162 Life of Dr. Jenner. 



draw this article to a close. We are afraid we may have 

 already wearied our readers, and find our only hope of par- 

 don in the great interest and paramount importance of the 

 subject. One word, however, byway of peroration. 



In the remarks which we have here ventured to offer on 

 a momentous question, we hope not to be misunderstood. 

 We deprecate the idea of being branded with the name of 

 enemies of vaccination, because we have freely canvassed its 

 merits, and in some instances exposed its weaknesses. If we 

 thought we really incurred such a danger, we would quickly 

 turn the tables upon our readers, and by a description of 

 the horrors of the natural small-pox, drawn, we can hardly 

 say, from the life, but at least, from nature, harrow up 

 their souls, and ** make each particular hair to stand on end, 

 like quills upon the fretful porcupine." We would refer to 

 books, and by a detail of the dreadful miseries which arose 

 out of the general practice of small-pox inoculation, make 

 them rather suffer patiently *' their present ills, than fly to 

 others which they know not of." If we spare our readers 

 these painful recitals, it is upon the understanding, that we 

 are not to be looked upon as the opposers, no, nor even as the 

 lukewarm friends, but as the zealous and firm supporters 

 of vaccination. What then, it may be asked, is the spirit 

 and tendency of our argument? We will answer, in lan- 

 guage which cannot be misunderstood. Our object has been 

 to impress upon the public mind an old fashioned, but very 

 important principle, which somehow or other has been 

 strangely neglected of late, — namely, that we live in a world, 

 in which, for truly wise but often inscrutable purposes, Pro- 

 vidence permits that good and evil should be blended to- 

 gether. We shall not be able to eradicate small-pox, but we 

 have been blessed with several means of lessening its viru- 

 lence. It has been our further design to show, that the 

 study of those means is an intricate and difficult one, and 

 peculiarly the duty of those who follow the profession of 

 physic. 



In conclusion, we earnestly desire to instil into our read- 

 ers a firm reliance upon their professional advisers, in all 

 matters which concern the security of themselves and their 

 families from the small pox. We have attempted to show, 

 and, we trust, have succeeded in proving, that the subject 

 engages the earnest attention of medical men ; and we are 

 deeply impressed with the conviction, that so long as they 

 (with scarcely one dissentient voice) recommend ^ to others, 

 and in their own families practise the inoculation of the 



