132 



INOCULATION. 



Vwwluiu phenomena of physiological and pathological science, 

 luocaUtion. an ,j therefore becomes interesting, both in a scientific 

 *^V**' a nd a practical vi.-w. \Ve do not know all the causes 

 of the differences in degrees of mildness of the same dis- 

 ease. Physicians are most generally inclined to ascribe 

 them to previous differences in the state of the consti- 

 tution of the person affected. It could not have been 

 concluded, and scarcely even surmised ct priori, that a 

 difference in the mode in which the morbific matter was 

 applied, would have in this respect any marked effect. 

 Far less could it have been supposed, that matter, in a 

 fixed and moist state, brought in contact with an expo- 

 sed living part, would have produced a disease milder 

 than that which is generated by dry contagion, casual- 

 ly applied to the cuticle or volatile effluvia inhaled in 

 respiration. These points of doctrine are only known 

 in consequence of continual experience. It might be ex- 

 pected, that some extension of the knowledge of this law 

 of contagion might enable us to insure to the attendants 

 of the sick, a mild, rather than a severe form of other 

 contagious diseases, where one or the other is unavoid- 

 able; but as yet we know nothing more than the gross 

 facts connected with inoculation as actually practised. 

 Even a plausible rationale of the well known result is 

 a desideratum in medical science. It might be ascri- 

 bed to the minuteness of the quantity of matter introdu- 

 ced ; but this is hardly a probable theory, and does not 

 seem in perfect accordance with some other facts at- 

 tending the communication of contagious diseases. But 

 it is highly satisfactory to find, that the beneficial ef- 

 fects of inoculation are so undoubted and so extensive in 

 exempting society from the incursions of one of the most 

 desolating diseases, or reducing the mortality of it with- 

 in an incomparably narrower compass. It will, there- 

 fore, be interesting to take a retrospect of the history 

 of this valuable discovery. 



Origin of The small-pox had prevailed for several centuries in 

 small-pox, civilized Europe, before inoculation was generally 

 known. It is not, however, one of the most ancient 

 diseases. It was not known to Hippocrates, nor any 

 of the old Greek or Roman authors. It is first men- 

 tioned by the Arabians after the establishment of the 

 Mahomedan religion. The mode and principles of 

 its production must, like all other points of the same 

 kind, remain to us unknown, and the formation of con- 

 jectures on such a subject is a fruitless application of 

 inventive genius. The existence of it cannot be traced 

 farther back than to the siege of Alexandria in 640. 

 But whether it originated among the besieged Egyp- 

 tians or their Arabian invaders is not known. We 

 are indeed told that traces of it have been found in some 

 Chinese writings of much more ancient date, and 

 also in some of the sacred books of the Gentoos ; but 

 these accounts ai'e too general to prove the high anti- 

 quity of the disease, and are equally unworthy of con- 

 fidence with the fanciful comments by which a similar 

 testimony has been extorted from the Jewish writers. 

 The only accounts worthy of being listened to are 

 those in which this disease is said to have attacked 

 the army of the Arabian and Abyssinian Christians at 

 the siege of the pagan city of Mecca, in 522, about the 

 time of the birth of Mahomet. But it was certainly 

 unknown to the most intelligent writers till the siege 

 Progress of of Alexandria by the Saracens. The history of its sub- 

 thu disease, sequent ravages was but imperfectly recorded. We 

 only find occasional traces of them. Circumstances of 

 that kind are often omitted in the historical page, but 

 we have enough to show that this was one of the most 

 formidable diseases to which society was exposed. Many 



persons of distinction are casually mentioned as .having 

 fallen victims to it. The time oi' its first introduction 

 into Britain is not precisely known, but both, here, and 

 in every other country, it has been peculiarly destruc- 

 tive when it made its first appearance. It is said to have 

 been imported to Europe by the crusaders ; but it appears 

 to have been of much earlier introduction. In 1520, 

 it first visited some provinces of South America, and 

 proved fatal to one half of the inhabitants. In Europe 

 it continued to be, till the last century, the principal 

 risk to which human life was exposed at an early age. 



About that time the practice of inoculation fi'rst ex- 

 cited public attention. But this preventive had been 

 previously known and resorted to in confined districts 

 in different countries. The discovery of it v must have 

 been entirely fortuitous, and it is probable that the 

 want of any analogy between its effects and all the facts 

 previously known, prevented the attention of medical 

 men from being duly directed to it. Hence it was for 

 several ages under the management of poor old women, 

 and other ignorant persons. After inoculation had been 

 introduced into London in 172-t, and excited much ge- 

 neral conversation as a foreign invention, it was found, 

 (to the great surprise of the learned,) that it had been 

 known in South Wales as far back as tradition could be 

 traced. And it was a remarkable circumstance, that it 

 had been there communicated artificially, under the de- 

 nomination of buying the small-pox, exactly in the same 

 manner as in Africa and Turkey. When thus bought, a 

 quantity of the matter was rubbed on the skin, or inserted 

 by pins infected with it. Sometimes dry variolous crusts 

 were held in the palm of the hand. In the Highlands 

 of Scotland it was artificially communicated for many 

 ages, by tying worsted threads contaminated with the 

 matter round the wrists of children ; and it was super- 

 stitiously imagined that it would not produce the de- 

 sired effect unless purchased for a piece of money, or 

 some other article, however trifling, in exchange. This 

 was the case in different parts of Italy, France, Ger- 

 many, Denmark, and Sweden. In China it seems to 

 have been practised for more than 200 years, and still 

 longer in Hindostan. The Chinese performed inoculation 

 by introducing dried pustules with arornatics into the 

 nostrils,a method less successful than that which has been 

 in general use in other countries. In Hindostan this 

 operation was practised by a particular tribe of Brahmins, 

 by means of a slight pnncture, over which they tied a 

 rag impregnated with variolous matter, accompanying 

 the operation with superstitious observances. 



In 1701, inoculation having been previously in fre- 

 quent use among the poor Greeks of European Turkey, 

 was adopted by the higher classes in consequence of a 

 very mortal small-pox which then prevailed, at Con- 

 stantinople. The knowledge of this fact was circu- 

 lated in England in 1716, by a paper from Pylarini, 

 published in the Philosophical Transactions, and by 

 Mr. Kennedy, in an essay on external remedies. ' But 

 the subject was more generally impressed on the public 

 mind by one of the letters of Lady Mary Wortley 

 Montague, written from Adrianople, for the purpose of 

 introducing this useful invention into her native coun- 

 try. That celebrated lady had the operation performed 

 on her own son. It was in 1721 that it was first at- 

 tempted among persons of education in England. Dr. 

 Jacob de Castro and Dr. Harris exerted themselves to 

 recommend it. We must, however, consider the la- 

 dy now mentioned as having the chief merit of the 

 introduction of inoculation into Britain. It did not 

 meet with a ready adoption among the generality of 



Variolou 

 Inoculatio 



History of 



variolous 



inoculation. 



Introduce 

 from Tur- 

 key. 



Lady SI. W. 

 Montague. 



