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 operation 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 
moculation 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- 
