148 Life of T)t, Jeiiner. 



the world one of its gi-eatest calamities, blended with the fond hope of 

 enjoying independence and domestic peace and happiness, was often so 

 excessive that, in pursuing my favourite subject among the meadows, 

 I have sometimes found myself in a kind of reverie. It is pleasant 

 to me to recollect that these reflections always ended in devout ac- 

 knowledgments to that Being from whom this and all other mercies 

 flow."— (p. 140.) 



The 14th of May, 1796, is usually assigned as the birth-day 

 of vaccination. At Berlin, it is still annually celebrated. 

 On that day, James Phipps, a boy eight years old, was 

 vaccinated by Dr. Jenner ; on the first of July following, 

 he was inoculated with small- pox. We give the rest in the 

 words of Jenner himself : " Listen now to the most de- 

 lightful part of my story. The boy has been inoculated for 

 the small-pox, which, as I ventured to predict, produced no 

 effect ; I shall now pursue my experiments with redoubled 

 ardour." Most zealously, indeed, did he follow up this 

 auspicious beginning. Early in 1798, another opportunity 

 occurred of j)ursuing his inquiries, and he now prepared 

 for publication. Dr. Baron is silent as to the cause of the 

 non-appearance of his paper among the * Transactions of the 

 Royal Society ; ' the deficiency, however, is supplied by 

 Mr. Moore in his History of Vaccination, (p. 20.) He was 

 admonished not to present it, lest it should injure the credit 

 he had established for himself among scientific men by his 

 Essay on the Cuckoo ! Tlie work, having first been care- 

 fully scrutinized by a knot of his intimate associates, was at 

 length published, about the end of June, 1798. It was 

 entitled '' An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the 

 Variolae Vaccinae, a Disease discovered in some of the Wes- 

 tern Counties of England, particularly Gloucestershire, and 

 known by the name of the Cow-pox." The object of the 

 work was two-fold. First, to announce the security against 

 small-pox which the true cow-pox gives ; and secondly, to 

 trace the origin of that disease in the cow, to a similar 

 affection of the heel of the horse. An unassuming tone 

 pervades this first Essay on Vaccination which is very 

 striking. The author modestly suggests the probability of 

 its usefulness in certain cases which he points out, but he 

 never hints at the idea of its ultimately exterminating the 

 small-pox. 



The late Mr. Cline, a steady friend and admirer of 

 Jenner, who had corresponded with him, several years be- 

 fore, on the subject of cow-pox, was the first person in 

 London who adopted the new practice. Two months prior 

 to the publication of his book. Dr. Jenner came to town, 



