INOCULATION^. 



*llic ilrll Britilli medical writers of any note were thofe 

 of the 1 3th century, and they, as well as all their fucceflbrs, 

 from John of Gaddcfden to the immortal Sydenham, &c. 

 have beRowed much attention on this important diftempcr. 



H'lftory of Inocuhitlon of the SmaU-pox.—Tht exaa part 

 of the world where inoculation was lirll adopted is quite 

 imknown ; nor do we poITefs any information of the circum- 

 ftances which originally fuggcfted the benefit that might 

 refult from tlie pradice. From the Arabian phy ficians having 

 been tlie firll informed of the nature and treatment of the 

 fmall-pox, it has been fuppofed that inoculation had its 

 origin amon^ them. (See Second Memoire fur I'lnocula- 

 tion par M. de la Condamine.) Avicenna, who lived at 

 Bokhara on the eaft coall of the Cafpian fea, or his dif- 

 ciples, have in particular been fufpe£led of being the authors 

 of this valuable invention, in confequence of the countries 

 between the Cafpian and Euxine feas being the fuppofed 

 centre from which inoculation fpread to other places. Dr. 

 Woodville, however, conliders this conjefture as very ill- 

 founded. He contends that we have no evidence that any 

 of the people near the Cafpian fea were the firll pradtifers 

 of inoculation. Had the invention originated in this part 

 of the world, the Tartars could hardly have been fo igno- 

 rant of the praftice, as, according to D'EntrecoUes, they 

 ■adtually were in the year 1724. Nor is it probable that the 

 method fpread from weft to eaft ; for as the fame author 

 has obferved, inoculation is more ancient in the eaftern parts 

 of China than it is in the weftern provinces of that empire. 

 Dr. Woodville remarks that inoculation was certainly firft 

 introduced into Conftantinople from the Morea ; but as the 

 event did not take place till towards the end of the 17th 

 century, we may conclude, that, had the art been pradlifed 

 for many ages, at fo fliort a diftance from that metro- 

 polis, it would have been known there much fooner. Be- 

 fides, in various countries, very remote from the Cafpian 

 fea, it is proved to have been an immemorial ufage. 



Inoculation was introduced into London as a foreign 

 invention, and, from its fuccefs upon the younger branches 

 of the royal family in 1732, became the fubjecl of public 

 converfation, when, to the great furprife of the learned, fe- 

 veral communications proved that it was already a practice 

 known in South Wales, where it had exifted under the 

 denomination of buying the fmall-pox as far back as tra- 

 dition could be traced. The manner of inoculating, or 

 buying the fmall-pox, here alluded to, was fubjec\ to 

 variety. Some perfons either rubbed the matter, taken from 

 the puftules, when ripe, on feveral parts of the fiiin of the 

 arms, &c. or pricked fuch parts with pins, or other pointed 

 things, firft infefted with the fame matter. Some fcraped 

 the ikin with a knife, until the blood began to flow, before 

 they apphed the variolous pus. Others produced the dif- 

 tempcr by holding a certain number of dried puftules, for 

 a confiderable time, in the palm of the hand. (See the 

 Xettci-s of Dr. Williams, Mr. Owen, and Mr. Wright, in 

 the Pliilofophical Tranfactions for 1722, and Dr Jurin's 

 account of the fuccefs of inoculation in 1723.) The in- 

 habitants of the Highlands of Scotland have alfo for many 

 ages performed a kind of inoculation by tying worlled 

 threads, moiftened with variolous matter, round the wrifts of 

 their children. ( Monro on Inoculation in Scotland. ) The 

 fame cuftom likewife prevailed in many other parts of 

 E irope, Afia, and Africa ; and, what is highly curious, the 

 practice was, in feveral of thefe diftant countries, termed 

 luy'm^ the fmall-pox, jirft as it was in South Wales ; for it 

 was fuperftitiouUy imagined that inoculation would not pro- 

 duce the proper effect, uniefs the perfon from whom the 

 Afanolous matter was taken received a piece of money, or 

 Voi. XIX. 



fome other prcfent, in exchange. Tlie praftice of buying 

 the fmall-pox has been found to have prevailed from time 

 immemorial, not only in South Wales, but alfo at Naples, 

 Pavia, in Auvcrgne and Perigord, and among the peafantry 

 in many parts of Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. Sec 

 Second Mem. fur I'Inoculation, par M. de la Condamine; 

 Murray'sHiftoria Iiifitionis Variolarum in Suecia ; Schultz's 

 Account of Inoculation, &c. 



In Barbary and the Levant the variolous matter was 

 alfo purchafed, and inferted in a fmall incifion made in the 

 flefhy part of the hand between the thumb and the fore-finger. 

 (See Shaw's Travels into Barbary and the Levant.) In 

 Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers, an incifion was made on ths 

 back of the hand, between the thumb and fore-firgcr, and 

 a little of the variolous matter put into the wound. Ac« 

 cording to Dr. P. Ruffel, inoculation is fo ancient in thefe lail 

 kingdoms tliat nobody remembers its firft rife ; and it has 

 been pradlifed not only by the inhabitants of the towns, but 

 alfo by the wild Arabs. (See Phil. Tranf. vol. Ivi. p. 140.) 

 It appears, moreover, from this gentleman's account, that 

 buying the variolous matter and inoculating have been an- 

 cient cuftoms at Bagdad, Moful, and BafTora, in Armenia, 

 at Damafcus, and all along the coaft of Syria and Palelline. 

 The Arabs affured Dr. Ruftll that the punfture might be 

 made indifferently in any flefhy part ; but he moftly found 

 the mark between the thumb and fore-finger. Some 

 of the Georgians had been inoculated in the fame part, 

 though moft of them in the fore-arm. Some of the Arme- 

 nians had been inoculated in both thighs ; but the greater 

 part, like the Arabs, bore the mark upon the hand. 



D'EntrecoUes, by obtaining accefs to feveral medical 

 books at Pekin, difcovered one in v.hich an account Nvas 

 given of the introduftion of inoculation into China. The 

 author of the book here alluded to, lived in the latter part 

 of the dynafty of Ming. Hence it has been concluded that 

 inoculation has not yet been practifed in China 2co years. 

 But in Hindooftan the cuftom can be traced much farther 

 back. The methods of praftifing this art by the Chinefe 

 and Hindoos are alfo fo widely diflerent, that they cannot 

 have been derived from the fame origin. TI;e Chinefe take 

 from two to four dried variolous puftules, or fcales (ac- 

 cording to their fize), between which they place a fmall 

 portion of mufli ; the whole is then wrapped up in cotton, 

 and introduced into the patient's noftril. The fcales befort- 

 ufed are kept in a clofe jar for feveral years, and when the 

 Chinefe are obliged to employ recent puftules, they think 

 it neceffary to corrcft the acrimony of the matter, by cx- 

 poiing it to the fteam of an infufion of the roots of fcor- 

 zonera and liquorice. They fometimes reduce the dried 

 fcales into powder, and form them into a pafte for the puc- 

 pofe of inoculation. 



Dr. Woodville very properly obferves, that tlie appli- 

 cation of variolous matter, wiapj^ed in cotton, within tic 

 noftrils, rauft be an exceedingly precarious mode of com- 

 municating the fmall-pox, and may peihaps afford a reafoii 

 why inoculation in China is lefs fuccei'sful than in other 

 countries ; for if the matter acls in the way of inoculation, 

 a troublefome inflamniation of the Schneiderian membrane 

 muft enfue ; and, (hould not this take place, the variolous 

 efBu\-ia, by being inhaled intio the lungs, will produce tlie 

 natural fmall-pox. 



In Hindooftan inoculation is performed by a particular 

 tribe of Bramins. They do not refufe to inoculate on any 

 part ; but, in males, they prefer the outfide of the arm, mid- 

 way between the wrift and the elbow, and, in females, the 

 fiioiilder. The operator firft rubs the part with a dry- 

 cloth for eight or ten minutes, and then ilightly pricks it 

 T ar. 



