The first lady of rank who had her child vaccinated was Lady Frances Morton (afterwards Lady Ducie). The Countess of Berkeley very early promoted Jenner’s success and ardently advocated vaccination.
A certain Dr. Woodville, eager to rank among the vaccinators, discovered cowpox in a dairy in Gray’s Inn Lane, in January 1799, found that the milkers became infected, and took from them matter with which he vaccinated a number of persons; but contrary to Jenner’s practice, he proceeded to insert smallpox matter in their arms on the third and fifth days after vaccination, as if that could afford a fair trial of the new method. No wonder that the patients exhibited pustules like those of smallpox, and this was the first of the many disasters that arose from the injudicious zeal of Jenner’s first followers. This same Dr. Woodville, in an interview with Jenner in March of the same year, showed himself so little acquainted with the real character of cowpox, that he described it as having been communicated by effluvia; and that the patient had it in the confluent way. Jenner remarked on this: “Might not the disease have been the confluent smallpox communicated by Dr. Woodville, as he is always full of the infection?”
Notwithstanding the mistakes of injudicious friends vaccination began to spread in 1799, largely through the aid of those friends of Jenner who themselves became inoculators—including many who were not medical practitioners. In the same year it came into notice on the continent, the “Inquiry” having become known in Vienna, Hanover, and Geneva. In particular Dr. de Carro in Vienna became its most zealous and judicious advocate, and greatly contributed to the striking diminution in the ravages of smallpox which soon became evident in that city through the introduction and wide spread of vaccination. A little later, vaccine matter was first sent to Berlin. The same year vaccination became known in the United States, Professor Waterhouse of Cambridge, Mass., being the first to appreciate its importance. He as soon as possible vaccinated his own children, and then had one of them publicly inoculated with smallpox; and no infection following, the practice became at once established in the United States. Some contamination with smallpox having taken place by injudicious action as in England, matter was obtained direct from Jenner, and President Jefferson, with his sons-in-law, in 1801, set the example of vaccinating in their own families and those of their neighbours, nearly 200 persons. France and Spain had also followed in the wake, and almost all Europe was now being vaccinated.
We cannot follow the details of the successful introduction of vaccination as by a triumphal progress all over the world, proving its efficacy on men of all colour, of all civilisations, of all climates. Sir Ralph Abercrombie’s expedition to Egypt was the first armed force submitted to vaccination, and its good effects were most evident. At Palermo it was not unusual to see on the mornings of public inoculation at the hospital a procession of men, women, and children, conducted through the streets by a priest carrying a cross, on the way to be inoculated. The medical officers of the British navy in 1801 presented Dr. Jenner with a gold medal in honour of his discovery.
Smallpox was still committing great ravages in India and Ceylon, and Jenner exerted himself to the utmost to transmit vaccine matter to the East. The early attempts all failed, some from accident, such as the loss of an East Indiaman at sea, others from inexperience in sending the virus so great a distance, exposed to such vicissitudes of climate. Dr. Jenner proposed to the Secretary of State to send in some ship to India a number of soldiers who had not had smallpox, and to vaccinate them in succession by appointing a skilled surgeon to accompany the vessel; but those in office could not see the wisdom of this plan. Consequently the noble discoverer resolved himself to do what was so needful, and while seeking to defray part of the cost by a public subscription, he headed it with a subscription of a thousand guineas. But before the project could be matured, news arrived of the successful introduction of vaccine matter into Bombay, in consequence of its successive transfer to Constantinople, to Bagdad, to Bussora, and thence by sea to Bombay. The self-denying enthusiasm of Dr. Jenner is, however, as conspicuous as if his expedition had been fitted out as he intended.
The simple narrative which the great man himself gave in 1801 in a pamphlet only extending to eight pages, deserves reproducing in every account of the discovery. Its simplicity is more forceful than any decorative treatment could have rendered it. “My inquiry into the nature of the cowpox commenced upwards of twenty-five years ago. My attention to this singular disease was first excited by observing, that among those whom in the country I was frequently called upon to inoculate, many resisted every effort to give them the smallpox. These patients I found had undergone a disease they called the cowpox, contracted by milking cows affected with a peculiar eruption on their teats. On inquiry, it appeared that it had been known among the dairies time immemorial, and that a vague opinion prevailed that it was a preventive of the smallpox. This opinion I found was comparatively new among them, for all the older families declared they had no such idea in their early days.”
“During the investigation of the casual cowpox, I was struck with the idea that it might be practicable to propagate the disease by inoculation, after the manner of the smallpox, first from the cow, and finally from one human being to another. I anxiously waited some time for an opportunity of putting this theory to the test. At length the period arrived, and the first experiment was made upon a lad of the name of Phipps, in whose arm a little vaccine virus was inserted, taken from the hand of a young woman who had been accidentally infected by a cow. Notwithstanding the resemblance which the pustule, thus excited on the boy’s arm, bore to variolous inoculation, yet as the indisposition attending it was barely perceptible, I could scarcely persuade myself the patient was secure from the smallpox. However, on his being inoculated some months afterwards, it proved that he was secure. This case inspired me with confidence; and as soon as I could again furnish myself with virus from the cow, I made an arrangement for a series of inoculations. A number of children were inoculated in succession, one from the other; and after several months had elapsed, they were exposed to the infection of smallpox—some by inoculation, others by variolous effluvia, and some in both ways, but they all resisted it. The result of these trials gradually led me into a wider field of experiment, which I went over not only with great attention, but with painful solicitude.”
The great revolution effected by vaccination can scarcely be appreciated in our days, and some testimonies from the past are continually needed. The Rev. Dr. Booker, of Dudley, which in his time contained fourteen thousand inhabitants, testified thus respecting vaccination and its striking effects: “I have, previous to the knowledge of the vaccine inoculation, frequently buried, day after day, several (and once as many as eight) victims of the smallpox. But since the parish has been blessed with this invaluable boon of Divine Providence (cowpock), introduced among us nearly four years ago, only two victims have fallen a prey to the above ravaging disorder (smallpox). In the surrounding villages, like an insatiable Moloch, it has lately been devouring vast numbers, where obstinacy and prejudice have precluded the Jennerian protective blessing, and not a few of the infected victims have been brought for interment in our cemeteries; yet, though thousands have thus fallen beside us, the fatal pestilence has not hitherto again come nigh our dwelling. The spirit of Jenner hath stood between the dead and the living, and the plague has been stayed.”
Many ladies took up the practice of vaccination with zeal and skill. Thus, up to November 1805, Miss Bayley, of Hope, near Manchester, had vaccinated two thousand six hundred persons, and a female friend of hers had vaccinated two thousand. Miss Bayley is related to have carried on her extensive vaccinations with great judgment and precision. She commenced by offering five shillings to any one who could produce an instance of the occurrence of smallpox in any person vaccinated by her. Out of the whole number of cases above mentioned, however, only one claim was made; and on referring to her books, it was found that a mark had been made against the name, indicating a suspicion that the vaccination had not been effective.