Vaccine Pock Institution,
Broad Street, Golden Square.
General Quarterly Court, Nov. 5, 1805.
Resolved—That according to the experience of the medical establishment of this Institution, it appears that the Inoculation for the Cowpock affords security against the Smallpox equally with Variolous Inoculation, and that the new practice possesses all the advantages already stated to the public.
Resolved—That, in order to give a further proof to the public, and to afford an inducement for information adverse to the new practice, the following proposal be made public, viz.:—That, in future, every patient who shall be vaccinated at this Institution, on discharge, shall receive a Certificate, stating that such patient has gone through the Cowpock, and engaging that if hereafter the said patient shall take the Smallpox, he or she shall be entitled to the sum of Five Guineas, to be paid from the funds of this Institution at the first General Court, after the proofs have been given, according to the rules of the medical establishment.
William Sancho, Secretary.
The offer attested the sincerity of the conductors of the Institution, but so many patients, it is said, laid claim to Five Guineas that it was not without satisfaction that a reasonable cause was afforded for shutting up.
Dr. Pearson held that it was impossible to be re-vaccinated. He argued that since no one could have Smallpox twice, no one could have the equivalent of Smallpox, namely Cowpox, twice. It was a logical contention; but facts did not correspond to the logic. Pearson also objected to the Variolous Test, or inoculation with Smallpox after inoculation with Cowpox to prove that the constitution was fortified against attack. He preferred Cowpox to Smallpox for the purpose, as milder and less liable to dangerous results. He found that after Cowpox it was impossible to have Cowpox—at least immediately. Hence he was confirmed in his opinion that Cowpox after Cowpox was impossible; just as others argued on the same grounds that Smallpox after Cowpox was impossible. Yet at this day none doubt that Pearson was in error; for all believe in the possibility of re-Vaccination, or Cowpox after Cowpox; likewise of Smallpox after Cowpox.
FOOTNOTES:
[139] Letter to James Moore, 16th January, 1809.
[140] Baron’s Life of Jenner, vol. ii. p. 124.