In her valuable history of the arrival of the news of etherisation in Australia and its implementation by many doctors and dentists, titled One Grand Chain, the late Dr Gwen Wilson asserted that the dentist and the doctor who pioneered etherisation in Australia, Belisario and Pugh… were charged by the authorities with possession of an illicit still”. This paper examines the evidence for the truth or otherwise of this assertion, in relation to Dr Pugh.
WilsonG.J.One Grand Chain: The History of Anaesthesia in Australia 1846–1962. Vol I 1846–1934. Thirlwell JonesJ. editor. Melbourne: Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists; 1995. p. 67.
The Lieutenant-Governor's address to the Legislative Council. Launceston Advertiser. p. 3, [cited 2014 April 22]. Available from: <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article84755746>.
4.
An Act for the Regulation of Distilleries. Hobart Town Gazette.1836 May 27. pp. 399–412.
Archives Office of Tasmania. CSO 8/120, Reel Z1997.
7.
An Act to prohibit Distillation within the Island of Van Diemen's Land. Hobart Town Gazette.1838 Dec 14. pp. 1154–1158.
8.
Launceston Examiner, 1842 April 30. p. 5.
9.
StrzeleckiP.On certain varieties of Australian coal. In: The Tasmanian Journal of natural science, agriculture, statistics &c.Tasmania: Henry Dowling Stationer1842. Vol I, p. 190
10.
StrzeleckiP.E.Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land.Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, London1845; p. 131.
11.
Pugh to Colonial Secretary.1849 Oct 12. Pp. 102–104. Archives Office of Tasmania. CSO1/116/3826.
12.
Eardley Wilmot to Bicheno. Memo. 1849 Oct 15. p. 10. Archives Office of Tasmania. CSO1/116/3826.
13.
Bicheno to Pugh. Correspondence. 1849 Oct 16. p. 107. Archives Office of Tasmania. CSO1/116/3826.
