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LXXVL A Letter from Mr. Rich. Brooke, 
Surgeon , to fames Par foils, M. D. Secretary 
to the Royal Societ J for foreign Correfpond- 
ence , concerning Inoculation. 
S I R, 
Read May 14, S there are very few, who efcape 
having the fmali-pox looner or later 
in life, and as very terrible confequcnces too often 
attend the being feized with it in the natural way, it 
is no wonder, that mod: people, who have not yet 
had it, live in continual apprehenfions and fear 
thereof; or that the great and evident advantages of 
inoculating young perfons fhould have fo univerfdly 
recommended, and fo firmly eftablifh’d, that practice, 
which probably will never be laid afide, till fome 
eafier and equally certain method be difeover’d. 
Though l'uch a difeovery may, at firfl, feem a 
thing rather to be wifh’d than hoped for, yet I flat- 
ter myfelf, that an accident, which happen d fome 
years ago in my practice, and the experiments, 
which 1 have lince made in confequence of the hint 
thereby givenmie, may, in fome meafure, contribute, 
if not lead diredtly to it. 
In the year 1747, I inoculated a young gentleman 
in Maryland, then about twenty years of age. I 
made a flight incifion, about an inch long, on the 
belly of the biceps mufcle. In that I laid the lint im- 
pregnated with variolous matter, cover’d with a di- 
geflive pledgit ; then bound them on with a roller. 
When 
