EDWARD JENNER 149 



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

 It is an inflammation and swelling in 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 

 undergone the modification which 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 Dairy-maids, 

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

 feel its unpleasant consequences. This disease has obtained the name 

 of the 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 erysipelatous inflammation. These pus- 

 tules, 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. In- 

 flamed 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 appear- 

 ance of the small vesications produced by a burn. Most commonly 

 they appear about the joints of the fingers, and at their extremities; 

 but whatever parts are affected, if the situation will admit, these super- 

 ficial suppurations put on a circular form, with their edges more ele- 

 vated than their centre, and of a colour distantly approaching to blue. 

 Absorption takes place, and tumours appear in each axilla. The 

 system becomes affected — the pulse is quickened ; and shiverings, 

 with general lassitude and pains about the loins and limbs, with vomit- 

 ing, come on. The head is painful, and the patient is now and then 

 even affected with delirium. These symptoms, varying in their de- 

 grees of violence, generally continue from one day to three or four, 



