On 15th March, 1800, the Duke of York requested Jenner to proceed to Colchester to the 85th Regiment. Jenner was unable to go, and sent his nephew, George, instead, who had to report a complete failure. The reason of the failure was, that the entire Regiment, with women and children, had the itch! Jenner was then driven to the conclusion which, says Baron, “he adopted and invariably maintained to the last hour of his life, namely, that any cutaneous disease, however slight in appearance, was capable of interfering with the regular course of the Cowpox and of preventing it from exercising its full protecting influence.”[100] Just so: and mark how the same logic applies to the Variolous Test, which “nobody could get over.” If any cutaneous disorder, however slight, could nullify Cowpox, was it not equally probable that the cutaneous disorder induced by inoculated Cowpox would nullify inoculated Smallpox _until the effects of the Cowpox had time to subside_? When the itch at Colchester was cured, then inoculation with Cowpox was found to be practicable. Thus worthless was the Variolous Test on Jenner’s own principle; yet with such evidence under his eyes and among his fingers, he failed to discern its significance. Nor apparently did he inquire whether the influence of Cowpox was perpetuated over specified periods of six months, nine months, one year, two years, and so on. As trader and adventurer, it suited him better to be not over inquisitive, and to avow boldly that his specific conferred life-long immunity from Smallpox. Vaccinators at this day rarely refer to the once famous Variolous Test: to do so would be absurd. The fact of Re-Vaccination, of Vaccination after Vaccination at short intervals, proves, that whatever the influence of the operation, it is transient and not permanent; and the cases of Smallpox after Vaccination, and of Smallpox in its most malignant forms after Re-Vaccination, as if induced thereby, leave the Variolous Test, which so widely impressed and imposed upon our forefathers, an exploded piece of jugglery. FOOTNOTES: [98] Such timely remedies were solutions of sulphate of zinc or sulphate of copper--a hint for those in quest of antidotes for Vaccination. [99] _Remarks on Certain Medical Principles._ London, 1882. [100] Baron’s _Life of Jenner_, vol. i. p. 380. CHAPTER III. JENNER IN 1798.