INTRODUCTION. 21 



mild attacks that followed inoculation were, however, just 

 as contagious to other persons as the natural disease, so that 

 the dangers of this practice to the community were very 

 great. 



A much better method was found in vaccination. At this 

 time a belief was current among farmers that a mild form 

 of disease, called cow-pox, acquired by milkers, furnished 

 protection against small-pox. This belief was investigated 

 and introduced to the world by Edward Jenner. In 1796 

 he inoculated his first patient with cow-pox. In a few years 

 the practice of vaccination spread to all parts of the world. 1 



It was introduced into the United States by Dr. Benjamin 

 Waterhouse of Harvard. President Thomas Jefferson was 

 active in bringing it into general use especially in the south. 



As early as 1847 Semmelweis of Vienna attributed the 

 origin of puerperal fever to poisons carried by the fingers of 

 physicians and students, whose hands had been soiled in 

 the dissecting room. To this he was led by the death of a 

 friend from pyemia following a dissection-wound. He 

 noted the similarity of the course of his friend's case with 

 cases of puerperal fever. He advocated washing the hands 

 of the attendant in solutions of chlorin or chlorid of lime, 

 in addition to cleansing them with soap and water. 



The cause of puerperal fever was still unknown. En- 

 deavors to connect it with atmospheric influences and the 

 like had been unsuccessful. During the seventeenth and 

 eighteenth centuries it had been attributed to the absorption 

 of milk into the blood from the breasts. Semmelweis stood 

 his ground in spite of opposition and ridicule, though he 

 somewhat modified his doctrine. His views agree substan- 

 tially with the practice of the present day which they have 

 greatly influenced. 



1 See the works of Edward Jenner by Dock, N. Y. Med. Jour., Nov. 

 29 and Dec. 6, 1902 ; also The History of Vaccination, by Dulles, Phila- 

 delphia Medical Journal, May 30, 1903. 



