XX 



EDWARD JENNER 



1749-1823 



Edward Jenner, horn May ly, 1749, at Berkeley, Gloucestershire, 

 England, studied surgery under John Hunter at London, and returned 

 to his native town to practise. Having learned, about 1796, that milk- 

 maids who had caught the cowpox were inimmie from smallpox, 

 he began at once to make investigations and to conduct experiments. 

 This led to his ''Inquiry," published in i/pS, in whicJi he nmde public 

 his theory of vaccination. His discovery created widespread interest, 

 but although the theory at once met with the most virulent criticism, 

 vaccination was soon zmdely accepted. By 1801, ten thousand per- 

 sons were vaccinated in England, and the beneficent results justified 

 its wide adoption. He died of apoplexy, January 26, 182J. 



THE THEORY OF VACCINATION * 



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 

 Diseases. 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 intended 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- 



* From An Inquiry into the Cause and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae. 



148 



