156 EDWARD 



began to have sore heels, which Merret frequently attended. 

 The cows soon became affected with the cow-pox, and soon 

 after several sores appeared on his hands. Swellings and 

 stiffness in each axilla followed, and he was so much indis- 

 posed for several days as to be incapable of pursuing his 

 ordinary employment. Previously to the appearance of the 

 distemper among the cows there was no fresh cow brought 

 into the farm, nor any servant employed who was affected 

 with the cow-pox. 



In April, 1795, a general inoculation taking place here, 

 Merret was inoculated with his family; so that a period of 

 twenty-five years had elapsed from his having the- cow-pox 

 to this time. However, though the variolous matter was 

 repeatedly inserted into his arm, I found it impracticable to 

 infect him with it; an efflorescence only, taking on an erysip- 

 elatous look about the centre, appearing on the skin near the 

 punctured parts. During the whole time that his family had 

 the smallpox, one of whom had it very full, he remained in 

 the house with them, but received no injury from exposure 

 to the contagion. 



It is necessary to observe that the utmost care was taken 

 to ascertain, with the most scrupulous precision, that no one 

 whose case is here adduced had gone through the smallpox 

 previous to these attempts to produce that disease. 



Mad these experiments been conducted in a large city, or 

 in a populous neighbourhood, some doubts might have been 

 entertained; but here, where population is thin, and where 

 such an event as a person's having had the smallpox is 

 always faithfully recorded, no risk of inaccuracy in this 

 particular can arise. 



CASE II. Sarah Portlock, of this place, was infected with 

 the cow-pox when a servant at a farmer's in the neighbour- 

 hood, twenty-seven years ago. 8 



In the year 1792, conceiving herself, from this circum- 

 stance, secure from the infection of the smallpox, she nursed 

 one of her own children who had accidentally caught the 



6 I have purposely selected several cases in which the disease had appeared 

 at a very distant period previous to the experiments made with variolous 

 matter, to shew that the change produced in the constitution is not affected 

 by time. 





