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
We think it a matter of justice to Mr. Jesty, and beneficial to
the public, to attest, that among other facts he has afforded
decisive evidence of his having vaccinated his wife and two sons,
Robert and Benjamin, in the year 1774; who were thereby rendered
insusceptible of the Smallpox, as appears from the frequent
exposure of all three to that disorder during the course of 31
years, and from the inoculation of the two sons for the Smallpox
15 years ago.
It is to be observed that insusceptibility to Smallpox was by
no means infrequent apart from Cowpox; and as fear of Smallpox
predisposes to attack, so, on the other hand, confidence in
security, whether by Cowpox or other charm, would tend to exemption.
Jesty’s reasons for his experiment were thus specified--
He was led to undertake the novel practice in 1774 to counteract
the Smallpox, at that time prevalent at Yetminster, from
knowing the common opinion of the country ever since he was a
boy (now 60 years ago) that persons who had gone through the
Cowpock naturally, that is to say by taking it from cows, were
insusceptible of the Smallpox.
By himself being incapable of taking the Smallpox, having gone
through the Cowpock many years before.
From knowing many individuals who after the Cowpock could not
have the Smallpox excited.
From believing that the Cowpock was an affection free from
danger; and from his opinion that by the Cowpock Inoculation
he should avoid engrafting various diseases of the human
constitution, such as “the Evil, madness, lues, and many bad
humours,” as he called them.
In these reasons we have the Cowpox doctrine as prevalent in
Dorsetshire, which Jesty developed in family practice. The report
proceeds--
The remarkably vigorous health of Mr. Jesty, his wife, and two
sons, now 31 years subsequent to the Cowpock, and his own healthy
appearance, at this time 70 years of age, afford a singularly
strong proof of the harmlessness of that affection; but the
public must, with particular interest, hear that during the late
visit to town, Mr. Robert Jesty submitted publicly to inoculation
for the Smallpox in the most rigorous manner; and that Mr. Jesty
also was subjected to the trial of inoculation for the Cowpock
after the most efficacious mode, without either of them being
infected.
It is curious how evidence conforms to prepossession. Dr. Pearson
and his associates were persuaded that as no one could have
Smallpox twice, neither could any one have Cowpox twice. Jesty
had Cowpox when young, and when at three score they found him
insusceptible, they took it for granted that re-vaccination was
impossible. Robert Jesty, who had Cowpox thirty-one years before
was at the same time inoculated with Smallpox, and as that likewise
failed to take, the experiment enforced the desired conclusion.
Having turned out so well, praise and portraiture were bestowed on
Jesty--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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