Part 17 (1/2)
The following observations were obligingly sent eon to the South Gloucester Regiment of Militia, to whom I am indebted for a former report on this subject:
”I inoculated with the cow-pox matter from the eleventh to the latter part of April, twenty-five persons, including women and children Some on the eleventh were inoculated with the iment) had froress of the puncture was accurately observed, and its appearance see less inflammation around its basis on the first days--that is, from the third to the seventh; but after this the infla on the tenth or eleventh day to a circle of an inch and a half fro very sore arms; but this I a mercurial ointment to the inflamed part, which was repeated daily until the inflaot ithout any further application or trouble The constitutional syhth or ninth day after inoculation scarcely deserved the naht as to be scarcely perceptible, except that I could connect a slight headache and languor, with a stiffness and rather painful sensation in the axilla This latter sy--it reht hours
In no case did I observe the smallest pustule, or even discolouration of the skin, like an incipient pustule, except about the part where the virus has been applied
”After all these symptoms had subsided and the arms ell, I inoculated four of this number with variolous iment In each of these it was inserted several tiht infla before the fifth or sixth, except in one who had the cow-pox in Gloucestershi+re before he joined us, and who also received it at this time by inoculation In this man the puncture inflamed and his arm was much sorer than from the insertion of the cow-pox virus; but there was no pain in the axilla, nor could any constitutional affection be observed
”I have only to add that I am now fully satisfied of the efficacy of the cow-pox in preventing the appearance of the smallpox, and that it is a most happy and salutary substitute for it I reh the susceptibility of the virus of the cow-pox is, for the most part, lost in those who have had the smallpox, yet in some constitutions it is only partially destroyed, and in others it does not appear to be in the least direater number on whom trials were made resisted it entirely; yet I found some on whose arm the pustule fro the common efflorescent blush around it, or any constitutional illness, while others have had the disease in thebeen presented to eon, of Thornbury, I shall insert it:
”Three children were inoculated with the vaccineto look at their ares, one of the three, had been inoculated with the smallpox when a year old, and that he had a full burthen, of which his face produced plentiful marks, a circumstance I was not before made acquainted with On the sixth day the arm of the boy appeared as if inoculated with variolous matter, but the pustule was rather more elevated On the ninth day he complained of violent pain in his head and back, acco and much fever The next day he was very well and went to work as usual The punctured part began to spread, and there was the areola around the inoculated part to a considerable extent
”As this is contrary to an assertion ht it right to give you this information, and remain, ”Dear sir, etc, ”J FEWSTER”
It appears, then, that the aniard to the action of this virus is under the same laws as it is with respect to the variolous virus, after previously feeling its influence, as far as comparisons can beinstances of the power of the cow-pox in suspending the progress of the smallpox after the patients had been several days casually exposed to the infection have been laid before eon, of Winchester, and iving an account of his extensive and successful practice in the vaccine inoculation in Ha case occurred to me a short time since, and may probably be worth your notice I was sent for to a patient with the smallpox, and on inquiry found that five days previous tothe whole of this time two children who had not had the smallpox, were constantly in the room with their father, and frequently on the bed with hi the the matter from their father, as he was subject to erysipelas I advised her by all means to have them inoculated at that time, as I could not procure any variolous matter elsewhere However, they were inoculated with vaccinesuccessful, as they had previously been so long and still continued to be exposed to the variolous infection
Notwithstanding this I was agreeably surprised to find the vaccine disease advance and go through its regular course; and, if I may be allowed the expression, to the total extinction of the smallpox”
Mr Jenner's cases were not less satisfactory He writes as follows:
”A son of Thomas Stinchcomb, of Woodford, near Berkeley, was infected with the natural se Four days after the eruptions had appeared upon the boy, the fa of the father, mother, and five children, was inoculated with vaccine virus On the arm of the mother it failed to produce the least effect, and she, of course, had the smallpox, [Footnote: Under similar circumstances I think it would be advisable to insert the matter into each arm, which would be more likely to insure the success of the operation--E J] but the rest of the family had the cow-pox in the usual way, and were not affected with the sh they were in the same room, and the children slept in the same bed with their brother as confined to it with the natural smallpox; and subsequently with their mother
”I attended this fa cases are of too singular a nature to re lady about five years old, was seized on the evening of the eighth day after inoculation with vaccine virus, with such symptoms as commonly denote the accession of violent fever Her throat was also a little sore, and there were some uneasy sensations about thea rash was perceptible on her face and neck, so inosa that I was induced to ask whether Miss R--had been exposed to the contagion of that disease An answer in the affir of the redness over the skin, at once relievedthe nature of the h its course in the ordinary way, but not without sy both to myself and Mr Lyford, who attended with ress of the pustule to a state of eneral; yet there was a total suspension of the areola or florid discolouration around it, until the scarlatina had retired from the constitution As soon as the patient was freed from this disease this appearance advanced in the usual way [Footnote: I witnessed a similar fact in a case of measles The pustule from the cow-pock virus advanced to maturity, while the measles existed in the constitution, but no EFFLORESCENCE appeared around it until the measles had ceased to exert its influence]
The case of Miss H--R--is not less interesting than that of her sister, above related She was exposed to the contagion of the scarlatina at the same time, and sickened almost at the same hour The symptoms continued severe about twelve hours, when the scarlatina-rash shewed itself faintly upon her face, and partly upon her neck After re two or three hours it suddenly disappeared, and she became perfectly free from every complaint
My surprise at this sudden transition froreat measure ceased when I observed that the inoculated pustule had occasioned, in this case, the common efflorescent appearance around it, and that as it approached the centre it was nearly in an erysipelatous state But the most remarkable part of this history is that, on the fourth day afterwards, so soon as the efflorescence began to die away upon the arain appeared, her throat becah the disease with its common symptoms
That these were actually cases of scarlatina was rendered certain by two servants in the fa ill at the same time with the diste ladies
Some there are who suppose the security froh the cow-pox will be of a temporary nature only
This supposition is refuted not only by analogy with respect to the habits of diseases of a sireat nuainst it
To those already adduced in the fores 217, 218, 219, 221, 223, etc]the cases I refer to, one will be found of a person who had the cow-pox fifty-three years before the effect of the smallpox was tried upon hi period I conceive must necessarily satisfy any reasonable ht necessary, I shall observe that, a the cases presented to me by Mr Fry, Mr Darke, Mr
Tierny, Mr H Jenner, and others, there were many whom they inoculated ineffectually with variolous h the cow-pox ined that the cow-pox is capable of being communicated from one person to another by effluvia without the intervention of inoculation My experi this iinal position, that it is not infectious except by contact, I have never hesitated to suffer those on whose ar the effluvia fro with others who never had experienced either the cow-pox or the s children, caused the uninfected to breathe over the inoculated vaccine 'pustules during their whole progress, yet these experiments were tried without the least effect However, to submit a matter so important to a still further scrutiny, I desired Mr H Jenner to ht strike him as most likely to establish or refute what had been advanced on this subject He has since informed me ”that he inoculated children at the breast, whose h either the smallpox or the cow-pox; that he had inoculated one either of these diseases; that the effluvia from the inoculated pustules, in either case, had been inhaled froress of their maturation, and that there was not the least perceptible effect from these exposures” One woman he inoculated about a week previous to her accoucheht be the more fully and conveniently exposed to the pustule; but, as in the forh the child frequently slept on the arm of its mother with its nostrils and mouth exposed to the pustule in the fullest state of maturity In a word, is it not impossible for the cow-pox, whose ONLY manifestation appears to consist in the pustules CREATED BY CONTACT, to produce ITSELF by effluvia?
In the course of a late inoculation I observed an appearance which it may be proper here to relate The punctured part on a boy's arm (as inoculated with fresh li vesicle, which is usual in the cow-pox at that period, was encrusted over with a rugged, amber-coloured scab The scab continued to spread and increase in thickness for so appeared, and the disease went through its ordinary course, the boy having had soreness in the axilla and soht indisposition With the fluid matter taken from his arm five persons were inoculated In one it took no effect In another it produced a perfect pustule without any deviation froress of the inflammation was exactly similar to the instance which afforded the virus for their inoculation; there was a creeping scab of a loose texture, and subsequently the fores As these people were all employed in laborious exercises, it is possible that these anoin to the friction of the clothes on the newly inflamed part of the ar them to the smallpox