Samuel Smith appears to have been infected by a fatal meme. I am obnoxiously in favor of free speech, but I can't deny ideas can kill in more ways than Chuck Norris.
It is also possible that he was bound for his deathbed regardless, and confused correlation and causation here. Perhaps his desire to taste other people's cancer was an early symptom of some mental decline that had already started?
Doctors of that era, especially those who weren't too keen on hygiene, probably did not have exceptionally great life-spans.
Doctors of that era, especially those who weren't too keen on hygiene, probably did not have exceptionally great life-spans.