1802. } 
beft manner, is about one in three hundred. 
(No. 36.) 
Mr. Joun Rinc, Member of the 
Royal College of Surgeons, confiders 
Dr. Jenner as the author of vaccine-inocu- 
lation, and the difcovery itflf as being 
beyond all comparifon the moit vaiuable 
anda important ever made by man; he 
believes ir to be a perfeét and permanent 
fecurity againft the fmall-pox , he bas 
moculated upwards of 1,200  perfons 
-with vaccine matter, and has reafon to 
believe that at leaft rooo of them have 
been either voluntarily or involuntarily, ex- 
pofed to variolous inteétion, which they ail 
refitted. The vaccine inoculation is at- 
tended with no danger unle{s from igno- 
rance or neglect. . If Dr. Jenner had kept 
this difcovery to himfelf, his practice 
~ might have been worth £.10,000 per an- 
num, it being well known that cerain in 
dividuals have acquired as much or more 
by the ordinary practice of phyfic ; all 
humours and diforders which happen after 
any {pecies of inoculation, are commonly 
attributed to that inoculation by perfons 
prejudiced againft it, and others are fome- 
times influenced by their opinions ; but 
he knows of no inftance where the cow- 
pox has occafioned any other complaint, 
than what may be caufed by any other 
difeafe which is equally mild ; he is of 
opinion that every difeafe is capable of 
exciting other difeafes or humours, in 
proportion to its magnitude ; the magni- 
tude of the cow-pox depends much upon 
the treatment. He never practifed the 
fmall-pox inoculation in any particular 
manner, nor ever kept any account of the 
number he inoculated, but fuppofes it 
might amount to about 600 ; he thinks 
that about one in every hundred in Lon- 
don, on anaverage, inoculated with finall- 
pox, die; the reafon of a greater mortality 
prevailing amongft perfons inoculated for 
the {mall-pox in London, is the unwhole- 
fomenels of the atmofphere, and the fre- 
quent neceffity of inoculating. children at 
an improper age; hehas never known 
any accident happen from inoculating trom 
a {purious fort of cow-pox ; in refpeét of 
the periods of coming out and turning, the 
inoculation of the cow-pox is fubjeé to 
the {ame laws, and liable to the tame va- 
riations, with the inoculation of the fmali- 
pox; it is not more difficult to determine 
whether a patient has had the regular cow, 
than whether the patient has hac the rega- 
lar {mali-pox, provided care is taken not 
to interrupt the regular progrefs of the 
vaccine- puftule by triétion ; he has known 
docal inflammation produced both from in- 
4 “ 
Report of the Committee on Dr. Fenner’s Petition. 
15 
oculation with vaccine, and inoculation’ 
with variolous-matter, witheut. being fol- 
lowed by any pultule; in this refpeé, 
therefore, the two inoculations are fimilar, 
and he knows of no advantage either in 
this or any other reipect which the mocu- 
lation of the {mal!- pox has over that of the 
cow-pox. (Ne. 38.) 
De. James Sims, Licentiate of the 
Royal College of Phyticians, and Pref- 
dent of the Medical Society of London, 
tated, That he was originally adverfe to 
vaccine inoculation, but his confidence 
hes been increafing m it every hour, from 
the repeated trials and authorities cited 
of its efficacy. He never heard of it be- 
fore Dr. Jenner's publication, to whom 
alone he attributes the difcovery, whicla 
he looks upon to be the moft uietul ever 
made in medicine; he thinks that if Dr. 
Jenner had kept it a fecret, as be might 
have done, he migat, during his life (if 
protracted to a moderate lengti) have be- 
come the richeft man in thele kingdoms. 
The vaccine-difeafe does not introduce 
any other diforder into the human frame. 
The computation made of deaths ecca= 
fioned by the natural finall-pox, by Dr. 
Jurin and others, is one in fix. 
Dr. Sims laid betore the Committee a 
teflimony, unanimoufly refolved upon by 
the Medical Society of London, (whicls 
confifts of above 150 members, refident in 
the metropolis, and of more than double 
that number refiding elfewhere) in favour 
of this very important difcovery, figned 
by himfelf as Prefident. (No. 37.) 
Mr. John Addington, Mcmber of the 
Royai Coliege of Surgeons, is acquainted 
with vaccine-inoculation, and has prac- 
tiled it fince the fpring of the year 1799 
with uniform fuccefs, and has kept an 
exact regifter of cafes to the number of. 
eighty-one, with all their particulars. 
He has incculated with variolous matter, 
and expoled to the infection of natural 
fmall-pox in its moft violent forms, and 
in every ftage, by every method he could 
devile, about one-third of his patients, 
and in no cafe was the infection of fimall- 
pox communicated. He further tated, 
that be had been particularly careful in 
the choice of the matter employed in vae- 
cine-inoculation, and had not found in 
his own practice any cafe of {purious cow- 
pox, but had feen many cafes of fpurious 
fmail-pox; and therefore confidered that 
the objections which are thought to arife 
againit the vaccine-ineculation from this 
fource, apply equally againft the inocula- 
tion of fmall pox. (No. 21.) 
Dr. Letiiom, F. Rk. S. Licentiate of 
the 
