ATTEMPTS TO INTRODUCE VACCINATION. 
191 
of the ruined castle on the height, (the farthest side from Teheran,) and 
is executed upon a surface of rock, which has been smoothed for the 
purpose. It represents a warrior on horseback at full speed, with his 
lance couched, having a globe on his head and a ball on each shoulder. 
The performance is rude and imperfect, and the subject not complete, 
as the outlines of another figure are to be traced on the same rock. 
During the winter, the surgeons of the Embassy endeavoured to in¬ 
troduce vaccination among the Persians, and their efforts at first were 
very successful; but owing to the opposition of the Persian doctors, 
and to the little countenance which they received from men in autho¬ 
rity, their labours had nearly proved abortive. The surgeons, having 
procured the cow-pock matter from Constantinople, commenced their 
operations at Teheran with so much success, that in the course of one 
month they had vaccinated three hundred children. Their houses were 
constantly thronged with women, bringing their offspring to them; and 
there was every appearance of a general dissemination of this blessing 
throughout Teheran, when of a sudden its progress was checked by the 
Government itself. Several of the King’s fcrashes were placed at the 
gate of the Ambassador’s hotel, nominally as a mark of attention to 
His Excellency, but really to stop all women from going to our sur¬ 
geons. They said, that if the people wanted their children to be 
vaccinated, the fathers and not the mothers were to take them to the 
surgeons, by which means the eagerness for vaccination was stopped; 
for we soon discovered that the males did not feel one half the same 
anxiety for their offspring as the women. Notwithstanding the ravages 
which are annually made among the Persians by the small-pox, for 
which they have hitherto found no remedy, yet they are so wedded to 
their own prescriptions, that they rather adhere to them than give their 
children a chance of being saved, by adopting a new mode of treat¬ 
ment. Almost all the children vaccinated by our surgeons belonged to 
the poor, who were glad to get their medical assistance gratis, in pre¬ 
ference to that of their own doctors, who in addition to their ignorance 
are most rapacious. Two or three instances occurred, which gave our 
surgeons an opportunity of placing the imbecillity of the Persian 
