The Story of a Great Delusion in a Series of Matter-of-Fact ChaptersWhite, William
History
The Story of a Great Delusion in a Series of Matter-of-Fact Chapters
White, William
Vaccination
In the course of the investigation I found that some of those
_who seemed to have undergone the Cowpox_, nevertheless, on
inoculation with the Smallpox, felt its influence just the same
as if no disease had been communicated to them by the Cow. This
occurrence led me to inquire among the medical practitioners in
the country around me, who all agreed in this sentiment, that
the Cowpox was not to be relied upon as a certain preventive of
the Smallpox. This for a while damped, but did not extinguish my
ardour; for as I proceeded I had the satisfaction to learn that
the Cow was subject to some varieties of spontaneous eruptions
upon her teats, that were all capable of communicating sores to
the hands of the milkers, and that whatever sore was derived
from the animal was called in the dairy the Cowpox. Thus I
surmounted a great obstacle, and, in consequence, was led to form
a distinction between these diseases, one of which only I have
denominated the _true_, the others the _spurious_ Cowpox, as they
possess no specific power over the constitution.
Here we have the trick before us at the very point of
transformation. He consulted with medical practitioners, “who
all agreed that Cowpox was not to be relied upon as a certain
preventive of Smallpox.” True. What did he do next? He discovered
that what Cowpox did not prevent, the variety derived from
Horsegrease did. Such was the original revelation of 1798. In 1801
we have a different story, and his quest a different issue. Not
a word about the discovery of the sure preventive in Horsegrease
Cowpox--not one word! Although his ardour was damped by the medical
evidence against Cowpox, he yet prosecuted his inquiry; and to his
satisfaction ascertained that what the milkers called Cowpox was
not always Cowpox, but that any sores whatever derived from the
Cow were so designated. He therefore was led to form a distinction
between the diseases, and to denominate one as _true_ and the
others as _spurious_ Cowpox.
Thus the Horse, the obnoxious Horse, was got rid of, and the
Cow represented as of herself yielding pox, which pox was the
Cowpox that Pearson and Woodville (in contempt of Jenner’s 1798
revelation) had brought into fashion; and which it had become all
essential for Jenner to claim as his own in order to realise his
“fond hope of enjoying independence.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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