Through his persuasion, and from the gradual general disposition of the feelings of the people in favour of the measure, two boys, resident at Conception, were sent to Recife for the purpose of being inoculated with the cow-pox; as soon as they returned, the surgeon of Iguaraçu, a young man of considerable merit who had been educated at Lisbon, came over to the island to inoculate any persons who might be inclined to undergo the operation. Among the children it was almost general. Their parents and friends were told that the disorder was not infectious, and consequently no precautions were taken in separating those who were under its influence from the other inmates of the same cottage. Soon afterwards an elderly woman, the attendant of a child who had been inoculated, fell sick and died, and other persons were likewise afflicted with the same disorder. The infection spread, and ten or twelve persons died of it in the island. The evil indeed was only stopped by the inoculation of great numbers of the inhabitants. It was observed that none of the individuals who had been inoculated had been in danger, and therefore it was soon seen that the wisest plan was to undergo the operation. A few however were so much alarmed at the fate of some of their acquaintances, that they lived for many days in the woods, scarcely visiting any habitation of man in the dread of infection. It was proved that the small-pox did not exist at that time upon the island, for every enquiry was made,—much pains were taken by many persons of zeal and activity to certify that this was the case; and indeed when that dreadful malady appears in any neighbourhood the whole country round is alarmed, and every precaution is taken to prevent communication. Now, it was generally said that either the boys who had been sent to Recife were inoculated with the small-pox instead of the cow-pox, or that the cow-pox degenerated and became an infectious disease. The boys received the matter from a newly-imported negro, who had, it is true, been inoculated with the cow-pox, but he might have had the small-pox upon him at the time, though it had not made its appearance. It is from the newly arrived Africans, that the small-pox is often spread abroad, after the country has had a long respite from this much dreaded disorder. One man who resided near to Conception caught the disease and died; he had only sat for a short time in an outward room of a house in the interior of which some children were confined who had been inoculated.