“During the investigation of the casual cowpox, I was struck with the idea that it might be practicable to propagate the disease by inoculation, after the manner of the smallpox, first from the cow, and finally from one human being to another. I anxiously waited some time for an opportunity of putting this theory to the test. At length the period arrived, and the first experiment was made upon a lad of the name of Phipps, in whose arm a little vaccine virus was inserted, taken from the hand of a young woman who had been accidentally infected by a cow. Notwithstanding the resemblance which the pustule, thus excited on the boy’s arm, bore to variolous inoculation, yet as the indisposition attending it was barely perceptible, I could scarcely persuade myself the patient was secure from the smallpox. However, on his being inoculated some months afterwards, it proved that he was secure. This case inspired me with confidence; and as soon as I could again furnish myself with virus from the cow, I made an arrangement for a series of inoculations. A number of children were inoculated in succession, one from the other; and after several months had elapsed, they were exposed to the infection of smallpox—some by inoculation, others by variolous effluvia, and some in both ways, but they all resisted it. The result of these trials gradually led me into a wider field of experiment, which I went over not only with great attention, but with painful solicitude.” The great revolution effected by vaccination can scarcely be appreciated in our days, and some testimonies from the past are continually needed. The Rev. Dr. Booker, of Dudley, which in his time contained fourteen thousand inhabitants, testified thus respecting vaccination and its striking effects: “I have, previous to the knowledge of the vaccine inoculation, frequently buried, day after day, several (and once as many as eight) victims of the smallpox. But since the parish has been blessed with this invaluable boon of Divine Providence (cowpock), introduced among us nearly four years ago, only two victims have fallen a prey to the above ravaging disorder (smallpox). In the surrounding villages, like an insatiable Moloch, it has lately been devouring vast numbers, where obstinacy and prejudice have precluded the Jennerian protective blessing, and not a few of the infected victims have been brought for interment in our cemeteries; yet, though thousands have thus fallen beside us, the fatal pestilence has not hitherto again come nigh our dwelling. The spirit of Jenner hath stood between the dead and the living, and the plague has been stayed.”