INOCULATION. 103 



means of adding to the mortality ; for it appears, by 

 the statistic records, that the deaths from small-pox, 

 which for ten years, six before and fom* after the 

 fonnding of the hospital, had averaged 72i in every 

 1000, rose during the next ten years to 103, and 

 in the next to 111. We have thought that these 

 particulars, although they do not bear immediately on 

 our subject, would be both interesting and instructive, 

 as they plainly indicate the power of inoculation to 

 spread a loathsome and dangerous malady, notwith- 

 standing fewer lives may be directly sacrificed by it 

 than by the natural small-pox. 



According to Hurtrel D'Arboval, the inoculation or 

 ovination of sheep was proposed by Chalette in 1762, 

 by Bourgelat in 1765, and by Coste in 1797. The 

 operation is usually performed by surgeons or veteri- 

 nary surgeons, and occasionally by agriculturists : its 

 general adoption is strenuously recommended by con- 

 tinental authorities, and it appears to be annually had 

 recourse to in many parts of Italy, Prussia, Austria, 

 and France. Captain Carr, in the treatise previously 

 quoted, observes that " an immediate resort to inocu- 

 lation will not only generally rescue nine-tenths of the 

 still unaffected sheep from all dangerous attacks, but 

 often liiijhten the disorder to even those individuals of 

 the flock on which symptoms of disease had already 

 manifested themselves." And he further adds, that 

 " about seven years ago I heard of the disease having 

 appeared in this neighbourhood, and resolved at once 

 to try inoculation, of the good effects of which I had 

 both read and heard from credible sources. On close 

 examination of the flock, a few sheep were found to be 

 already infected. These were, however, along with all 



