[2]. According to Mr. Moore, (History of Small Pox, p. 66-7) the Small Pox was first introduced into Europe during the invasion of Spain by the Saracens, in the commencement of the eighth century: after which, the infection rapidly spread into France and other countries.
Mr. Moore, in his History of Small Pox, (p. 243) tells us that “Dr. Jurin took the lead in replying to the opponents of this practice (inoculation for Small Pox): and being a calm man, well skilled in calculation, his writings were composed with great good sense and good temper. He drew his arguments chiefly from an accurate examination of the London bills of mortality for forty-two years, and from accounts collected from a few large cities: and he compared the numbers who died of the Small Pox with the general mortality. From all which he concluded,
“That of all the children that are born there will, some time or other, die of the Small Pox, one in fourteen.” And “that of persons of all ages, taken ill of the natural Small Pox, there will die of that distemper one in five or six.”
In other countries this disease appears to have been yet more fatal than in England. I shall, however, revert to the documents which I have myself collected on the subject.
The tables, which I have constructed, embrace a period of 20 years before inoculation was at all employed in this country—the whole period during which it was in use—and the time which has elapsed since the introduction of Vaccination. We shall thus be enabled, at a single glance, to compare the mortality of Small Pox under each of these several circumstances. In the first column of the table (No. 1.) is shewn the total number of deaths which occurred within the bills of mortality during each successive year, and in the second column, the number occasioned by Small Pox alone.
The table (No. 2.) is divided into periods of five years each—it consists of four columns—the first of which exhibits the total number of deaths during each period of five years—the second the number of deaths from Small Pox—the third shows the proportion of the latter in each thousand of the former—and the fourth points out the relative proportion of deaths from Small Pox compared with the whole. I am aware that the two latter columns may be considered as a repetition of the same statement, but I think it may appear more striking when placed in this double form.
When we compare the calculation of Dr. Jurin, which has been quoted above, (published I believe about the year 1723,) with the first twenty years of these tables, we shall find, that, with the exception of the first five years, it is rather below than above the results which they exhibit; that, according to them, for the fifteen years from 1708 to 1723 inclusive, the deaths from Small Pox exceeded one in twelve of the whole,—that in 1710 it was about one in seven, and that in 1719, although the relative number was not quite so great, being in the proportion of one in eight only; yet that the actual number was greater than in 1710, amounting to no fewer than 3229, the total number of deaths being 28,347.
Such was the destructive nature of Small Pox before the introduction of inoculation. Its ill effects, however, were not confined to those whom it precipitated into the tomb. A very large proportion of the living, who were fortunate enough to escape its fatal effects, yet suffered essentially for the remainder of their lives from its injurious attacks, not only in the loss of that beauty of countenance which we all value both in ourselves and in our friends, but frequently in the serious injury or total destruction of one or both eyes,[[3]] or of the general health of the constitution, which was, in many cases, never afterwards entirely restored, although death was not the immediate result.