INOCULATION. 



137 



. 

 tcrophnla. 



has told the parents that the eruption 

 in with the cow-pox, that the 1 children 

 had i . and ought to be treatetl tor that 



complaint. The parents have taken offence at such an 

 imputation, and remained unshaken in their opinion 

 that t ''I was generated by the cow-pox; and 



ontest has produced a remissness in the 

 use ol remedies, which ended in a permanent liable- 

 new to cutaneous eruptions. We apprehend that such 

 inconveniencies would be avoided, if practitioners would 

 admit the occasional existence of such a sequela ; and, 

 without offending the delicacy of a parent, prescribe, 

 upon this princip'e. the ame remedies which are found 

 effectual in the . w mtntione.l. 



The cow-pox h* been accused of giving origin to 

 the symptoms of scrophula. This accusation we be- 

 lieve to be wholly unfounded. Some have even main- 

 tained that it pow t -rtuliy corrects the tcrophulous diathe- 

 sis, and the one doctrine appear* at least fully as well 

 supported as the other. 



It ha* been remarked by some, that, of late years, the 

 measles have been more dangerous and fatal than in form- 

 f> ; and this Circumstance has been supposed not an 

 ly consequent-. icticeuf the new inocula- 



tion. Till we see further pro f, we cannot acquiesce in 

 this suspicion. Investigation* of such laws of disease, 

 however, are important. Accurate comparative observa 

 hould be made on the varieties of subjects seixed 

 with measles, before we admit any Mich conjecture to 

 poise is the least pU The generally increased 



mortality of measles is in lUelf not well established. It 

 often appeared in the form of a very- fatal > x-for 



wa discovered ; and it is well known that 



cunti ! 



in tlii'. re-pert ' different years, and dif- 



;. ears, differ materially frmn one another. 



. (tetter reason for suspecting the cow-pox of 



exposing tr sail vantages in cooipen- 



sation of tlie protection which it affords, than for attach- 



j 'Utati<in to any article of diet or of medi- 



ation is one of considerable magnitude. 

 Does \ \ to the human 



against small- ; 



i stances, is fully aicer- 



tamed. The evidence* of it re innumerable, and in 

 the individual cases they ire in general absolutely 



jLimit exceptions, however, have own- 

 Reports of tbe-e damped a little the ardour of .1. 

 at an early stige ol his inquiries. Hut, conceiving 

 ; ,rol ulile re wa in this inst.i 



ibourrd to di-cmor the true . ause of failure. 



me circumstances to ha* r 



nuncciMt'iil ca.t. \o v. ; and on 



he established some ditcrnninatin/ marks be- 

 the false *nd the tru- . the iniprrfrrt and lle per. 

 lend the occurrence of febrile 

 iptiimta: essential to the complete 

 patient; and in t :<e was fol- 



ist be jcknow* 



ablr 



d to be 



existence : . . 



- may be a source of n.n- 



ns are at knowledg- 

 ' ; and we ma\ i the 



ieice extended universally over the 

 J* 1 *- a n-h symptoms are produced. 



lulnrss, .ml febrile 



heat, may arise from n local disease, which acts only 

 through thi- medium of sensation, or fugitive irritation. 

 nwtances we add, that a vaccinated sub- 

 ject i .sionally seen by las medical attendant, 



l*AfcT I. 



and that the reports of mothers and nurses are often in- Vaccine 

 fluenced by fancy, by carelessness, or by a wish to Inocula " < "^ 

 please we shall find little satisfaction in trusting to ^ """V 

 febrile symptoms as affording a sure diagnosis. The 

 world is, therefore, under the highest obligations to Mr. Bryce's 

 Mr Bryce of Edinburgh, who, in his treatise on cow- t<?*tofa 

 pox, has proposed a test of a much more ascertainable '<>"'' 

 kind. It consists in making a second insertion of t ' on! " a " ec " 

 the vaccine matter at the end of the fifth day, from the 

 first inoculation, and observing whether this produces 

 .\c of its own, which is smaller than the first, 

 and follows the same stages, but with an accelerated 

 progress, so that the areolie surrounding the two ve- 

 sicles are formed nearly at the same time. These 

 appearances will show that the influence of the ori- 

 ginal inoculation extends beyond the part operated 

 on, so far a* to comprehend the site of the second inser- 

 tion. In order that it may be ascertained to be universal 

 over the >ystem, it may be some improvement to make 

 the second* at a part of the body the most distant pos- 

 sible from the first. By this test, we discover in what 

 instances the modification to which the system is sub- 

 jected is not merely local. Where no effect follows the 

 second insertion, we are uncertain of this fact. If a ve- 

 Mt le i*, produced, but is not modified in iu appearance 

 and progre>s1n a manner different from the usual course 

 of the lir-t in>ertion, we conclude that the constitution 

 has not received the requisite change. This according- 

 ly has sometimes happened where the first vesicle has 

 been accidentally broken. We do not know if it i? even 

 liable to occur where the progress of the I. it u -icle is 

 apparently regular If not, we should conclude that no 

 t< -t. I i- regularity of the local appearances, 



w-iuld continue to be requisite. These important points 

 may be numlxred among the desiderata of this part of 

 pathology. It it rash to infer that this difference would Morepre- 

 have taken place in any particular instance, merely cite infot- 

 btt-au-e we In I the patuiit afterwards seized with ni>t >oii < ! <> 

 small-|>ox. Tint a person who lias passed through uriblt% 



i the most sati -factory manner never can 

 be seised with email-pox, is a principle which ought 

 not to be confidently anticipated, but only inferred af- 

 ter the ainplent expetience. Mr Ilrycr's te.-t is princi- 

 pally to !* valued for the impor u.t unprovt nit lit which 

 It affords in tlie investigation of the Milyict; and for 

 tfca^leu-iii^ light which it throws on the pathology of 

 the animal economy \Vithrr-p.-ct to the advantages 



feet from per- 



ii '- ivri 'i superior 



to th.v -.oms. Such symp- 



toms i .'iiimiition of a 



great central organ, i :icna winch occur in 



itions 



of the mo-t . .res in winch the functions of se- 



cretion and .i--iniil.-irji are active. 



occasional vaccination in se- Influeilctof 



mall-pox has been some- * ticicnciet 



times tliou^ht to arise from ' the manner in which the 1D thc "I" 1 " 

 oper.-r : -iliii med." If tlii- w.-re the case, " DUC *" 



we hould naturally look for -'mt< definite variations of "*" 

 the rul>Mquent etTect-, corre-poiuiing to the deviations 

 from the U-t m.ilod of uiiH-iiiiiting. But there is a 

 looseness in the causes by which the failures are ac- 

 counted for, which shows that something till remains 

 to l>e cxplond 



If tin- \emicle, when ineffectual, were always distin- 



>!jle by its appou-ance, no dubiety could occu'. 



It i tlierifore romewhat satisfactory u be told, that 



" the spurious pustule ii more elevated and opake than 



I 



