366 ON THE SMALL-POX. 



tiles in the same manner. This has more than once happen- 

 ed to myself since the year 1745, when I had the small- pox 

 in the natural way, and that such local affection is truly va- 

 riolous, the following experiment puts beyond a doubt. 



In July 1768, six valuable Negroes were inoculated from 

 matter taken from a patient in the natural small-pox ; but 

 their arms dried up about the sixth day. As many Negroes 

 on the same estate had that disorder, there was danger of 

 their catching it in the natural way. They were therefore 

 sent to my house to be again inoculated, and to stay till the 

 issue was certain. At that very time I had a large variolous 

 pustule on my left thumb, of seven days" 1 standing. No other 

 infection being at hand, I inoculated the six Negro men from 

 this pustule. The infection took place ; they had the vari- 

 olous fever on the seventh and eighth days, and the eruption 

 appeared in the usual manner. Two of these men had about 

 five hundred pustules, the other four had the disorder more 

 mildly. They returned home quite recovered in sixteen 

 days from their last inoculation. 



London, January 20 1786. 



An account of a singular fact in the practice of Inoculation of the 

 Small-Pox. — By Mr John Dawson, Surgeon at Sedbergh in 

 Yorkshire. Vide Medical Transactions published by the College 

 of Physicians in London, vol. iii. 8vo. London 1785. 



This is the fact alluded to by Dr Wright in the preced- 

 ing article. Mr Dawson having inoculated two children in 

 one family, observed, on the third day, a slight inflammation 

 around the places of incision. On the fifth day the inflamma- 

 tion was considerably increased, and on the eighth it extend- 

 ed nearly to the breadth of half a crown. 



With matter taken from the arms of these children at this 



