[NOCULATION. 



pidctict; made rapid progrefs ; an inoculation hofpital 

 .lablifhed; and at length Dimfdalc returned to Eng- 

 i loaded with wealth and honours. 



; 1 Spain, inoculation was not extcnfivcly adopted before 



- 1 , though it had been introduced by a furgeor. forty-two 



..;:i before at Jadrique, n fmall town in that kingdom, and 



1 iiad not been difcontinued in that particular place. Dr. Don 



' Miguel Gorman vifitcd London for the purpofc of learning 



j the Suttonian method of inoculation, and returned to Ma- 



drid in 1772, where lie praftifed the art upon feveral of the 



■ Hobility to the great fatisfaclion of the court. 



Of the ObjeHions '■juh'ich rx'ere urged a^amjl Inoculation. — 

 ' Having related the rife and firft progrels of inoculation in 

 feveral parts of the world, it feems proper, before reciting 

 the particular methods purfued by the Suttons and baron 

 Dimfdale, to notice the various objeftions and arguments 

 which were adduced for the purpofe of fupprefling the 

 praftice of inoculation altogether. The clamour again ft 

 the method, indeed, was for many years exccfiively violent ; 

 ' both phyfical and moral reafons were brought forward againft 

 the fyftem, and men of different profeflions entered ir^'b the 

 cortroverfy. 



r. To the objeftion that inoculation did not produce the 

 genuine fmalUpox, and confequcntly could not fecure any 

 one from having the difeafe afterwards, the celebrated Dr. 

 Mead made the following judicious reply. " Now I own I 

 cannot underlland how contagion, that is the very feed of 

 the dilcafe, fhould produce not its own proper diftempcr, but 

 another of a different kind. Neither, certainly, does it mat- 

 ter by which way the infeAion is received, provided it brings 

 forth manifeil marks of the difeafe. And as to thofe, who, 

 after having been inoculated -with fuccefs, arc, notwith- 

 ftanding this, faid to have fufFored the fmall-pox, I mull 

 proteil that, after the moll diligent enquiry', I have not 

 been able to find out one convincing proof of tliis kind. 

 But to fpeak plainly, if fuch a thing happened once, why 

 do we not fee it come to pafs oftener ? Or, what can a fmgle 

 example, fuppofing it to be true and certain, avail, when 

 innumerable have produced nothing bke it I" 



1. One formidable objetlion was, the fuppofed danger 

 that inoculation might be the means of communicating other 

 terrible and fatal difeafes, when the matter was taken from 

 unhealthy fubjefts. The variolous matter being a poifon 

 fill generis, it cannot by inoculation communicate any other 

 diftcmper. The venereal difeafe is known to be as commu- 

 nicable as any, yet feveral perfons have been inoculated from 

 patients labouring under confiderable degrees of the venereal 

 difeafe, and no ill confequences were ever yet known to fol- 

 low. Mr. Burgefb informs us that he knew of one intlance 

 where the matter was inadvertently taken by a furgeon from 

 a young woman, who fell ill of the fmall-pox, after being 

 admitted into St. Thomas's hofpital to be falivated. Three 

 patients were inoculated from this matter, and had the fmall- 

 pox in the mofl favourable manner. Nothing particular 

 happened about the wounds, and the patients all grew up 

 healthy fnbjecls. See Burgefs's " Account of the Prepa- 

 ration and Management necelTary to Inoculation, 1754." 

 Dr. Kirkpatrick alfo mentions in his " Analyfis of Inocu- 

 lation," that he was affured by a refpcAable furgeon, 

 that a young lady was inoculated by an apothecary from a 

 gentleman's fervant, who had a venereal bubo together with 

 the fmall-pox. The lady, notwithdanding, did verj' well, 

 and never had the flightcil fymptom of vencreil infedlion. 

 The affcrtion, then, that other difeafes may be communicated 

 by inoculation remains quite unproved. That other difeafes 

 may follow the fmall-pox no man uf common fenfe will deny ; 

 for it is no fecurity againll them. Nay, the debility whicli 



it fometimes induces, may even promote the acccflion of fcro-- 

 fula, confumption, &c. ; but fincc inoculation tends fo ma- 

 terially to diminifh the feverity of the fmall-pox, it muft 

 alio have a great effed in lefienin^ and preventing any cir- 

 cumllances, which are to be regarded as confequences of fuch 

 feverity. 



3. Perhaps the difeafe may never attack in the natural 

 way. This objeftion, one would think, muft give way to 

 the bare ftatement, that, previous to the praftice of inocula- 

 tion, thecafual fmall-pox annually deilroyed about two mil- 

 lions of lives in the Ruffian empire alone, and committed 

 equal devaflation in feveral other parts of the world. It has 

 been obferved by Dr. .Turin, in an in.;cnious pap-r inferted 

 in the Philofophicul Tranfa£lions, that it is difficult to af- 

 certain the ex at number who die without having the fmall- 

 pox ; but that of all the children that are born, there will, 

 fome time or another, die of the fmall-pox one in fourteen ; 

 and tiiat of perfons of all age> taken ill of the fame diflem- 

 per, two in eleven will fall victims to it. 



From a table of burials it appears that in Edinburgh and 

 St. Cutlibcrt's parifh, during ten years, about one-tenth of 

 the dead wiki killed by the fmall-pox. 



It may likewifc be noticed, that no individual is originally 

 unfufceptible of the fmall-pox, and though a proportion of 

 mankind might pofTibly cfcape the contagion, ilill the num- 

 ber of victims to the diforder cafually taken would be very 

 confiderable During the controverfies concerning the ad- 

 vantages and difadvantages of inoculation, enquiries were 

 made from houfe to houfe, in feveral towns, in order to af- 

 certain the number of people, who had had the fmall-pox 

 in one twelvemonth, when it appeared that nearly one died 

 in every five who had taken the difeafe ; and tliat of eighty - 

 two perfons who were inoculated in thefe places in the fame 

 year, not one died. 



Dr. Nettleton, Dr. 'Whitaker, and fome others, made an- 

 attempt to find out how many perfons had had the fmall-pox, 

 and how many had died of it. in the year 1722, The refult 

 was as follows : 



This table will ferve to depidl the general event of the 

 cafual fmall-pox. The mortality was confiderable ; but it 

 was even much greater at fome periods, and in particular 

 parts of the world. On the other hand, inoculation has 

 fometimes been purfued with fuch remarkable fuccefs, that 

 out of a thoufand perfons insculated one after the other, 

 fcarcely one has perifhcd. 



We fhall not fwell this article with a detail of the numerous 

 phyfical reafons urged againft inoculation, the prefent ftate 

 of knowledge renders fuch a talk unneceffary ; and all the 

 . objeclions alluded to, have been fo often and completely 

 proved to be frivolous and unfounded, that of late years the 

 praftice has encountered no oppofition, if wc put out of 

 prefent confideration the praifeworthy cndeavonrs to fubfti- 

 tute ever\- where the vaccine for the variolous inoculation. - 



4. The moral and religious objections which were adduced 



againft the pni£licc of inoculation, gave rife to as much dif- 



pute as the medical differences of opinion, and certainly 



operated ftill more pcrnicioudy in prejudicing the mafs ef 



6. people: 



