MDCCLXVII.
AN
ACCOUNT
Of the Manner of
Inoculating for the Small Pox
in the East Indies.
On perusing lately some tracts upon the subject of Inoculation, I determined to put together a few notes relative to the manner of Inoculation, practised, time out of mind, by the Bramins of Indostan; to this I was chiefly instigated, by considering the great benefit that may arise to mankind from a knowledge of this foreign method, which so remarkably tends to support the practice now generally followed with such marvellous success.
By Dr. Schultz's account of Inoculation, page 65, note (9), it should seem, that the world has been already obliged with a performance of the kind which I have now undertaken, by a Dutch author, a friend of Mr. Chais; but as this is all I know of that work, it shall not discourage my proceeding with my own, the more especially as that performance is in a foreign language, and may not much benefit my country.
As many years are elapsed, since a theme of this nature has employed my thoughts and attention; I will hope for every favorable indulgence from the candor of that learned and respectable Body, to whose judgment I most readily submit the following history and observations.
It has been lately remarked by a learned and judicious ornament of the College of Physicians, "That the Art of Medicine has, in several instances, been greatly indebted to Accident; and that some of its most valuable improvements have been received from the hands of Ignorance and Barbarism; a Truth, remarkably exemplified in the practice of Inoculation of the Small Pox."—However just in general this learned Gentleman's remark may be, he will, as to his particular reference, be surprized to find, that nearly the same salutary method, now so happily pursued in England, (howsoever it has been seemingly blundered upon) has the sanction of remotest antiquity; but indeed with some variations, that will rather illustrate the propriety of the present Practice, and promote the obvious very laudable intention, with which that Gentleman published his late Essay on this interesting subject.
The general state of this distemper in the Provinces of Bengall (to which these observations are limited) is such, that for five and sometimes six years together, it passes in a manner unnoticed, from the few that are attacked with it; for the complexion of it in these years is generally so benign as to cause very little alarm; and notwithstanding the multitudes that are every year inoculated in the usual season, it adds no malignity to the disease taken in the natural way, nor spreads the infection, as is commonly imagined in Europe. Every seventh year, with scarcely any exception, the Small Pox rages epidemically in these Provinces, during the months of March, April, and May; and sometimes until the annual returning rains, about the middle of June, put a stop to its fury. On these periodical returns (to four of which I have been a witness) the disease proves universally of the most malignant confluent kind, from which few either of the natives or Europeans escaped, that took the distemper in the natural way, commonly dying on the first, second, or third day of the eruption; and yet, Inoculation in the East, has natural fears and superstitious prejudices to encounter, as well as in the West. The usual resource of the Europeans is to fly from the settlements, and retire into the country before the return of the Small Pox season.
It is singularly worth remarking, that there hardly ever was an instance of a native of the Island of St. Helena, man or woman, that was seized with this distemper in the natural way (when resident in Bengall,) who escaped with life; altho' it is a known fact the disease never yet got footing upon that Island. Clearly to account for this, is not an easy matter; I will venture, however, a few conjectures on the occasion. These people rarely migrate from the Island before they arrive at years of maturity; the basis of their diet there, from their infancy, is a root called yam, of a skranshee kind, a term they use to express its acrid, unwholesome qualities, which frequently subjects them to epidemic and dangerous dysenteries, and sometimes epidemic putrid sore throats. The blood thus charged, must necessarily constitute a most unlucky habit of body to combat with any acute inflammatory disease whatsoever, but more especially of the kind under consideration (so frequently attended with a high degree of putrefaction,) always fatal to these people, even in those seasons when the disease is mild and favorable to others: But indeed it is a general remark, that a St. Helenian rarely escapes when seized with the Small Pox in whatsoever part of the Globe he happens to reside. The same has been observed of the African Coffries, altho' I know not what cause to ascribe it to, unless we suppose one similar to that above mentioned, to wit, some fundamental aggravating principle in their chief diet. Be this as it may, that these two portions of the human species seem peculiarly marked as victims to this disease, is a fact indisputable, let the cause be what it will.
Having thus far premised touching the general state of this distemper in the Provinces of Bengall, (which I believe is nearly applicable to every other part of the Empire) I will only add a few words respecting the duration of it in Indostan, and then hasten to the principal intention of this short Essay.
The learned Doctor Freind in his History of Physic from the time of Galen, has this remarkable passage: "By the earliest account we have of the Small Pox, we find it first appeared in Ægypt in the time of Omar, successor to Mahomet: though no doubt, since the Greeks knew nothing of it, the Arabians brought it from their own country, and might derive it originally from some of the more distant regions of the East." The sagacity of this conclusion, later times and discoveries has fully verified; at the period in which the Aughtorrah Bhade scriptures of the Gentoos were promulged, (according to the Bramins three thousand three hundred and sixty six years ago;) this disease must then have been of some standing, as those scriptures institute a form of divine worship, with Poojahs, or offerings, to a female Divinity, stiled by the common people Gootee ka Tagooran (the Goddess of Spots,) whose aid and patronage are invoked during the continuance of the Small Pox season, also in the Measles, and every cutaneous Eruption that is in the smallest degree epidemical. Due weight being given to this circumstance, the long duration of the Disease in Indostan will manifestly appear; and we may add to the sagacious conjecture just quoted, that not only the Arabians, but the Ægyptians also, by their early commerce with India through the Red Sea and Gulf of Mocha, most certainly derived originally the Small Pox (and probably the Measles likewise) from that country, where those diseases have reigned from the earliest known times.