[ * 4 * ] 
Dear Brother, 
"C* ROM the manner in which inoculation is men- 
tioned in the Natural Hiftory of Aleppo, I fufpedt 
the circumftance of it’s being a common practice 
among the Arabs muft have efcaped you. I myfelf 
was ignorant of it for feveral years after you left this 
country, and a mere accident brought it at laft to my 
knowledge. About nine or ten years ago, while on 
a vifit at aTurkifh Harem, a lady happened to exprefs 
much anxiety for an only child, who had not yet 
had the fmall pox j the diftemper at that time being 
frequent in the city. None of the ladies in the com- 
pany had ever heard of inoculation j fo that, having 
once mentioned it, I found myfelf obliged to enter 
into a detail of the operation, and of the peculiar 
advantages attending it. Among the female fervants 
in the chamber was an old Bedouin, who having 
heard me with great attention, allured the ladies, that 
my account was upon the whole a juft one, only that 
I did not feem fo well to underftand the way of per- 
forming the operation, which fhe aflerted Ihould be 
done not with a lancet, but with a needle j fhe her- 
felf had received the difeafe in that manner, when a 
child ; had in her time inoculated many ; adding 
moreover, that the practice was well known to the 
Arabs, and that they termed it buying the fmall 
pox. 
I 
In 
