-INOCULATION. 



«nd general fafcty of receiving the difeafc by inoculation, and 

 ,fo far the practice was a remedy to ihat juft alarm which en- 

 hanced the danger, when the diftemper was left to itfelf. 

 As to faith in God, none was delirable, except that which 

 was aj^reeable to the fcripture, and which could never have 

 the effeift of creating a difregard to calamities and danger. 

 Inoculation was well proved to be a means of fafety, and it 

 would have been as rational to conclude that our lives could 

 ie preferved without eating and drinking, as that we {hould 

 be dehvered from danger without a prudent care for our own 

 fafety. We are to depend on the care of providence only in 

 the way of duty. To boaft. of courage and truft in God, 

 ■while we omit the means of cfcaping danger which furrounds 

 us, is not faith but prefuniption. 



Thus, when inoculation became a probable means by 

 which life might be faved, the negleft of it, fo far from 

 being truil, was prcfumption. 



We (hall now take our leave of thefe theological difputes 

 and fcruples, which have now been long removed by the in- 

 fluence of right reafon and found (enfe. When it was once 

 well afcertaincd and univerfally believed that inoculation was 

 really a means of proferving life, the idea of its being crimi- 

 nal to adopt the praftice could not have much duration. A 

 very able difcuflion of moft of the foregoing objeftions 

 was publiiTied in a pamphlet, entitled " Inoculation impar- 

 tially confidered, and proved to be confillent with Reafon 

 and Revelation," by the Rev. DavJd Some, edited by Dr. 

 Doddridge, lyjo. 



Of Inoculation, ai praa'tfed ly the Sutlons, Baron DimfJale, 

 i^c The introduction of the Suttonian practice was re- 

 garded quite as a new era in the hillory of inoculation, from 

 the novelty of the method, and its unparalleled fuccefs, 



According to Mr. Houlton's ftatcment, the number u< 

 peifons inoculated by Mr. Daniel Sutton in the year 



1764 was 1629 



1765 — 4347 



1766 — 7816 



Mr. Robert Sutton, the firft of this 1 



celebrity as an inoculator, refided at Debenham in Suffolk, 

 where he praftifed furgery and pharmacy. From the year 

 1757 to 1767, he inoctdated 2514 perfons. 



Two of his fons, Robert and Daniel, fo'lowed the medical 

 profcffion, and after affiHing liim during the three firft years 

 of his practice of inoculation, Robert eftablifhed himfelf as 

 an inoculator at Bury St. Edmund's, while Daniel became 

 afliftant to Mr. Bumllead, a fnrgeon at Oxford. Daniel, 

 •on his return to Debenham, in the year 1763, fuggeiled to 

 his father a new plan of inoculation, in which he propofed to 

 ihorten the time of preparation to a few days, and not to 

 ■confine the inoculated patients to the houfe, but to oblige 

 them to be in the open air as much as poffible during the 

 •whole progrefs of the dillcmper. 



Tlie father condemned this fcheme as ra(h and dangerous. 



i3'792 



" To the above number," fays he, " (liould be addci! 

 6000 that have been inoculated by Mr. Sutton's affiftanls ; 

 fo that he may be faid to have inoculated, within thefe thr. i- 

 years, 20,000 perfons." 



Of this number, not one was allowed to have fairly dii d 

 of inoculation. The venal pen of the preceding writer ci r- 

 tainly exaggerated every thing, and great boaft was alfo 

 falfely made of the Suttons having a ipccific medicine for 

 preventing too many puftules. However, no doubt was 

 entertained that the Suttonian practice was incomparably 

 more fuccefsful than any other. 



Medicalpraftitioners, ftruck with the advantages of the new 

 treatment, fetabouttheinveftigation of thecaufes. SirGeorgc 

 Baker publiflied the following account of the manner in which 

 Mr. D.Sutton praftifedinoculation. "All perfons arc obliged 

 to go through a ftridl preparatory regimen for a fortnight 

 before the operation is performed. During this courfe, 

 every kind of animal food, milk only excepted, and all fer- 

 mented liquors and fpices are forbidden. Fruit of all forts 

 is allowed, except only on thofe days when a purging medi- 

 cine is taken. In this fortnight of preparation, a dofe of a 

 powder is ordered to be taken at bed-time, three fever;d 

 times ; and on the following morning a dofe of purging fait. 

 To children, only three dofes of the powder are given, with- 

 10 acquired out any purging fait. The compofition of this powder is 



iduftrioufly kept a fecrct. But, that it confills partly of a 

 mercurial preparation, is demonftrated by its having made 

 the gimis of feveral people fore, and even falivated others. 

 The months of May, June, July, and Auguft, are preferred 

 as the moft feafonable for inoculation. But healthy people 

 are inoculated at any feafon of the year indifferently. The 

 autumn is held to be the worft feafon ; and an aguifli habit the 

 leaft proper for this operation. No objeftion is made to any 

 one on account of what is vulgarly <:alled a fcorbutic habit 

 of body, or bad blood. The perfon who is to be inoculated, 

 on his arrival at the houfe ufed for this purpofe, is carried into 

 a public room, where, very probably, he may meet a large- 

 company afTembled under the feveral ftages of the fmall-pox. 

 The operator then opens a puftule of one of the company, 

 chufing one where the matter is in a crude ftate ; and then 



•Its advantages, however, foon becoming manifeft to patients, juft raifes up the cuticle on the outer part of the arm, • 

 they evinced a defire of being folely under the management :---'' J^ ■.^\■ ai ^ nnL:. j . i_ 1 _ 



of Mr. D. Sutton. The confequcnce was, that tlie father 

 and fon feperated about the end of the year 1763, when the 

 latter opened an inoculating-houfe near Ingateftoue, in 

 Eifex. Here, by public advertilemcnts, he made known his 

 plan of inoculating in an improved way pccuhar to himfelf. 

 The encouragement whicli he met with may be eftimated 

 from his receiving, during the firlt year, 2000 guineas, and 

 above 60CO the fccond. His f; 



parts of the kingdom j and the numbers that rcfortcd 

 iiim for inoculation, conllantly filled the village of Ingate- 

 ' (lone, fo that acconuiiodations could hardly be procured for 

 tlie purpofe. Wh practice in Kent being alfo very exten- 

 sive, he was obliged to employ feveral medical aftiftants. In 

 4767, Mr. D. Sutton removed to London, in hopes of reap- 

 ing ftil! more cmolunient ; but his receipt fell far ihort of his 

 ^jtpectation. 



.here 

 It is thickeft, with his moift lancet. This done, lie only preffes 

 down the raifed cuticle with his finger, and applies neither 

 plafter nor bandage. What is extremely remarkable, he fre- 

 quently inoculates people with the moifture taken from the 

 arm before the eruption of the fmall-pox, nay, within four 

 days after the operation has been performed. And," fays fir 

 G. Baker, " I am informed, at prefent he gives the preference 

 to this method. He has attempted to inoculate by means of 

 fpread to the moH diftant the blood; but witliout fuccefs. If the operator happeneth 

 not to be at home when the new patient arriveth, this is 

 looked upon as a matter of no importance. And fo far is he 

 from any apprehenfion of accumulating infection, that it is 

 very common for perfons, juft inoculated, to lie in the fame 

 bed with a patient under any ftage of the difeafe, as it may 

 happen ; nay, fometimes in a room where four or five people 

 are fick. On the night following the oj>cralion, the patient 

 takes a pill. This medicine is repeated. every other night, 



until 



