408. 
have been inoculated, who have all 
done well; and thus I may say I 
have been the means of inoculating 
10,000 ; so that, on the average of 
one in six dying, I have had the 
happiness to preserve the lives» of 
about 1600 of his majesty’s sub- 
jects. Strange to tell, there are per- 
sons, and those too men of breed- 
ing and education. which ought to 
have taught them better things ; me- 
dical men, who, to raise themselves 
from oblivion, would wish to rise to 
fame on the ruins of this benevolent 
institution, and by the continuance 
of one of the greatest scourges wilh 
which human nature was ever afflic- 
ted. ‘hese men, I am sorry to say, 
circulate the grossest misrepresenta- 
tions and falsehoods against vacci- 
nation, through the medium of low 
and illiberal pamphlets. One of 
these redoubtable authors has told 
us, in the effervescence of his wis- 
dom, ‘that vaccination may be 
performed as well by a fool as a phi- 
losopher.?. ‘The number of men 
who die annually of the small pox 
in this kingdom would man three 
ships of the line, form three regi- 
ments, or turn into the fields so 
many hundreds of stout labourers. 
What a consideration !” 
The health of Dr. Jenner having 
been enthusiastically given ; he thus 
addressed the company : ** Gentle- 
men, I beg leave to offer you my 
most sincere thanks for the honour 
you have done me in drinking my 
health, and for the very flattering 
manner in which that honour has 
been conferred. After the very ani- 
mated speech of his royal highness 
the duke of York, our illustrious 
chairman, on the subject of vaccina~ 
tion, and the very important infor- 
mation conveyed to us in the ad- 
mirable oration of my worthy friend 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1806. 
Dr. Lettsom, but little remains for 
me tosay on the subject. I can- 
not, however, sit down without in- 
forming you that I continue to re- 
ceive from every quarter of the 
globe the most agrceable informa- 
tion respecting the progress of vac- 
cination ; and these accounts have 
been equally satisfactory from what- 
ever quarter they have arrived. I 
can safely aver, it would be difficult 
to point outaspot, however remote, 
where its influence has not been felt. 
It has pervaded all parts of the civi- 
lized world, from the north to the 
south ; from the Ganges to the Mis- 
sissippi. But, gentlemen, while I 
exultingly communicate this intelli- 
gence, equally flattering to your 
feelings as to mine, itis a matter of 
great regret to me, that here, in this 
metropolis, in the very centre of the 
British empire, vaccination proceeds 
with a comparatively languid and 
tardy step. To what cause, gen- 
tlemen, can this be ascribed? You 
will ascribe it to no other than the 
insidious effects of afew interested 
individuals, who, by distributing 
their delusive papers, have too well 
succeeded in contaminating the minds 
of the lower orders of society. I 
will not suffer myself to believe that 
these effects have been extended be- 
yond this class; and to those who 
know something of the nature of 
the human mind, how poor must 
their triumph appear !—Hitherto I 
have avoided taking any public no- 
tice of the publications alluded to: 
I have no reason to regret it, as the 
task of refutation has been so ably 
performed by many enlightened and 
philanthropic individuals, both in 
and out of the profession. But, 
gentlemen, a charge of a specific 
nature having been brought forth in 
one of these productions, wherein I 
am 
