EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY MEDICINE 



credit to the closing decade of the eighteenth century 

 a discovery which, in its power of direct and immediate 

 benefit to humanity, surpasses any other discovery of 

 this or any previous epoch. Needless to say, I refer to 

 Jenner's discovery of the method of preventing small- 

 pox by inoculation with the virus of cow-pox. It de- 

 tracts nothing from the merit of this discovery to say 

 that the preventive power of accidental inoculation 

 had long been rumored among the peasantry of Eng- 

 land. Such vague, unavailing half -knowledge is often 

 the forerunner of fruitful discovery. 



To all intents and purposes Jenner's discovery was 

 original and unique. Nor, considered as a perfect 

 method, was it in any sense an accident. It was a 

 triumph of experimental science. The discoverer was 

 no novice in scientific investigation, but a trained ob- 

 server, who had served a long apprenticeship in scien- 

 tific observation under no less a scientist than the cele- 

 brated John Hunter. At the age of twenty-one Jenner 

 had gone to London to pursue his medical studies, and 

 soon after he proved himself so worthy a pupil that 

 for two years he remained a member of Hunter's house- 

 hold as his favorite pupil. His taste for science and 

 natural history soon attracted the attention of Sir 

 Joseph Banks, who intrusted him with the preparation 

 of the zoological specimens brought back by Captain 

 Cook's expedition in 1 7 7 1 . He performed this task so 

 well that he was offered the position of naturalist to 

 the second expedition, but declined it, preferring to 

 take up the practice of his profession in his native town 

 of Berkeley. 



His many accomplishments and genial personality 



191 



