APPENDIX G : JENNER 423 



The deviation of Man from the state in which he was originally 

 placed by Nature seems to have proved to him a prolific source of 

 Disease. From the love of splendour, from the indulgences of luxury, 

 and from his fondness for amusement, he has familiarised himself with 

 a great number of animals, which may not originally have been in- 

 tended for his associates. The Wolf, disarmed of ferocity, is now 

 pillowed in the lady's lap. The Cat, the little Tyger of our island, 

 whose natural home is the forest, is equally domesticated and caressed. 

 The Cow, the Hog, the Sheep, and the Horse, are all, for a variety of 

 purposes, brought under his care and dominion. 



There is a disease to which the Horse, from his state of domestica- 

 tion, is frequently subject. The Farriers have termed it the Grease. 

 It is an inflammation and swelling of the heel, from which issues 

 matter possessing properties of a very peculiar kind, which seems 

 capable of generating a disease in the Human Body (after it has under- 

 gone the modification I shall presently speak of), which bears so strong 

 a resemblance to the Small Pox, that I think it highly probable it may 

 be the source of that disease. 



In this Dairy Country a great number of cows are kept, and the 

 office of milking is performed indiscriminately by men and maid 

 servants. One of the former having been appointed to apply dress- 

 ings to the heels of a horse affected with the Grease, and not paying 

 due attention to cleanliness, incautiously bears his part in milking the 

 cows, with some particles of the infectious matter adhering to his 

 fingers. When this is the case, it commonly happens that a disease 

 is communicated to the cows, and from the cows to the dairymaids, 

 which spreads through the farm until most of the cattle and domestics 

 feel its unpleasant consequences. This disease has obtained the name 

 of Cow Pox. It appears on the nipples of the cows in the form of 

 irregular pustules. At their first appearance they are commonly of a 

 palish blue, or rather of a colour somewhat approaching to livid, and 

 are surrounded by an inflammation. These pustules, unless a timely 

 remedy be applied, frequently degenerate into phagedenic ulcers, 

 which prove extremely troublesome. The animals become indisposed, 

 and the secretion of milk is much lessened. Inflamed spots now begin 

 to appear on different parts of the hands of the domestics employed 

 in milking, and sometimes on the wrists, which quickly run on to 

 suppuration, first assuming the appearance of the small vesications 

 produced by a burn. Most commonly they appear about the joints 



