INOCULATION. 
riolous puftule, which rofe and maturated within the bor¬ 
der of the vaccine veiicle. Matter taken from C commu¬ 
nicated the fmall-pox, while fluid taken from the oppofite 
edce of the veficle communicated the cow-pox. 
The grand queliion ftill at ifl'ue is. Whether the 
moft perfect vaccination is, in every inftance, a complete 
fecurity againft variolous infeftion ? We mult in juitice 
reply that it is not. The queftion will recur, To what 
extent then is it fo ? The general popular opinion in dif- 
tant counties is, we have faid, a ftrcng prefumption ot the 
dependance to be placed on the fecurity ; and tee 1m- 
menfe number vaccinated, particularly in the ai my, wheie 
expofure to variolous contagion is lo fiequent and un- 
avoidable, would, we think, have given a confiderable 
(hock to the fabric, if its foundation was very infecure. 
Another prefumption in favour of the fecurity^ of vacci¬ 
nation is, that thofe who have comparatively inoculated 
the feweft, have had the greateit number of fucceeding 
variola: ; while, in the great public inftitutions, where the 
numbers are often eftimated by thoufands, the failuies 
appear to have been few. Great ftrefs has been laid on 
the number and charafter of its fupporters, compared 
with thofe of its antagonifts; but this argument would 
have merited more attention had not thefe gentlemen ap¬ 
peared fo early in its fupport, when the merits of the dif- 
covery mull have been equivocal. We fhall endeavoui, 
however, to ftate this queftion in its different views, with 
all the impartiality in our power. 
Cow-pox is certainly a fecurity to a very confiderable ex¬ 
tent, and for fome, though an indefinite, time. Small-pox 
lias occurred within a few months, but moft frequently, if 
we can fay frequently refpefting the few undifputed cafes 
which have occurred, within about three or fouryears. From 
the number of recorded cafesof fubfequent variolas, wemuft 
detraft confiderably in confequence of the fuggeftions of 
prepoffeflion, of ignorance, and, we fear, defigned mifre- 
prefentation. We muft detraft too large a proportion 
from the carelefs report of the appearances of the vacci¬ 
nation, when the genuine veficle had not been diliin- 
guiflied, or when it was incurioufly obferved. If we would 
eftablifh the pofition that vaccination lecures from a dif- 
eafe , and not from a name, we muft ftill deduft thofe cales 
where the variolae are inconfiderable in their number, un¬ 
important from the mildnefs of the inflammation or the 
attendant fever. We (ball ftill find fome authentic cafes of 
fmall-pox as a violent difeafe, after the moft perfect vac¬ 
cination ; and we are very much inclined to lufpeft, that 
fome circumftances efle'ntial to the fecurity have yet ef- 
caped the attention of the moft fagacious obfervers. 
But, fuppoling we gain only a temporary fafety, we do 
not purchafe it at the expence of the child s health, of 
pain, or of danger. In itfelf it is the moft trifling of com¬ 
plaints-, it is not pultular, and conveys no infeElion. In its 
confequences it is harmlefs ; for, after all that we have 
heard of the cow-faced boy, of cow-pox mange, the ri¬ 
diculous narratives of dreadful confequences, the records 
of. public inftitutions offer no increafe of cutaneous dif- 
eafes, and no new fpecies. But fome perfons maintain, 
fays Dr. Willan, that, “ if the inoculation of vaccine vi¬ 
rus does not excite new eruptions on the fkin, it at, leaft 
increafes the number of the cutaneous complaints with 
which we were before acquainted, and renders them more 
inveterate. My own experience would authorife me to 
contradift this affertion ; but I fhall perhaps refute it more 
fatisfaftorily by exhibiting the annexed lilts, which Dr. 
Bateman, at my requeft, extracted from the Regifter of 
Patients at the Public Difpenfary in London : 
Total Number * Number of chronic 
cf Difeafes. Cutaneous Eruptions, 
In the year 1797 - - 173° - - - - 85 
1798 - - 1664 - 8a 
3804 - - 1915 - - - - 89 
1805 - - 197+ - - - - 94 
This table fhows, that the proportion of cutaneous erup¬ 
tions to all other difeafes was the fame before the publi¬ 
cation of Dr, Jenner’s Inquiry as in the 6th and 7th year 
103 
of vaccination; and nearly the fame proportion may be 
deduced on comparing Dr. Murray’s, Dr. Reid’s, Dr. Wal¬ 
ker’s, and my own, Reports on Difeafes in London for 
the laft ten years.” 
The following obfervations by Mr. Charles Brandon 
Trye, fenior furgeon to the Infirmary at Gloucefter, af¬ 
ford a ftriking confirmation of the above ftatement. “A 
more healthy defeription of human beings does not exift, 
nor one more free from chronic cutaneous impurities, than 
that which fuffers moft from cow-pox, by reafon of their 
being employed in dairies. The Gloucelter Infirmary, 
one of the largeft provincial hofpitals, is fituated in a coun¬ 
ty in which accidental cow-pox has been prevalent from 
time immemorial} many hundreds among the labouring 
people have had that cow-pox fince the eltablilhment of 
this inftitution, and that more leverely than is generally 
the cafe in artificial vaccination ; and yet not a Angle pa¬ 
tient, in half a century, has applied to the infirmary for 
relief of any difeafe, local or conftitutional, which he or 
flie imputed or pretended to trace to the cow pox. And 
be it repeated and remembered, that the artificial in no 
refpeft differs from the accidental cow-pox, except in be¬ 
ing generally lefs virulent.” 
Glandular difeafes are ufual, and often immediate, con¬ 
fequences, both of the natural and inoculated fmall-pox. 
In this refpeft, the vaccine, compared with variolous ino¬ 
culation, has a decided advantage, being feldom fucceeded 
by inflammation and fuppuration of the glands. Among 
children of refpeftable families. Dr. Willan declares that 
he has not feen a Angle inftance of fcrophula, which could 
be fairly referred to the cow-pox ; and Dr. Jenner fays, 
“ Having attentively watched the effefts of the cow-pox 
in this refpeft, I am happy in being able to declare, that 
the difeafe has not the leaft tendency to produce ferophu- 
lous affeftions. The children of the poor are not affeft- 
ed with glandular fwellings, immediately after vaccine 
inoculation, as they frequently are after the fmall-pox, 
meafles, and fcarlatina anginofa. Where fcrophulous 
fymptoms occur one, two, or three, years after vaccina¬ 
tion, we cannot furfty, with juftice, attribute them to it, 
fince impure air, improper food, dirt, confinement, and vi¬ 
rulent difeafes, i'uch as the lepra, feald-head, itch, and im¬ 
petigo, fo generally contribute to the produftion of glan¬ 
dular difeafes in the lower clafs of people. 
The teftimonies in favour of the cow-pox inoculation 
are indeed ftrong and powerful. The parliament has voted 
to Dr. Jenner a no lefs fum than 30,5001. and the Col¬ 
lege of Phyficians declare, “ that they feel it their duty 
ftrongly to recommend the praftice of vaccination ; thaC 
they have been led to this conclulion by no preconceived 
opinion, but by the moft unbiafied judgment, formed 
from an irrefiftible weight of evidence which has been laid 
before them ; and that when the number, the refpefta- 
bility, the difintereftednefs, and the extenlive experience, 
of its advocates, are compared with the feeble and imper- 
feft teftimonies of its few oppofers 3 and when it is con- 
fidered that many who were once adverfe to vaccination 
have been convinced by further trials, and are now to be 
ranked among its warmeft fupporters ; the truth leems to 
be eftabliflted as firmly as the nature of fuch a queftion 
admits ; fo that the College of Phyficians conceive that 
the public may reafonably look forward with fome degree 
of hope to the time when all oppofition fhall ceafe, and 
the general concurrence of mankind fhall at length be 
able to put an end to the ravages at leaft, if not to the 
exiftence, of the fmall-pox.” 
In comparing the degree of danger from the inocula¬ 
tion of cow-pox with that arifing from the inoculated 
fmall-pox, we are convinced that Dr. Pearfon greatly 
over-rates the mortality in the latter diforder. He fuppofes 
it to be no lefs than one in 200. Dr. Mofeley, on the 
other hand, who is a violent opponent of the vaccine in¬ 
oculation, afferts, that he has inoculated feveral thoufands 
with variolous matter, in Europe and the Weft Indies, 
without ever lofing a patient j and that feveral other per- 
