INOCULATION. 



inoculated. Thefe great examples, and the public appro- 

 bation of the praflicc declared by the College ef Phyficians, 

 gained numerous advocates to the caufe, wliich never after, 

 vards loft ground, till the ftill fafcr and milder mode of 

 inoculation with vaccine lymph was brought into notice by 

 the immortal Jenner. 



In France, Dr. Boyer is the firft writer who has noticed 

 inoculation, which he did in 1717. In 1723, the fuccefs- 

 ful trials of inoculation in England were publiflied at Paris 

 by Dr. de la Coftc, and the confequence was a declaration 

 by the phyficians of that city, " that for tlie benefit of the 

 public, it was lawful to make tri.ils of inoculation." The 

 practice was on the point of having a beginning in the hofpi- 

 tals, under the fanftion of the duke of Orleans, the regent, 

 ■when, unfortunately for the experiment, this nobleman died, 

 and foon afterwards Dr. Hecquet publilhed his «' Raifons de 

 doute contre I'Inoculation." The fentimcnts contained in 

 this publication, and in a thefis written at Paris in 1723, the 

 reports of the ill fuccefs of inoculation at Bofton, and the 

 great mortahty of the natural fmall-pox in London, in 

 1723, falfely afcribed to the new praftice, foon brought the 

 method into difrepute in Fj-ance, and the defign of trying it 

 there was laid afide. 



The French paid httle attention to the fubjed again till 

 1752, when Dr. Biittini, of Montpelier, publiflied at Paris 

 his " Traite de la Petite Verole communiques par I'Inocula- 

 tion." Two years afterwards, M. de la Condamine read 

 his excellent memoir upon the advantages of inoculation, 

 before a public aflembly of the Royal Academy of Sciences 

 at Paris. But, according to Dr. Woodville, the praftice 

 was not introduced into France till the i ft of April ly^J, 

 when, at the defire of M. Turgot, a child, four years old, 

 was inoculated at Paris. On the 14th of May, M. Chaf- 

 tcllux, aged 21, voluntarily fubmitted to the operation. 

 About this time, Dr. Holly, who had been attending the 

 fmall-pox and inoculation hofpitats in Lo.ndon, at the re- 

 qucft of the French niinifter, publiflied at Paris the follow- 

 ing report : — " That out of 463 cafes of perfons laft ino- 

 culated in the hofpital, only one had been unfuccefsful ; 

 whereas, in the Small-])ox hofpital, it appeared bv the re- 

 gifters, that nearly one in four had died of the natural fmall- 

 pox." — " That Mr. Ranby, principal furgeon to his ma- 

 jefty, had inoculated 1 600 perlbns ; and that Mr. Bell, 

 pupil to Mr. Morand, had inoculated 903, without the lofs 

 of one." — " That in order to form a jult comparative view 

 of the fatahty of inoculation and of the natural fmall-pox, 

 it is only requifite to vifit the two hofpitals in London, the 

 difference of their reports being fo remarkable, that It muft 

 convince the moft incredulous of the advantages of inocu- 

 lation." Laftly, " with refpedl to the inoculation of other 

 difeafes along with the fmall-pox, that no inftance of the 

 kind has ever been produced ; and that perfons have been 

 inoculated with variolous matter, taken from a patient af- 

 fefted with tlie venereal diftemper, yet have thereby received 

 the infeSion of the fmall-pox only." 



This ftatement had immenfe effecl in promoting the intro- 

 dudlion of inoculation into France; and in the year 1756, 

 the family of the duke of Orleans, and great numbers of the 

 firft rank, were inoculated by Drs. Tronchin, Hofty, and 

 others. In 1758, the practice had diffufed itfelf over various 

 parts of France. Tlie inoculated were not, however, very 

 nnmerous, and one or two unfuccefsful cafes, joined with 

 falfe reports, that fome perfons had taken the natural fmall- 

 pox after undergoing inoculation, once more caft difcredit 

 upon the plan, and excited a violent controverfy. The 

 great fatality of the fmall-pox at Paris in 1763, being im- 

 puted to inocuktioD, tlie praftice was forbidden by parha- 



ment. At length the faculty of phyfic, and that of theo- 

 logy, were called upon to decide, whether inoculation 

 ought to be tolerated or profcribed. This meafure feryed 

 to increafe the difputcs ; nor was it till a very late period 

 that inoculation was extenCvely praciifed in France. 



In Holland, inoculation was begun at Amfterdam in 

 1 748 by Dr. Tronchin, who, on finding one of his fons feizcd 

 with the natural fmall-pox, immediately inoculated the other. 

 This phyfician, after his return from Geneva, in 1754, ino- 

 culated a great many perfons in Holland. Dr. Schwenke, 

 at the Hague, likewife promoted the practice ; and fo did a 

 fociety of phyficians and furgeons at Rotterdam, who were 

 afibciated for the purpofe in 17^7. The method was not, 

 however, very generally adopted by the Dutch, till after 

 1 764, about which time Morand and others had praftifed it 

 at Amfterdam w'ith ftriking fuccefs. 



Inoculation was firft introduced into Denmark in Septem- 

 ber 1754, when th6 countefs of BernfdorfF underwent the 

 procefs. In 1758, two inoculation houfes were eftabliflied 

 at Copenhagen ; and, in 1760, the prince royal was inocu- 

 lated with fuccefs. 



In Sweden, the firft trial of inoculation was made by 

 Haartman in 1754. The rapid progrefs of the method in 

 Sweden was owing to the encouragement afforded by the 

 Swedifli court. Dr. D. Schultz was deputed to enquire 

 into the fuccefs of the plan at the inoculation hofpital ii> 

 London, and the accounts which he gave upon his return to 

 Stockholm in 1755, led to the eftabhfliment of inoculation 

 houfes in different parts of Sweden. In 1757, the benefits 

 of inoculation were commemorated by a medal. 



Inoculation was firft introduced at Geneva in 1751, 

 whence it paffed into Switzerland in 1753. In the latter 

 country, it was firft performed at Laufanne by a lady on her 

 own child. 



Inoculation commenced in Italy during the great morta- 

 hty occafioncd in Tufcany and Rome by the fmall-pox in 

 1754. Dr. Peverfni was the firft inoculator, putting out 

 of confideration the cuftom which had long prevailed in the 

 interior of the country, of women fometimes artificially 

 communicating the fmall-pox to their children. In 1 735, M» 

 de la Condamine was at Rome, where, by his writings and 

 perfonal influence, he fucceeded in reconciling many to the 

 praftice. Before 1765, inoculation was praftifed with fuc- 

 cefs at Venice, Padua, Verona, Brefcia, Mantua, Bologna, 

 Milan, Parma, .Sec. In ftiort, Naples was the only import- 

 ant place where the method had not been introduced. 



Inoculation was begun at Hanover almolt as foon as in 

 England. The opposition of De Haen, however, kept 

 back the improvement in moft other parts of Germany. 

 The Pruffians and Auftrians were the laft to adopt it. At 

 Vienna, inoculation did not make any progrefs till 

 1763. The younger branches of the imperial family were 

 inoculated in 1768, and fliovlly afterwards the emperor efta- 

 blilhed an inoculation hofpital in the fuburbs of Vienna. 



Owing to fome unfortunate events of the firft inocula- 

 tions at Berlin, the praftice was foon difcountenanced in 

 Prufila, nor was it revived till 1774, when Dr. BayUes was 

 united from Drefden to fupcrintend the method. 



Although fome perfons had been inoculated in Livonia 

 by Dr. Sclnilcnius at an earlier period, the praftice was un- 

 known at St. Petcrftiurgh till 1768, when it was eftablifhed 

 there under baron Dimldale. This event muft have been to 

 the Ruflians an immenfe bklling, fince in their country, the 

 natural finall-pox ufcd to rage with fuch feverity, that it i» 

 faid to have annually deftroyed two millions of fubjefts. On 

 tlie 28th of July, 176S, baron Dimfdale inoculated the em- 

 prcfs and the grand duke, both of whom fpeedily recovered/ 



The 



