286 INFECTIVE DISEASES. 



Circassian women fastened three needles together, and pricked the 

 skin over the pit of the stomach and heart, the navel, the right 

 wrist, and the left ankle. The variolous matter was applied to the 

 bleeding points, and the eruption came out in five or six days. In 

 Constantinople scarifications were made on the forehead, wrists, 

 and legs, and carefully selected virus appUed to the incisions. The 

 needle used was a three-edged surgeon's needle, or the operation was 

 performed with a lancet. The virus was obtained by pricking the 

 vesicles, and pressing out the matter into a clean glass vessel. The 

 Armenians preferred to be inoculated in both thighs. In Barbary 

 a slight wound was made between the thumb and forefinger, and 

 the virus obtained from a mild form of small-pox. In Hindustan 

 the operation was performed at certain seasons of the year, and a 

 preparatory regimen enforced. The inoctilators were very careful 

 in the selection of the virus, as they had learnt its varying intensity, 

 and they were credited with being able to control the amount of 

 the eruption. They preferred to inoculate the outside of the arm, 

 midway between the wrist and the elbow in males, and between the 

 elbow and the shoulder in females. The skin over the part to be 

 inoculated was first well rubbed with a piece of cloth ; then, with 

 slight touches of a small instrument, little wounds were made over 

 an area which might be covered by a small coin, and sufficient to 

 cause just an appearance of blood. A pledget of cotton-wool 

 charged with the variolous matter, and moistened with water, was 

 applied to the wound. This virus was obtained from inoculated 

 pustules of the preceding year. 



In China the contents of the variolous pustules were dried and 

 kept for several years. If the virus was to be used from fresh 

 pustules the " acrimony " of the matter was corrected by steaming. 

 The dried powder was made into a paste, which was wrapped up in 

 cotton-wool and introduced into the nostril. 



The Greeks were more cautious in their procedure, and were 

 said to inoculate tens of thousands without an accident. They 

 operated only upon those in perfect health, punctures were made 

 with needles, and the virus was used in the crude state, freshly 

 obtained from the " kindly " pustules of a young child. They were 

 particularly careful in the choice of the " ferment." 



Dr. Perrot Williams, in 1722, wrote that the practice of com- 

 municating small-pox had long been employed in South Wales. The 

 oldest inhabitants said that it had been a common practice with 

 them " time out of mind," but Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was 

 responsible for the general adoption of small-pox inoculation in 



