THE MICROBES OF HUMAN DISEASES. 213 



This inoculation was known to the Arabs and Chinese 

 as early as the tenth century, but it was decried by 

 physicians, and only practised by women. In India 

 it was practised by the Brahmins, and a public crier 

 announced that he had small-pox virus to sell. 



In 1717, Lady Mary Wortley Montague, wife of 

 the English Ambassador in Constantinople, chanced 

 to see the op'eration performed by an old Thessalian 

 woman, who always accompanied the puncture with 

 practices of witchcraft and superstitious usages. She 

 asserted that the Virgin herself had appeared to reveal 

 the secret to her, and boasted of having performed 

 inoculation in more than 40,000 cases. Lady Mary 

 was so much impressed by the results obtained that 

 she had her son inoculated, and it is said that the old 

 Thessalian handled her rusty needle so unskilfully 

 that Maitland, the physician attached to the embassy, 

 was obliged to finish the operation. On her return to 

 England, Lady Mary made the success of the experi- 

 ment generally known. George I. authorized the 

 inoculation of six prisoners in Newgate, and then of 

 six orphans. The operation was performed by Mait- 

 land and crowned with success, and he was then 

 allowed to inoculate members of the royal family, 

 and more than 200 other persons. 



The practice was, however, condemned by the 

 clergy, who considered it to be immoral and anti- 

 religious, as being opposed to the divine rights and 

 wilL Some failures, such as the death of Lord Sunder- 



