324 
GEORGE FLEMING 
Badcock contrived to transfer to children, might it not be sug¬ 
gested that in all probability the animals from which they trans¬ 
ferred it were accidentally infected with the natural malady at 
the time they were inoculated with the small-pox virus ? 
Cow-pox was far more rare in those days, and many might be 
inclined to conclude, that if the animals supposed to have devel¬ 
oped vaccinia from small pox were not inoculated with small-pox 
lymph by mistake, they were already infected with cow-pox, from 
which children were subsequently vaccinated. Ceely himself ad¬ 
mits ( Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Asso¬ 
ciation, vol. viii. p. 378) that cow-pox was prevalent in the locality 
when his experiments were undertaken, and he also states that in 
the only two instances in which he succeeded iu producing vacci¬ 
nia by variolation, the animals were also vaccinated quite close to 
the inoculationpunctures ; while with a third heifer experimented 
on at the same time, but which was not vaccinated , there was no 
result. 
It is somewhat extraordinary that, considering the grave issues 
at stake, Mr. Ceely has not been prevailed upon to undertake fur¬ 
ther experiments, and to repeat that success which could not be 
achieved by any subsequent experimenters, though they had the 
advantage of far more abundant means and facilities. Surely if, 
as has been asserted, cow-pox could be so easily produced acci¬ 
dentally, by contact with small-pox-infected people at the com¬ 
mencement of this century (though there is no proof of this), it 
should be as readily developed now, experimentally or accident¬ 
ally ; and especially when we find that vaccination—which some 
authorities say is only variolation—is easily and certainly prac¬ 
ticed in the bovine species. According to his own statement, Mr. 
Ceely only succeeded twice, under the conditions mentioned above, 
in producing vaccinia from small-pox, though his experiments ap¬ 
pear to have been numerous. All subsequent attempts of most 
careful, skilled, and patient investigators have failed. 
But if the views I entertain are well-founded—and reasoning 
and facts are altogether in their favor—vaccinia cannot be devel¬ 
oped from human variola ; the two are distinct and special infec¬ 
tions—as distinct as two individuals of the same species. Vaccinia 
