DON QUIXOTE.--It is a balsam, the receipt of which I hold in memory; and having it, there is no fear of death, nor that any wound will be fatal: therefore, when I shall have made it, and given it to thee, all thou wilt have to do, when thou seest me in some battle cleft asunder (as it frequently happens) is, to take up fair and softly that part of my body which shall fall to the ground, and with the greatest nicety, before the blood is congealed, place it upon the other half that shall remain in the saddle, taking especial care to make them tally exactly and justly. Then shalt thou give me two draughts only of the balsam aforesaid, and instantly wilt thou see me become sounder than an apple. SANCHO PANZA.--If this be so, I renounce from henceforward the government of the promised island; and only desire, in payment of my many and good services, that your Worship will give me the receipt of this extraordinary liquor; for I daresay it will anywhere fetch more than two reals an ounce; and I want no more to pass this life with credit and comfort. But first, I should be glad to know whether the making of it will cost much? DON QUIXOTE.--For less than three reals thou mayest make nine pints. SANCHO PANZA.--Sinner that I am! Why does your Worship delay making and showing it to me? DON QUIXOTE.--Peace, friend, for I intend to teach thee greater secrets, and to do thee greater kindnesses: but at present, let us set about the cure; for my ear pains me more than I could wish. PART I.--VARIOLOUS INOCULATION. CHAPTER I. COTTON MATHER AND ZABDIEL BOYLSTON. To the Turks we owe little, and in the little is included the practice of inducing smallpox artificially. The practice was first brought under English attention by Emanuel Timoni in a letter, dated Constantinople, December, 1713, communicated to the Royal Society by Dr. Woodward, and published in the Society’s _Transactions_ for 1714.[1] About the same time, Pylarini, Venetian consul at Smyrna, described the practice in a Latin pamphlet printed at Venice, 1715,[2] and reproduced in the _Philosophical Transactions_ for 1716. Mr. Kennedy, an English surgeon, who had visited Turkey, also reported the practice under the designation of “Engrafting the Smallpox.”[3] Timoni was a Greek physician, who had studied at Oxford and Padua, and then established himself in Constantinople. He described “smallpox by incision” as having been practised in Constantinople for forty years, and that it had been found uniformly successful in warding off smallpox as naturally developed. The variolous matter was usually taken from healthy boys suffering from the spontaneous disease, and was applied to persons of all ages and temperaments, causing them no more than temporary and trifling inconvenience. The only preparation requisite for incision was abstinence from flesh and broth for twenty or twenty-five days.