One of them [says Waterhouse] chose to live pretty freely by way of experiment, and the febrile symptoms, especially headache, were full as much as he could bear and walk about with. This convinced me that the Kine-Pox was a disease not to be trifled with.
Waterhouse then appealed to the pride of his countrymen—
The people of New England, particularly of Boston, set a noble example to their elder brethren of Old England, in adopting the Turkish practice of Inoculation for the Smallpox in 1721. Now the English in their turn, lead the way in a practice still more salutiferous. For though the Inoculation which commenced here in 1721, stripped that horrid disease, the Smallpox, of more than half its terrors, yet it is the Kine-Pox that will effect its extermination.
Following this prophecy came a frank request for business—
Dr. Waterhouse informs those who have applied to him out of Cambridge to inoculate their families that he declined it only until the disorder had gone fairly through his own family, and until some of them had been inoculated by Dr. Aspinwall, and otherwise exposed to Smallpox. But having now confirmed his assertion, that the Kine-Pox protects the constitution from the infection of Smallpox by a fair experiment, he is ready to attend them whenever they choose. Those who live in Boston may rest assured that from the proximity of his residence to the capital, he shall make such arrangements as to be able to attend them as punctually as if he resided there.—Cambridge, 18th August, 1800.
After an English pattern he published the following table—
| Natural Smallpox. | Inoculated Smallpox. | Kine-Pock. |
| A Contagious Disease. | Contagious. | Non-Contagious. Never fatal. |
| One in 6 who take it dies. It is like an attempt to cross a dangerous stream by swimming, where one in six perishes. | One in 300 dies. It is like crossing the stream in an old, leaky boat, where one in 300 perishes. | It is like crossing the stream on a new and safe bridge. |
The operations, so hopefully begun, came speedily to grief. In a letter addressed by Waterhouse to Jenner, 24th April, 1801, we read—
One inch and a-half of infected thread from Dr. Haygarth was the whole stock from whence perhaps 3000 persons have been inoculated, but I fear the greatest part of them have been spurious. I gave out that the winter was an unfavourable season for this new inoculation, and by that means I suspended the practice throughout the country until the arrival of fresh matter and your letter. Now we are going on again, but not with the faith and spirit of the last season. Some unlucky cases have damped the ardour of a people who received this new inoculation with a candour, liberality, and even generosity, much to their credit. The first political and literary characters in our nation are still warm advocates for the practice.[227]