Jenner, to choose one from the long list, was a real dionysian, because
he boldly pitted his own opinion against the practically unanimous
opinion of all the rest of the human race. Among those members of
the ruling class in England who came after him--those men, that is,
who made vaccination compulsory--the dionysian spirit was still more
apparent. The masses themselves did not want to be vaccinated, because
they were too ignorant to understand the theory of inoculation and
too stupid to be much impressed by its unvisualized and--for years,
at least--impalpable benefits. Yet their rulers forced them, against
their will, to bare their arms. And why was this done? Was it because
the ruling class was possessed by a boundless love for humanity and
so yearned to lavish upon it a wealth of Christian devotion? Not
at all. The real motive of the law makers was to be found in two
considerations. In the first place, a proletariat which suffered
from epidemics of small-pox was a crippled mob whose capacity for
serving its betters, in the fields and factories of England, was sadly
decreased. In the second place experience proved that when smallpox
raged in the slums, it had an unhappy habit of stretching out its arms
in the direction of mansion and castle, too. Therefore, the proletariat
was vaccinated and small-pox was stamped out--not because the ruling
class loved the workers, but because it wanted to make them work for
it as continuously as possible and to remove or reduce their constant
menace to its life and welfare. In so far as it took the initiative in
these proceedings, the military ruling-class of England raised itself
to the eminence of Nietzsche's first caste. That Jenner himself, when
he put forward his idea and led the military caste to carry it into
execution, was an ideal member of the first caste, is plain. The goal
before him was fame everlasting--and he gained it.