Charlotte Selina Bompas - "Owindia"

Sinclair Lewis - "Our Mr. Wrenn"

William Morris - "News from Nowhere"

Rabindranath Tagore - "The Hungry Stones And Other Stories"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The Harvard Classics Volume 38

V >> Various >> The Harvard Classics Volume 38




To C.H. PARRY, M.D. AT BATH

MY DEAR FRIEND:

In the present age of scientific investigation it is remarkable
that a disease of so peculiar a nature as the cow-pox, which has
appeared in this and some of the neighbouring counties for such a
series of years, should so long have escaped particular
attention. Finding the prevailing notions on the subject, both
among men of our profession and others, extremely vague and
indeterminate, and conceiving that facts might appear at once
both curious and useful, I have instituted as strict an inquiry
into the causes and effects of this singular malady as local
circumstances would admit.

The following pages are the result, which, from motives of the
most affectionate regard, are dedicated to you, by

Your sincere friend,

EDWARD JENNER.

BERKELEY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, June 21st, 1798.




VACCINATION AGAINST SMALLPOX

I AN INQUIRY INTO THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF THE VARIOLE VACCINE,
OR COW-POX. 1798


The deviation of man from the stage in which he was originally
placed by nature seems to have proved to him a prolific source of
diseases. From the love of splendour, from the indulgences of
luxury, and from his fondness for amusement he has familiarised
himself with a great number of animals, which may not originally
have been intended for his associates.

The wolf, disarmed of ferocity, is now pillowed in the lady's
lap. [Footnote: The late Mr. John Hunter proved, by experiments,
that the dog is the wolf in a degenerate state.] The cat, the
little tiger of our island, whose natural home is the forest, is
equally domesticated and caressed. The cow, the hog, the sheep,
and the horse, are all, for a variety of purposes, brought under
his care and dominion.

There is a disease to which the horse, from his state of
domestication, is frequently subject. The farriers have called it
the grease. It is an inflammation and swelling in the heel, from
which issues matter possessing properties of a very peculiar
kind, which seems capable of generating a disease in the human
body (after it has undergone the modification which I shall
presently speak of), which bears so strong a resemblance to the
smallpox that I think it highly probable it may be the source of
the disease.

In this dairy country a great number of cows are kept, and the
office of milking is performed indiscriminately by men and maid
servants. One of the former having been appointed to apply
dressings to the heels of a horse affected with the grease, and
not paying due attention to cleanliness, incautiously bears his
part in milking the cows, with some particles of the infectious
matter adhering to his fingers. When this is the case, it
commonly happens that a disease is communicated to the cows, and
from the cows to the dairymaids, which spreads through the farm
until the most of the cattle and domestics feel its unpleasant
consequences. This disease has obtained the name of the cow-pox.
It appears on the nipples of the cows in the form of irregular
pustules. At their first appearance they are commonly of a palish
blue, or rather of a colour somewhat approaching to livid, and
are surrounded by an erysipelatous inflammation. These pustules,
unless a timely remedy be applied, frequently degenerate into
phagedenic ulcers, which prove extremely troublesome. [Footnote:
They who attend sick cattle in this country find a speedy remedy
for stopping the progress of this complaint in those applications
which act chemically upon the morbid matter, such as the
solutions of the vitriolum zinci and the vitriolum cupri, etc.]
The animals become indisposed, and the secretion of milk is much
lessened. Inflamed spots now begin to appear on different parts
of the hands of the domestics employed in milking, and sometimes
on the wrists, which quickly run on to suppuration, first
assuming the appearance of the small vesications produced by a
burn. Most commonly they appear about the joints of the fingers
and at their extremities; but whatever parts are affected, if the
situation will admit, these superficial suppurations put on a
circular form, with their edges more elevated than their centre,
and of a colour distantly approaching to blue. Absorption takes
place, and tumours appear in each axilla. The system becomes
affected--the pulse is quickened; and shiverings, succeeded by
heat, with general lassitude and pains about the loins and limbs,
with vomiting, come on. The head is painful, and the patient is
now and then even affected with delirium. These symptoms, varying
in their degrees of violence, generally continue from one day to
three or four, leaving ulcerated sores about the hands, which,
from the sensibility of the parts, are very troublesome, and
commonly heal slowly, frequently becoming phagedenic, like those
from whence they sprung. The lips, nostrils, eyelids, and other
parts of the body are sometimes affected with sores; but these
evidently arise from their being heedlessly rubbed or scratched
with the patient's infected fingers. No eruptions on the skin
have followed the decline of the feverish symptoms in any
instance that has come under my inspection, one only excepted,
and in this case a very few appeared on the arms: they were very
minute, of a vivid red colour, and soon died away without
advancing to maturation; so that I cannot determine whether they
had any connection with the preceding symptoms.

Thus the disease makes its progress from the horse [Footnote:
Jenner's conclusion that "grease" and cow-pox were the same
disease has since been proved erroneous; but this error has not
invalidated his main conclusion as to the relation of cow-pox and
smallpox.--EDITOR.] to the nipple of the cow, and from the cow to
the human subject

Morbid matter of various kinds, when absorbed into the system,
may produce effects in some degree similar; but what renders the
cow-pox virus so extremely singular is that the person who has
been thus affected is forever after secure from the infection of
the smallpox; neither exposure to the variolous effluvia, nor the
insertion of the matter into the skin, producing this distemper.

In support of so extraordinary a fact, I shall lay before my
reader a great number of instances. [Footnote: It is necessary to
observe that pustulous sores frequently appear spontaneously on
the nipples of cows, and instances have occurred, though very
rarely, of the hands of the servants employed in milking being
affected with sores in consequence, and even of their feeling an
indisposition from absorption. These pustules arc of a much
milder nature than those which arise from that contagion which
constitutes the true cow-pox. They are always free from the
bluish or livid tint so conspicuous in the pustules in that
disease. No erysipelas attends them, nor do they shew any
phagedenic disposition as in the other case, but quickly
terminate in a scab without creating any apparent disorder in the
cow. This complaint appears at various seasons of the year, but
most commonly in the spring, when the cows are first taken from
their winter food and fed with grass. It is very apt to appear
also when they are suckling their young. But this disease is not
to be considered as similar in any respect to that of which I am
treating, as it is incapable of producing any specific effects on
the human constitution. However, it is of the greatest
consequence to point it out here, lest the want of discrimination
should occasion an idea of security from the infection of the
smallpox, which might prove delusive.]

CASE I.--Joseph Merret, now an under gardener to the Earl of
Berkeley, lived as a servant with a farmer near this place in the
year 1770, and occasionally assisted in milking his master's
cows. Several horses belonging to the farm began to have sore
heels, which Merret frequently attended. The cows soon became
affected with the cow-pox, and soon after several sores appeared
on his hands. Swellings and stiffness in each axilla followed,
and he was so much indisposed for several days as to be incapable
of pursuing his ordinary employment. Previously to the appearance
of the distemper among the cows there was no fresh cow brought
into the farm, nor any servant employed who was affected with the
cow-pox.

In April, 1795, a general inoculation taking place here, Merret
was inoculated with his family; so that a period of twenty-five
years had elapsed from his having the cow-pox to this time.
However, though the variolous matter was repeatedly inserted into
his arm, I found it impracticable to infect him with it; an
efflorescence only, taking on an erysipelatous look about the
centre, appearing on the skin near the punctured parts. During
the whole time that his family had the smallpox, one of whom had
it very full, he remained in the house with them, but received no
injury from exposure to the contagion.

It is necessary to observe that the utmost care was taken to
ascertain, with the most scrupulous precision, that no one whose
case is here adduced had gone through the smallpox previous to
these attempts to produce that disease.

Had these experiments been conducted in a large city, or in a
populous neighbourhood, some doubts might have been entertained;
but here, where population is thin, and where such an event as a
person's having had the smallpox is always faithfully recorded,
as risk of inaccuracy in this particular can arise.

CASE II.--Sarah Portlock, of this place, was infected with the
cow-pox when a servant at a farmer's in the neighbourhood,
twenty-seven years ago. [Footnote: I have purposely selected
several cases in which the disease had appeared at a very distant
period previous to the experiments made with variolous matter, to
shew that the change produced in the constitution is not affected
by time.]

In the year 1792, conceiving herself, from this circumstance,
secure from the infection of the smallpox, she nursed one of her
own children who had accidentally caught the disease, but no
indisposition ensued. During the time she remained in the
infected room, variolous matter was inserted into both her arms,
but without any further effect than in the preceding case.

CASE III.--John Phillips, a tradesman of this town, had the cow-
pox at so early a period as nine years of age. At the age of
sixty-two I inoculated him, and was very careful in selecting
matter in its most active state. It was taken from the arm of a
boy just before the commencement of the eruptive fever, and
instantly inserted. It very speedily produced a sting-like feel
in the part. An efflorescence appeared, which on the fourth day
was rather extensive, and some degree of pain and stiffness were
felt about the shoulder; but on the fifth day these symptoms
began to disappear, and in a day or two after went entirely off,
without producing any effect on the system.

CASE IV.--Mary Barge, of Woodford, in this parish, was inoculated
with variolous matter in the year 1791. An efflorescence of a
palish red colour soon appeared about the parts where the matter
was inserted, and spread itself rather extensively, but died away
in a few days without producing any variolous symptoms.
[Footnote: It is remarkable that variolous matter, when the
system is disposed to reject it, should excite inflammation on
the part to which it is applied more speedily than when it
produces the smallpox. Indeed, it becomes almost a criterion by
which we can determine whether the infection will be received or
not. It seems as if a change, which endures through life, had
been produced in the action, or disposition to action, in the
vessels of the skin; and it is remarkable, too, that whether this
change has been effected by the smallpox or the cow-pox that the
disposition to sudden cuticular inflammation is the same on the
application of variolous matter.] She has since been repeatedly
employed as a nurse to smallpox patients, without experiencing
any ill consequences. This woman had the cow-pox when she lived
in the service of a farmer in this parish thirty-one years
before.

CASE V.--Mrs. H---, a respectable gentlewoman of this town, had
the cow-pox when very young. She received the infection in rather
an uncommon manner: it was given by means of her handling some of
the same utensils [Footnote: When the cow-pox has prevailed in
the dairy, it has often been communicated to those who have not
milked the cows, by the handle of the milk pail.] which were in
use among the servants of the family, who had the disease from
milking infected cows. Her hands had many of the cow-pox sores
upon them, and they were communicated to her nose, which became
inflamed and very much swollen. Soon after this event Mrs. H----
was exposed to the contagion of the smallpox, where it was
scarcely possible for her to have escaped, had she been
susceptible of it, as she regularly attended a relative who had
the disease in so violent a degree that it proved fatal to him.

In the year 1778 the smallpox prevailed very much at Berkeley,
and Mrs. H----, not feeling perfectly satisfied respecting her
safety (no indisposition having followed her exposure to the
smallpox), I inoculated her with active variolous matter. The
same appearance followed as in the preceding cases--an
efflorescence on the arm without any effect on the constitution.

CASE VI.--It is a fact so well known among our dairy farmers that
those who have had the smallpox either escape the cow-pox or are
disposed to have it slightly, that as soon as the complaint shews
itself among the cattle, assistants are procured, if possible,
who are thus rendered less susceptible of it, otherwise the
business of the farm could scarcely go forward.

In the month of May, 1796, the cow-pox broke out at Mr. Baker's,
a farmer who lives near this place. The disease was communicated
by means of a cow which was purchased in an infected state at a
neighbouring fair, and not one of the farmer's cows (consisting
of thirty) which were at that time milked escaped the contagion.
The family consisted of a man servant, two dairymaids, and a
servant boy, who, with the farmer himself, were twice a day
employed in milking the cattle. The whole of this family, except
Sarah Wynne, one of the dairymaids, had gone through the
smallpox. The consequence was that the farmer and the servant boy
escaped the infection of the cow-pox entirely, and the servant
man and one of the maid servants had each of them nothing more
then a sore on one of their fingers, which produced no disorder
in the system. But the other dairymaid, Sarah Wynne, who never
had the smallpox, did not escape in so easy a manner. She caught
the complaint from the cows, and was affected with the symptoms
described on page 154 in so violent a degree that she was
confined to her bed, and rendered incapable for several days of
pursuing her ordinary vocations in the farm.

March 28, 1797, I inoculated this girl and carefully rubbed the
variolous matter into two slight incisions made upon the left
arm. A little inflammation appeared in the usual manner around
the parts where the matter was inserted, but so early as the
fifth day it vanished entirely without producing any effect on
the system.

CASE VII.--Although the preceding history pretty clearly evinces
that the constitution is far less susceptible of the contagion of
the cow-pox after it has felt that of the smallpox, and although
in general, as I have observed, they who have had the smallpox,
and are employed in milking cows which are infected with the cow-
pox, either escape the disorder, or have sores on the hands
without feeling any general indisposition, yet the animal economy
is subject to some variation in this respect, which the following
relation will point out:

In the summer of the year 1796 the cow-pox appeared at the farm
of Mr. Andrews, a considerable dairy adjoining to the town of
Berkeley. It was communicated, as in the preceding instance, by
an infected cow purchased at a fair in the neighbourhood. The
family consisted of the farmer, his wife, two sons, a man and a
maid servant; all of whom, except the farmer (who was fearful of
the consequences), bore a part in milking the cows. The whole of
them, exclusive of the man servant, had regularly gone through
the smallpox; but in this case no one who milked the cows escaped
the contagion. All of them had sores upon their hands, and some
degree of general indisposition, preceded by pains and tumours in
the axillas: but there was no comparison in the severity of the
disease as it was felt by the servant man, who had escaped the
smallpox, and by those of the family who had not, for, while he
was confined to his bed, they were able, without much
inconvenience, to follow their ordinary business.

February the 13th, 1797, I availed myself of an opportunity of
inoculating William Rodway, the servant man above alluded to.
Variolous matter was inserted into both his arms: in the right,
by means of superficial incisions, and into the left by slight
punctures into the cutis. Both were perceptibly inflamed on the
third day. After this the inflammation about the punctures soon
died away, but a small appearance of erysipelas was manifest
about the edges of the incisions till the eighth day, when a
little uneasiness was felt for the space of half an hour in the
right axilla. The inflammation then hastily disappeared without
producing the most distant mark of affection of the system.

CASE VIII.--Elizabeth Wynne, aged fifty-seven, lived as a servant
with a neighbouring farmer thirty-eight years ago. She was then a
dairymaid, and the cow-pox broke out among the cows. She caught
the disease with the rest of the family, but, compared with them,
had it in a very slight degree, one very small sore only breaking
out on the little finger of her left hand, and scarcely any
perceptible indisposition, following it.

As the malady had shewn itself in so slight a manner, and as it
had taken place at so distant a period of her life, I was happy
with the opportunity of trying the effects of variolous matter
upon her constitution, and on the 28th of March, 1797, I
inoculated her by making two superficial incisions on the left
arm, on which the matter was cautiously rubbed. A little
efflorescence soon appeared, and a tingling sensation was felt
about the parts where the matter was inserted until the third
day, when both began to subside, and so early as the fifth day it
was evident that no indisposition would follow.

CASE IX.--Although the cow-pox shields the constitution from the
smallpox, and the smallpox proves a protection against its own
future poison, yet it appears that the human body is again and
again susceptible of the infectious matter of the cow-pox, as the
following history will demonstrate.

William Smith, of Pyrton in this parish, contracted this disease
when he lived with a neighbouring farmer in the year 1780. One of
the horses belonging to the farm had sore heels, and it fell to
his lot to attend him. By these means the infection was carried
to the cows, and from the cows it was communicated to Smith. On
one of his hands were several ulcerated sores, and he was
affected with such symptoms as have been before described.

In the year 1791 the cow-pox broke out at another farm where he
then lived as a servant, and he became affected with it a second
time; and in the year 1794 he was so unfortunate as to catch it
again. The disease was equally as severe the second and third
time as it was on the first. [Footnote: This is not the case in
general--a second attack is commonly very slight, and so, I am
informed, it is among the cows.]

In the spring of the year 1795 he was twice inoculated, but no
affection of the system could be produced from the variolous
matter; and he has since associated with those who had the
smallpox in its most contagious state without feeling any effect
from it.

CASE X.--Simon Nichols lived as a servant with Mr. Bromedge, a
gentleman who resides on his own farm in this parish, in the year
1782. He was employed in applying dressings to the sore heels of
one of his master's horses, and at the same time assisted in
milking the cows. The cows became affected in consequence, but
the disease did not shew itself on their nipples till several
weeks after he had begun to dress the horse. He quitted Mr.
Bromedge's service, and went to another farm without any sores
upon him; but here his hands soon began to be affected in the
common way, and he was much indisposed with the usual symptoms.
Concealing the nature of the malady from Mr. Cole, his new
master, and being there also employed in milking, the cowpox was
communicated to the cows.

Some years afterward Nichols was employed in a farm where the
smallpox broke out, when I inoculated him with several other
patients, with whom he continued during the whole time of their
confinement. His arm inflamed, but neither the inflammation nor
his associating with the inoculated family produced the least
effect upon his constitution.

CASE XI.--William Stinchcomb was a fellow servant with Nichols at
Mr. Bromedge's farm at the time the cattle had the cow-pox, and
he was, unfortunately, infected by them. His left hand was very
severely affected with several corroding ulcers, and a tumour of
considerable size appeared in the axilla of that side. His right
hand had only one small tumour upon it, and no sore discovered
itself in the corresponding axilla.

In the year 1792 Stinchcomb was inoculated with variolous matter,
but no consequences ensued beyond a little inflammation in the
arm for a few days. A large party were inoculated at the same
time, some of whom had the disease in a more violent degree than
is commonly seen from inoculation. He purposely associated with
them, but could not receive the smallpox.

During the sickening of some of his companions their symptoms so
strongly recalled to his mind his own state when sickening with
the cow--pox that he very pertinently remarked their striking
similarity.

CASE XII.--The paupers of the village of Tortworth, in this
county, were inoculated by Mr. Henry Jenner, Surgeon, of
Berkeley, in the year 1795. Among them, eight patients presented
themselves who had at different periods of their lives had the
cow-pox. One of them, Hester Walkley, I attended with that
disease when she lived in the service of a farmer in the same
village in the year 1782; but neither this woman, nor any other
of the patients who had gone through the cow-pox, received the
variolous infection either from the arm or from mixing in the
society of the other patients who were inoculated at the same
time. This state of security proved a fortunate circumstance, as
many of the poor women were at the same time in a state of
pregnancy.

CASE XIII.--One instance has occurred to me of the system being
affected from the matter issuing from the heels of horses, and of
its remaining afterwards unsusceptible of the variolous
contagion; another, where the smallpox appeared obscurely; and a
third, in which its complete existence was positively
ascertained.

First, Thomas Pearce is the son of a smith and farrier near to
this place. He never had the cow-pox; but, in consequence of
dressing horses with sore heels at his father's, when a lad, he
had sores on his fingers which suppurated, and which occasioned a
pretty severe indisposition. Six years afterwards I inserted
variolous matter into his arm repeatedly, without being able to
produce any thing more than slight inflammation, which appeared
very soon after the matter was applied, and afterwards I exposed
him to the contagion of the smallpox with as little effect.
[Footnote: It is a remarkable fact, and well known to many, that
we are frequently foiled in our endeavours to communicate the
smallpox by inoculation to blacksmiths, who in the country are
farriers. They often, as in the above instance, either resist the
contagion entirely, or have the disease anomalously. Shall we not
be able to account for this on a rational principle?]

CASE XIV.--Secondly, Mr. James Cole, a farmer in this parish, had
a disease from the same source as related in the preceding case,
and some years after was inoculated with variolous matter. He had
a little pain in the axilla and felt a slight indisposition for
three or four hours. A few eruptions shewed themselves on the
forehead, but they very soon disappeared without advancing to
maturation.

CASE XV.--Although in the former instances the system seemed to
be secured, or nearly so, from variolous infection, by the
absorption of matter from the sores produced by the diseased
heels of horses, yet the following case decisively proves that
this cannot be entirely relied upon until a disease has been
generated by the morbid matter from the horse on the nipple of
the cow, and passed through that medium to the human subject.

Mr. Abraham Riddiford, a farmer at Stone in this parish, in
consequence of dressing a mare that had sore heels, was affected
with very painful sores in both his hands, tumours in each
axilla, and severe and general indisposition. A surgeon in the
neighbourhood attended him, who knowing the similarity between
the appearance of the sores upon his hands and those produced by
the cow-pox, and being acquainted also with the effects of that
disease on the human constitution, assured him that he never need
to fear the infection of the smallpox; but this assertion proved
fallacious, for, on being exposed to the infection upwards of
twenty years afterwards, he caught the disease, which took its
regular course in a very mild way. There certainly was a
difference perceptible, although it is not easy to describe it,
in the general appearance of the pustules from that which we
commonly see. Other practitioners who visited the patient at my
request agreed with me in this point, though there was no room
left for suspicion as to the reality of the disease, as I
inoculated some of his family from the pustules, who had the
smallpox, with its usual appearances, in consequence.