ABSTRACT
Thomas Hunt greatest contribution to medicine perhaps came in 1846 whereby he pioneered a new plan for the advancement of medical sciences submitted to the South Eastern Branch of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association at its annual meeting. In Hunt’s report ‘Memoir on the medicinal action of arsenic’ a questionnaire had been sent out to association members and also non-members. Hunt was one of the more vocal supporters for the use of arsenic in medical practice in the nineteenth century. He argued that discreet use of the substance could have a place in the treatment of skin diseases, neuralgia, syphilis and cancer to name a few. Hunt was an active member of the Epidemiological Society and stood in a position of high standing by acting as the Medical Officer of Health in the district of St. Giles, in which he resided.
