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Literary and Phihfophical Intelligence. [Nov. 1, 



The Citv-Pex. -—We had conceived 

 that the \alue and iinpoitance of this 

 great dilcovcry hid been iiov too gene- 

 ral. y felt to leave even tor the audacity of 

 empiriciih) any hope cf achieving mil'chief 

 troni milVcpieientntion. Yet on a fudd^^n 

 iomv perfons (whofe authority in matters 

 of truth and fcience in the metropolis, and 

 among thole who know them, is, think 

 God, at a vciy low ebb) have addrefTed 

 the ignorant and unilirpcfting in a man- 

 ner as vulgar as their ohjcCl is pernicious. 

 They announce hew dillsales, the confe- 

 qucnce of the cow-pox, and cales of vari- 

 olous infeftion .-ifter vaceir>at!on i the 

 whole or the chief part of wli>ch we take 

 it upon Gurieives to atiirm nevrr have h:id 

 any txiltence except in their own malignant 

 mind». It win be remembtrtd that ;ifter 

 Galileo had inventel the telefcope, and 

 had afhiaily communic-ited to the world 

 the dilcoverics he had made with ihat 

 inllruiot-nt, certain perfoiis, envious of 

 bis honours, undertook to der.ianlirate, 

 and they aflualiy called mathematics 

 to their aid, that fuch an inlhument 

 as the telelcope was an impofni)le ihing;, 

 and conlequently that all that Galileo had 

 told ihem about Jupiter's Moons, the 

 Phafcs of Venus, and the Spots in the Sun, 

 wereabfoluiefaliehoods! One of thefe oppo- 

 nents ot Galileo actually made zn incomp/eie 

 telelcope, and thus endeavoured to prove 

 to the eye- fight of thofe who liilened to 

 him, that Jupiter's Moons were not to be 

 feen by any fuch inlhumen; ! Nothing can 

 be moie analogous to iht ilate of the quef- 

 tion reljtive to vaccination. Myriaus cf 

 fubjefls in all the quarters of the world 

 have been inoculated with vaccine matter 

 for feveral years pad, and thi'^ (cxperieni e 

 has left one concurring opinion cf irs 

 uniform m'Idnefs and inofFenfivenel's, and 

 of its efficacy as a prefervaiive againll the 

 fmall-pox. Indeed there appears little 

 doubt that, inafmuch as tkts dij'eiife is not 

 contagious, the fmall-pox muft in a fe.v years 

 be completely eradicated. A more impor- 

 tant difcovery certainly was never commu- 

 nicated to the human race ; ai-.d it add* 

 another wreath ol glory to our couniiy, 

 thatJoNNER is an Englifhman ! It niuit 

 be obvious, from the delicaie c'rcum- 

 ftances and numerous qualifications which 

 attend theprucefs ot inoculation generally, 

 and of a new fpecics in particular, that 

 the opponents of the cow-pox need take 

 no gieat credit for ingenuity, in availing 

 themfclves of forne unfavourable rel'.ilts 

 in the infancy of the prailice, which 

 at the fame time are wholly uncon- 

 ne£\ed with the faiutsrir.efs ot eitkavry 



of the difesfe. That a human fu!ijt£l, 

 fliould have a particular diforderhut once, 

 is a point yet unexplained by the piiiiofo- 

 phy of medicine. The ful'ceptibiliiy to 

 fuch difeafrs at one time rather than at 

 another is alfoin a great mcafure unintel- 

 ligible. Thcte are parts of the arcana of 

 nature, tb; knowledge of which would cer- 

 tainly be ufcful and defirable ; but the 

 practice of medicine may noiwithftanding 

 proceed to a certain degree without 

 our undertfanding all the relations of 

 cnufe and effeft. Thus as matter of fa6V 

 Jt was fortunately afcertained that we 

 might ch )cfe our time for coinmunicating 

 the infertion of (mall-pox, and conie- 

 q'lenily abate the virulence of that dif- 

 e-ile. This was a great difcoveiy ; but 

 Dr. Jeriner has carried it iurtlier. He has 

 founa out a lubltitutc which is uniformly 

 mild, which equally prevents the recur- 

 rence, and which ai the fame time is not . 

 cor.lagious. The difficulty attendinjj all 

 inoculation is the l.mie. Our imperfei^l 

 knowledge of nature dots not enable 

 us to chojfe the exacl moment of (uf- 

 ceptibility ; conleq'iently many perfons 

 vviio li.ive been inoculated for the finall- 

 pox, liave imperfcftly t^ken the difaafe, 

 and a.ive afterwards been the vidfiins 

 of a natural attack. Juft'fi, many I'ub- 

 jcfls may have been inoculated for the 

 cow- vox who mav not have been in the 

 requifitt ftate of I'ifceptibility, and may 

 coni'equen ly not have acquired protection. 

 We muil abandon inoculaii.in aitoge- 

 t)ier, and return to the miferies of the 

 natural (mall- pox, or we muft receive it 

 with the flight diiadvantage, that in one 

 cafe out of n'.any thoufands we may be un- 

 ceriain whether it operates as a lure preven- 

 tive. This uncertainty, however, has no 

 particular conneflion with vaccine inocu« 

 lation. It oppofes itlelf equally to va. 

 nolous inoculation ; and the fime un- 

 certain proteilion operates wiih equal 

 force againit the one as the other. Yet 

 the cow pox inoculation it alnjuays mild j 

 fo n:iid as not to be ftit or peiceived in 

 the coiiltitution, and the fmall-pox inocu- 

 lation is often violent, and nut unfrequently 

 fatal I No ptifon can hefitate to decide 

 which to prefer. But tliere is another 

 coniideration o* weight to him who knows 

 his duty to fociety -. that by inoculating 

 for the fmall-pox he engenders and 

 fpreads a contagious diibrder, while, on the 

 contrary, the cow-pox is incommunicable 

 except by means of artilifial inoculation. 

 It cannot however be necelfaryjat this time, 

 to expatiate on the advantages of cow-pox 

 jr.ocuiatlo!), txcept fo far a» io repel the 

 Ulib^rai 



