The patient was a child suffering from a form of chronic hip-joint disease that at this distance of time, and with rather incomplete descriptions, seems to have been the ordinary tuberculosis of the hip. The vaccine material was inoculated over the joint and, surprising though it may appear now, the vaccine vesicle ran rather a normal course and healed kindly. The little patient was afterward inoculated with smallpox and found to be incapable of acquiring that disease. This case attracted considerable attention. It is not, however, a matter for congratulation as regards the openness of mind of the medical men of the period to find that this was the only sort of a case that was considered suitable for such an experiment. It is very easy to understand that in a child in a run-down condition the vaccine material might very well have provoked a rather serious local reaction. In a way, the fate of vaccination hung in the balance and good luck was in its favor. Mr. Cline, however, after this, became a strong advocate of vaccination, and brought it very decidedly before the London physicians. There was still a feeling of opposition, as indeed there always is against any novelty in medicine, but this gradually disappeared, to give place to a suspension of judgment, until more accurate and detailed information could be obtained from further observations and tests.
It was not long before the opposition to the practice of vaccination took definite form. One of the best-known London physicians of the time, Dr. Ingenhouz, became the leader of a strong faction of the medical profession of London, who not only would have nothing to do with vaccination, [{101}] but proclaimed openly that it was a dangerous innovation, absolutely unjustifiable, and communicated a disease without protecting against any other. On the other hand, there were overzealous advocates of vaccination, who insisted on its value but did not know how to recognize the true cowpox from other lesions sometimes confounded with it, nor the exact stage of the disease in which the vaccine material obtained would prove effectively protective. A number of these used vaccine material so contaminated by secondary infections of one kind or another that no wonder serious sores were reported as a result.
Physicians who have for many years known how difficult it is to bring certain people to a recognition of the benefits that have been conferred on modern civilization by vaccination, will appreciate how many difficulties and prejudices and misunderstandings Jenner himself must have encountered during the original introduction of vaccination. Some of the supposed objections to vaccination wear a very modern air, and come from physicians whose only purpose apparently is to bring out the truth, and yet who are evidently led to the drawing of conclusions much wider than their premises by the fact that they know they will have an attentive audience among the anti-vaccinationists at least.
A fair example of one of these old-time objections against vaccination may be found in the following passage from a letter by Dr. Jenner written to Mr. Moore. Corresponding objections have been made in much more modern times, and the passage will arouse the sympathetic amusement of present-day physicians:
"You probably may not have seen a pamphlet lately published by Dr. Watt of Glasgow, as there is nothing in its title that develops its purport or evil tendency: 'An Inquiry into the Relative Mortality of the Principal Diseases of [{102}] Children,' &c. The measles, it seems, have been extremely fatal in the city of Glasgow for the last four or five years among children, and during this period vaccination was practised almost universally. Previously to this, the measles was considered as a mild disease. Hence Dr. Watt infers that the smallpox is a kind of preparative for the measles, rendering the disease more mild. In short, he says, or seems to say, that we have gained nothing by the introduction of the cow-pox; for that the measles and small-pox have now changed places with regard to their fatal tendency. Is not this very shocking? Here is a new and unexpected twig shot forth for the sinking anti-vaccinist to cling to. But mark me--should this absurdity of Mr. Watt take possession of the minds of the people, I am already prepared with the means of destroying its effects, having instituted an inquiry through this populous town and the circumjacent villages, where, on the smallest computation, 20,000 children must have been vaccinated in the course of the last twelve years by myself and others. Now it appears that, during this period, there has been no such occurrence as a fatal epidemic of measles. You would greatly oblige me in making this communication to the Board, with my respectful compliments."
Fortunately only a few colleagues were so illogical, and an excellent idea of how much Jenner's discovery was appreciated by his contemporaries may be obtained from the number of honors, diplomas, addresses and communications from public bodies and distinguished individuals which he received. A chronological list of these may be found at the end of Dr. Baron's Life of Jenner. Among them may be noted the diploma of LL.D. from the Senate of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., under the presidency of Dr. Willard; also the Diploma of Doctor in Medicine, honoris [{103}] causa, which Jenner especially appreciated, as he says in one of his letters, because he understood that the University conferred this degree in this way only once or twice in a century. There is a diploma as Fellow of the American Society of Arts and Sciences in Massachusetts, as well as a Diploma as a member of the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia. The diploma from Boston bears the signature of John Adams as president, that from Philadelphia the signature of Thomas Jefferson. Most of the prominent medical and scientific societies of Europe had elected him a member or had sent him some special token of recognition.
One of these documents, expressive of the gratitude of the senders for the great benefit his work had conferred upon the human race, which Jenner valued the highest, was an address from the Five Indian Nations which, with a Wampum Belt, was delivered to him on November 8, 1807. In reply to this Dr. Jenner wrote to the American agent through whom the insignia had been forwarded:
"Sir:
"Your kindness in delivering to the Five Nations of Indians my Treatise on vaccination, and in transmitting to me their reply, demands my warmest thanks.
"I beg you to make known to the Five Nations the sincere gratification which I feel at finding that the practice of vaccination has been so universally received among their tribes, and proved so beneficial to them; at the same time, be pleased to assure them of the great thankfulness with which I received the belt and string of Wampum, with which they condescended to honour me, and of the high estimation in which I shall for ever hold it. May the active benevolence which their chiefs have displayed in preserving the lives of [{104}] their people be crowned with the success it deserves; and may that destructive pestilence, the smallpox, be no more known among them.
"You also, Sir, are entitled to the most grateful acknowledgments, not only from me, but from every friend of humanity, for the philanthropic manner in which you originally introduced the vaccine among these tribes of Indians.
"I have the honor to remain, &c,
"E. Jenner."
The general trend of American appreciation for Dr. Jenner's work, at least among the intelligent classes, may be gathered from the following letter sent to Dr. Jenner by Thomas Jefferson while he was president, May 14, 1806: