VOL. XXIxJ PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 207 



ance but small, and most of them but of few minutes in diameter ; yet since 

 they are among the fixed stars, that is, since they have no annual parallax, they 

 cannot fail to occupy spaces immensely great, and perhaps not less than our 

 whole solar system. In all these so vast spaces it should seem that there is a 

 perpetual uninterrupted day, which may furnish matter of speculation, as well 

 to the curious naturalist as to the astronomer. 



A New and safe Method of communicating the Small-pox by Inoculation, lately 

 invented and brought into use. By Jacob Pylarini* M. D. formerly Venetian. 

 Consul at Smyrna. N° 347, p. SQS. Translated and Abridged from the 

 Latin. 



This paper gives an account of a medical operation not less astonishing (says 

 the author) in regard to its discovery, than for the consequences that result 

 from it ; an operation invented not by persons conversant in philosophy or 

 skilled in physic, but by a vulgar, illiterate people; an operation in the highest 

 degree beneficial to the human race, inasmuch as it converts a violent and 

 dangerous disorder into a mild one. The name of the person who invented this 

 method is unknown; but it is very certain that it was first practised in Greece, 

 and particularly in Thessaly ; and being gradually introduced into the neigh- 

 bouring places, at length it found its way to Constantinople ; where however 

 for some years only a few persons, among the lower orders of people, now and 

 then made trial of it. But latterly, when the small-pox raged epidemically, it 

 began to be more resorted to. Still however it was not introduced into the 

 families of the great, until a certain Greek nobleman, with whom the author 

 was in habits of friendship, towards the end of the winter 1701, applied to him 

 for his opinion of this inoculation, and desired to know whether he would 

 undertake to perform the operation upon his 4 sons; for at that time the small- 

 pox was making dreadful ravages. The author told him he was at a loss to de- 

 cide upon a mode of practice, concerning which he had hitherto had no experi- 

 ence; and that he should wish to have some conversation with a person who 



* Jacob Pylarini is said to have been descended from a noble family, and to have been bom in 

 the island of Caphalonia in 16.59. He studied at Padua, first the law, and afterwards physic. 

 When he had taken his degree of M. D., he set out upon his travels, in the course of which he 

 visited different parts of Asia and Africa, and practised both at Smyrna and Constantinople. He 

 afterwards went to Moscow, where he was appointed physician to the Czar. But being fond of 

 change, he removed from thence to Smyrna for the second time, and resided there in the character 

 of Venetian Consul as well as practising physician. He died at Padua in 1718. He and Timoni 

 appear to be the first who published in Europe an account of the inoculation of the small-pox, 

 as practised among the modern Greeks, This account was also published by the author, in the 

 form of a separate tract, in l2mo. Venice, 1715. 



