56 Letter from Dr. Thornton on the Coic-Pox. 



I observed three distinct kinds of scabs*, and her history 

 deserves also consideration. On the I3th of Sept. Mary 

 Hodges fell ill. Before that she had been with her sister, 

 and was daily playing with tlie children in the court. The 

 fever and delirium was great ; and Mr. Wachsel, apothecary 

 to the Smal!-Pox Hospitai, saw the patient, as the eruption 

 was appearing, on the Tuesday and Wednesday ; and when 

 he came on the Tuesday following he said *' he never was so 

 amazed as to find the child alive, and to observe such a 

 mild progress of the disease." He then told Mr. Morgan, 

 '' that he now somewhat altered his opinion about this being 

 certainly sinall-pox." Every one will call, with me, to mind 



* The occasion of my seeing thesf children in Fulvvood's Rents aros? 

 from the following letter : 



" Cc'ntral Housr, Saliibiiry Sqtiarf ; 24., ix, 1S04.. 



" John Walker, resident inoculator, feels it incumbtnt upon him tq 

 make the following communication to all the medical gentlemen of the. 

 Royal Jenneriiin Society; 



" In Fulwood's Re'its, Holborn, there have lately fallen some victims 

 to the small-pox ; others have recovered. On two children, in the same 

 family, who had been inoculated for the cow-pox above two years ago, 

 eruptions, supposed to be the small-pox, have appeared. These, in the 

 elder, have passed aw;iy two weeks ago, and scarcely left tJ .'/&iWif or a 

 waiiC behmd ; on the younger a general eruption appeared on the 15th 

 instant, and is now 'pr^uy gc-neraUy pronounced tp be small- pox by a very 

 great number who iiave visited it. Two children have been inocul.nteJ 

 from this subject; one on the 21st, in the evening i the other on the ijd^ 

 in the morning. 



•' Wigham and Morgan, 63, Holborn, inform mc that they expect 

 these two children at their house, together with the two other children, 

 on Wednesday, the 36ih instant, Tit iz o'clock, where they will be glad 

 of the company of all medical gciitlemeu who may think it sufhcientiy 

 interesting to Littend. J. W.'' 



In consequence I went to see the last child, and it was in the state of 

 scab. These struck me upon examination to be of three sorts ; the one 

 the chicken-pox scab ; scab of the eruption from heat, common in the 

 West Indies, and known by the name rcT^ema solare, the pri'duct of he^t j 

 and a third sort, from the contamination of the small-pox virus. (Vide 

 plates to my work entitled *^ Facts decisive.'') These differences I 

 showed to Mr. Wright, surgeon, and others. When the scabs wore 

 off, the skin was not ciiscohurtd-Ai in the ^fw/i-w small-pox. All the pit- 

 tings nearly were circuLir, wot jaggrd'CdgeJ, or the skin underneath fair 

 a.x\i\glossY. The scabs mostly were a light brown colour. Dr. John Walker, 

 vaccire inoculator of the Central Station ; Dr. Hooper, resideni physician 

 to the Marvlebone Infirmary and lecturer on the practiceof physic, equally 

 distinguished for accurate knowledge as experience j Mr. Hurlock, apo- 

 thecary. — all declared '-that they vvould not allow the present to be an 

 instance of t\\e g'nuiKe small-pox," and all agreed " it was a vny svial! 

 sort." By way of argument presently, I have even granted these to be 

 genuine cases of small-pox ; and we shall see how far these, even then, 

 are obiections to vaccination. 



the 



