controversy regarding smallpox inoculation during an outbreak in 1721, opposing the practice vehemently, which placed him at odds with other prominent figures such as Cotton Mather. Over time, as another smallpox outbreak occurred in 1752, Douglass reversed his stance on inoculation and apologized to his contemporaries. He passed away that same year, with the cause of death presumed to be related to smallpox, marking the end of a complex and impactful career in medicine and scholarship.
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William Douglass
- Born: 1691
- Birthplace: Gifford, Haddington County, Scotland
- Died: October 21, 1752
Biography
William Douglass, an eighteenth century physician, cartographer, and historian, was born in the lowlands of Scotland in 1691. He received his master’s degree at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and then studied in France and England. In 1712, he received his degree in medicine from the University of Utrecht in Netherlands.
Douglass began his career by practicing medicine in Bristol, England; however, in 1719, on advice from a friend, Douglass moved to the British settlements in North America and settled in Boston. As the only degreed doctor in Boston, Douglas established a lucrative medical practice. In addition to practicing medicine, Douglas pursued several intellectual activities including botany, geographical surveying, map making, and historical documentation. These interests manifested themselves in two published works: Plan of the British Dominions of New England (1753), a two-volume map which documented all of southern New England, and A Summary, Historical and Political, of the First Planting, Progressive Improvements, and Present State of the British Settlements in North America (1747). The latter work was Douglass’s attempt to record an account of the British colonies in North America from the fifteenth century to his own time. The work, full of inaccuracies, was left incomplete at the time of his death.
In 1721, Douglass’s intellectual pursuits were thwarted by his professional obligations when small pox came to Boston after the British vessel Seahorse docked in Boston Harbor. The arrival of the small pox epidemic sparked a widely debated controversy over small pox inoculation. Douglass vehemently objected to small pox vaccination, and as Boston’s only licensed physician, served as the outspoken leader of Bostonians who condemned inoculation as a heathen practice. Douglass’s position against inoculation placed him in debate with Cotton Mather, a well respected clergyman, and Zabdiel Boylston, a trained but uneducated doctor. Despite threats of imprisonment, Boylston proceeded to inoculate the majority of Boston’s population. He kept meticulous records and eventually these records proved the safety and success of small pox inoculation.
In his later years, Douglass focused more on writing than on his medical practice. In 1752, another outbreak of small pox returned to Boston. This time around, Douglass recanted his initial objection to inoculation and issued an apology to Mather and Boylston. Coincidently, that very same year, William Douglass died. His cause of death is undocumented but it is presumed that he died of small pox infection.