INOCULATION. 



at many points. He next takes a fmall pledget of cotton, 

 charged with the variolous matter, moiftens it with two or 

 three drops of the Ganges water, applies it to the punClured 

 part, fixes it there wiih a bandage, and orders it to be kept 

 on for fix hours. The bandage is then to be taken off, 

 the pledget being left to fall off of itfclf. The matter in 

 the cotton is always taken from pullules of the preceding 

 year, frcfii matter, and fuch as is the prodiift of the natural 

 fraall-pox, being confidered improper. See Holv.-ell's Ac- 

 count of the Manner of inoculating in the Eaft Indies. 



It was immediately from Conftantinople that the Englifli 

 firft derived a full knowledge of the advantages of inocula- 

 tion. The benelicial confequences of the praftice among 

 the Turks, were detailed by Dr. Emanuel Timoni, com- 

 municated by Dr. Woodward to the Royal Society, and 

 pubhfhed in the Tranfaftions of that body for the year 1714. 

 The Byzantine mode was to take fome frefli variolous 

 matter in a glafs veflfel, and drop it on punftures or fcratches 

 made with a needle or lancet in any flefhy part, but efpe- 

 cially in the arm and fore-arm. The matter, which was 

 •dropped on the punftured place, was well blended with the 

 drops of blood ifluing from the wounds, by means of a 

 blunt ftile or ear-picker. The part was then kept covered 

 with a walnut {hell for a few hours, in order to prevent the 

 matter from being rubbed away. 



Another account of the Byzantine mode of inoculation 

 was afterwards publifted by Dr. Pylarini in the fame volume 

 of the Tranfaftions of tlie Royal Society for 17 16. But 

 the year before this gentleman's obfervations appeared, fur- 

 geon Kennedy had printed an account of the new method of 

 inoculating at Conllantinople, in his " EflTay on External 

 Remedies," and he feems to be the firft Britifh author on 

 the fubjeft of inoculation. Soon afterwards, lady Mary 

 Wortley Montague, the wife of the Englirti AmbafTador at 

 Conftantinople, in her letters, confirmed the accounts of the 

 remarkable manner in which the feverity and mortality of the 

 fmall-pox were diminifiied among the Turks by means of 

 inoculation ; and, in one of her epiltles from Adrianople, 

 {he expreffcd her intention to try the experiment upon her 

 own little fon. See vol. ii. let. 3-1. 



The mode of performing the operation at Conftantinople 



fradually became more and more fimple. We learn from 

 ylarini, that, in 1 701, incifions were made in the forehead, 

 cheeks, chin, and alfo in the extremities, for the purpofe of 

 inoculation. Timoni likewife, twelve years afterwards, 

 mentions, that the operator is to make feveral little wounds 

 in one or more places of the fkin, and thefe fucceedbeftin 

 the flefhy parts of the arm. In the year 1717, the iiifertion 

 of variolous matter, at a fimple pundture in each arm, feems 

 "to have been the prevailing method of inoculation, as will 

 appear by the following relation : Mr. Maitland, furgeon to 

 the honourable Wortley Montague in his diplomatic charac- 

 ter at the Ottoman court, informs us, that the ambaflador's 

 lady, being convinced of the advantages of inoculation, de- 

 termined that her only fon, then fix years of age, fliould 

 undergo the operation. For this purpofe, (he dcfired Mr. 

 Maitland to procure the variolous matter from a proper fub- 

 jeftx which being done, an old Greek woman, many years in 

 the conftant habit of inoculating, was employed to infert it. 

 «' But (fay.s Mr. Maitland) the good woman went to work 

 fo awkwardly, and, by the (liaking of her hand, put the 

 child tofo much torture with her blunt andrufty needle, that 

 I pitied his cries, and therefore inoculated the other arm with 

 my own inftrument, and with fo little pain to him, that he 

 did not in the leaft complain of it." (Maitland's Account 

 of Inoculating the Small-pox, p. 7.) The confequent dif- 

 eafe was very mild, and, if .the mode of buying the fmall- 



pox be excepted, this inoculation, which was done at Por.j , 

 near Conftantinople, in March 1717, was the fii-ft ever pr.ic . 

 tiM upon any Englifh fubjecl. 



The inoculation of the fmall-pox was firft regularly at'i ; 

 ed in England in the month of April 1721. The pra6'.i^ . 

 in all probability, would not have been fo foon purfued oy 

 the faculty, had it not been for the enlightened and philofo- 

 phic mind of lady Mary Wortley Montague. After this 

 celebrated lady had wilnefTed the good effects of inoculation 

 upon her fon at Pera, (he determined alfo to try it upon 

 her daughter, then an infant three months old ; but for cer- 

 tain domeftic reafons, the operation was at that lime deferred, 

 fo that this child was fortunately relorved to be the firft ex- 

 ample of inoculation in England, which was done by Mr. 

 Maitland, in April 1721. According to Dr. Woodville, 

 writers have univeifaliy erred, in dating this event in April 

 1722, and making it fubfequent to the inoculation of the 

 malefaftors at Newgate. He notices that Mr. Maitland's 

 pamphlet, in which all the circumftances are ftated, was- 

 publilhedin February 1722, as appears by the advertifement 

 prefixed to the work. Therefore Mr. Maitland, in faying 

 April Lifl, could mean no other than that in the year 172 1. 

 Befides, Mr. Maitland exprefsly mentions, that this was the 

 firft example of inoculation in England. 



After the fuccefsful refultof this cafe, Mr. Maitland per- 

 formed the fecond inoculation ever done in this country, in 

 the month of May 172 I, upon the fon of Dr. Keith, and 

 with the beft eftedls. Notwith Handing thefe confirmations 

 at home of the favourable accounts of the pradlice which 

 had been already received from Conftantinople, and notwith- 

 ftanding the firm and powerful patronage which the Byzan- 

 tine inoculation met within lady Mary Wortley Montague, it 

 is a faft, that fuch was the fufpicious caution with -.vhich the 

 method was received, that feveral months elapfed before a 

 third trial of it was made in London. Indeed, tlie very next 

 experiment that wa.s undertaken ftrikingly evin,.es the dan- 

 gerous light in which inoculation was ftill regarded ; for it 

 was determined that feveral culprits in Newgate, who had 

 forfeited their lives to the laws of their country, fhould, on 

 fubmitting to be inoculated, receive full pardon by the royal 

 prerogative. Six condemned criminals were inoculated by 

 Mr Maitland, on the ninth day of Auguft 1721, in the 

 prefence of feveral eminent phyficians and furgeons. Thefe 

 malefactors all obtained a remilTion of their fentcnce on very 

 cafy terms. None of them had the difoafe feverely, and one, 

 who had already had the fmall-pox, was of courfe not affccL- 

 ed a fecond time A feve nth criminal, a young woman, was 

 next pardoned, on condition of having the Chinefe method 

 of inoculating tried upon her, at tiie wifh of Dr. Mead. 

 Confequently, fome cotton, moiftened with variolous matter, 

 was introduced in her noftrils ; the diftemper followed in a 

 mild form : but the patient fuffered violent pains in her head, 

 from the commencement of the eruption to the maturation 

 of the puftulcs. 



After thefe public proofs of the fafety and advantage of 

 inoculation, obj'.Aions and doubts were ftill adduced againil 

 the method. Some confidered the cafes too few, while 

 others, in confrqucnce of the fiiiall number and mildncfs of 

 the puftules, thought it doubtful whether the genuine fmall- 

 pox had been at all communicated. Hence, in the courfe of 

 the following fix months, Mr. Maitland inoculated only ci^^ht 

 fubjefls, who all J^covered, though two, it muft be con- 

 feffed, iiad the fmall-pox fo feverely, as to be for fome 

 time in danger. See Maitland's Account' of Inoculating 

 the Sn-.all-pox, 1722. 



Maitland's p\iblication was immediately afterwards fot- 

 lowed by a letter -from Dr. Nettleton, who, in December 



