Dr. Ainslie on Small-Pox /and Inoculation in Eastern Countries. 61 



but remembered well the havoc it had then committed. In fact, as far as 

 I can learn, no part of the world, with the exception, perhaps, of some of the 

 smaller lately discovered islands, is now altogether exempt from the evil. 

 In Ceylon* it was often of the worst kind ; in Java (where it is termed 

 ketumbaun), in Sumatra, and in China,t it was terrible ; nor was it less so 

 in the Malayan Peninsula and in all the different Eastern islands. At 

 Banda and Amboina it had been observed to shew itself once in six or seven 

 years ; but, alas ! the visits, " though far between," were generally most 

 baneful in their consequences. 



Inoculation for the small-pox, I should suppose, must have been known 

 and practised, in some provinces of Asia, at a more remote periodi: than we 

 can by any authentic records ascertain ; nor is it a matter of great conse- 

 quence, to obtain any very minute information as to the time. I think it 

 probable that this method of rendering the complaint milder may have been 

 had recourse to in different countries, without any communication what- 

 ever having taken place betwixt them on the subject ; and, in all likelihood, 

 was discovered in each by observing the consequences arising from chance 

 contact, when the pustules were broken : in the same way that the cow-pox 

 was first noticed by milk-maids, or those employed in handling the cows. 

 Many conjectures have been given to the world : Mr. Maty was of opinion, 

 that the regions lying betwixt the Caspian and Euxine seas were the centre 

 from which inoculation spread : for this supposition, however, Dr. Wood- 

 ville§ thinks there are no satisfactory grounds. D'Entrecolles has remarked, 

 that the Tartars were entirely ignorant of it in I72I : and the same author 

 has observed, that in the province of Kean-nan, and in the other eastern parts 

 of China, it is more frequently resorted to than in the western. Whether 

 China or India has the prior claim to the discovery of inoculation, is a point 

 still undetermined. Some Jesuits scruple not to say, that it was from the 

 former transmitted equally to India and to Europe. Again, we learn from 

 Chais's "Essai Apologetique sur la Methode de communiquer la Petite-verolle 

 par Inoculation," as well as from other authorities, that it was practised in 



* See the Rev. J. Cordiner's Description of Ceylon, vol. i. p. 254. 

 f See Dr. Jolm Clark's Diseases of Long Voyages, vol. i. p. 128. 



X See the liev. W. Ward's View of the History, Religion, and Literature of the Hindoos, 

 vol. iv. p. 339. 



§ See his History of Inoculation, vol. i. p. 36. 



