In 1754 inoculation obtained full recognition from the London College of Physicians. It was declared “that experience had refuted the arguments urged against the practice; that it was now more extensively employed in England than ever; and that it was highly beneficial to mankind.” The fence of hesitation was thrown down, and to be inoculated became the distinction of all who wished to be numbered with the enlightened and prudent. That the Circassians were famous for their beauty, and that they practised inoculation, was a staple argument, and an irresistible, with a multitude of Englishwomen. Opposition was chiefly confined to the lower orders, who objected to have the inoculated at large among them, and in some places threatened to demolish the houses where inoculation was performed.[57] Occasionally a medical practitioner acquired reputation as an inoculator, and was resorted to by patients from a distance, and his operations were not regarded with much favour by his neighbours. Thus the physicians and surgeons of Newbury, Berks, were compelled by their townsmen to promise to inoculate no one who had not resided in Newbury at least two years. The new practice created much business, and its distribution excited some jealousy. Physicians complained that surgeons inoculated without their assistance, and surgeons that apothecaries did so likewise. Dr. Kirkpatrick laid down the rule that every rightly conducted inoculation involved the employment of physician, surgeon, and apothecary--the physician to prepare and prescribe for the patient, the surgeon to cut, infuse, and dress, and the apothecary to make up the medicines. Some, however, dispensed with all three, and effected their own inoculations. A boy poxed fourteen of his school-fellows in sport, and amateur inoculators, male and female, multiplied. As an example of amateur procedure, Dr. Kirkpatrick relates that a gentleman of Kent sent his servant, Silvanus, a young man, to Mrs. Chapman, at Heathfield, to be inoculated. He had to ride thirteen miles, and arrived hot and fatigued at the house of the inoculatrix. As he had taken his preparatory physic at his master’s, Mrs. Chapman desired him to get ready at once for the operation, which he begged her to defer as he was in such a heat. She replied that he must be inoculated that very day, Tuesday, or remain until the following week, for Tuesday was her lucky day. The poor fellow allowed himself to be persuaded, and was then and there inoculated: severe smallpox ensued, and he died.[58] Thus was inoculation revived and established, and smallpox with it--established and diffused. FOOTNOTES: [52] _Medical Works of Dr. Mead_, Vol. ii. p. 146. Edinburgh ed., 1765. [53] _Ibid._ p. 149. [54] _A Sermon before the Governors of the Smallpox Hospital._ Isaiah lviii. 7. London, 1752; second ed., 1753. [55] _An Analysis of Inoculation_, 2nd ed. 1761, p. 145. [56] _Analysis of Inoculation_, p. 348. [57] _Gentleman’s Magazine_, March, 1753.