INOCULATION MADE EASY.
CONTAINING A Full and True DISCOVERY of the METHOD practised in the County of
ESSEX.
In which County alone, upwards of Nîne Thousand People have been INOCULATED within these Two last Years, without the Loss of One Single Patient, or the least dangerous Circumstances.
BEING INTENDED FOR THE BENEFIT Of Masters and Mistresses of FAMILIES, and the Public in General.
The Whole Art being laid down in so Clear and Easy a Method, as to render any one capable of INOCULATING themselves and others, with the greatest EASE and SAFETY.
WITH A TRUE RECEIPT to make the PREPARATIVE POWDERS, REPELLENT PILLS, and the PUNCH used in INOCULATION.
LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR; And Sold by R. WITHY, at the Royal Exchange; T. VERNOR and J. CHATER, on Ludgate-Hill; and L. HASSALL, at CHELMSFORD. 1766.
[Price Two Shillings and Six Pence.]
N. B.
A sufficient Quantity of Medicines to prepare and cure one Person, is given (Gratis) with this Treatise. The Use of the Medicine will in a great Measure stop the Contagion in those who do not choose to be inoculated; or, if they should cate
it, will cause the Effects to be much more favourable.
TO THE PUBLIC.
THE terrible Havock the
Small Pox
hath of late made amongst Mankind in several Parts of the World, together with the fearful Apprehensions so many Thousands now lie under, dreading the Effect of this fatal and sore Disorder, induces me to offer the following Pages to the Public. For I cannot appear justifiable to myself, that a Secret which hath never failed to procure this Distemper in the most safe, easy, and mild Manner, should be any longer kept from the Public. But, in the Prosecution of this (perhaps) a few Individuals, whose principal Motive is Self-Interest, may be offended at my publishing a Subject to the World which they think should be confined to the Faculty only.
Salus Populi,
I think, will hold good in the Matter, and to answer this Purpose more effectually I shall omit all set Phrases and technical Terms; as the Intention of this is not meant to display the Grammarian or Orator, Humanity being the leading Principle, for Advantages I want none. Humane it must evidently be, to point out a certain, plain, and infallible Method of relieving the Distresses of our Fellow-Creatures; few Disorders having produc'd more public Calamity than that loathsome Distemper, and from Time to Time, the most eminent Physicians have on those Occasions found themselves at their
ne plus ultra.
Therefore a Method which is here offer'd, not only regarding the Preparation of the Patient, but likewise the Treatment during the whole Cure; the Efficacy of which being hereby laid open to the Public, the surprizing salutary Service resulting will speak more for the Author than any pompous Apology.
Discoveries of any Kind, however rational or beneficial, are generally received with some Degree of Dubiety: It must not therefore seem strange if this of mine should be objected to by some, who, for want of other Arguments, will quarrel with it on a religious Account: But to those good People I shall state this Case of Conscience by observing. That the Almighty God in his great Mercy to Mankind hath taught us a Remedy to be used to prevent the fatal Effects of the
Small Pox,
upon the Use of which, the Patient will be unattended with those direful and dreadful Apprehensions, so long the Companions of this Distemper; and in consequence of the Means here offered, neither Health nor Life in Danger. To these People I appeal, whether a Christian may not employ this Remedy, and be very thankful to a Supreme Being for his Good Providence in causing Mankind to be able to make a Discovery, so beneficial and valuable in its Nature; and the peculiar Blessing attending the Success thereof, evidently to be produc'd by the Thousands which have happily and safely recovered without Pain, or even Confinement to their Beds.
But possibly there may be those, whom no Arguments can prevail upon. I shall therefore spend no more Time in the Attempt to convince them of the Lawfulness and Goodness in the Practice of Inoculation, but refer them to Experience, which will certainly open the Eyes of those few Opposers to this safe and salutary Method. The whole of which I have endeavoured to lay down in a plain and easy (tho' not elegant) Dress; for my Endeavour is to be understood by every Body, and the Reader may depend that no Medicine is here offered but what is founded upon, and is the Result of, long Observation and Experience.
I shall conclude with observing, that those who make use of the Means here offered them will be sufficiently convinced of the Humanity and Integrity of the Author.
INOCULATION MADE EASY,
&c.
THE fatal Consequences which in general attend that loathsome and very dangerous Distemper, the SMALL POX, the dreadful Havock it has made, from Time to Time, amongst Mankind has induced several humane, learned, and able Men, to use their utmost Endeavours to find out a Method to render this alarmîng Disorder more mild and favourable. INOCULATION was then thought on. The
Greeks
are said to be the first Nation that practised this Method; the
Turks
are supposed to have borrowed it from them, and practised it with the greatest Success, not only for the
Small Pox,
but even for the
Plague
itself. The frequent Accounts we had of their great Success in almost putting a total Stop to the Fatality of this sore Distemper, induced us to follow their Example; but, however this may be, it was practised by us at first with no very considerable Success, yet it proved much more favourable in its Effects than the natural Kind. This occasioned several others to attempt a still farther Improvement, and has from Time to Time, been brought to a still greater Degree of Perfection, so that out of an Hundred Patients, perhaps only Two or Three have lost their Lives; tho' a great Part of them have had the Distemper in a very sore and terrible Manner. But by the Assistance of an Almighty Providence we have now brought it to the very utmost and greatest Degree of Perfection imaginable; so that in fact it now ceases to be any longer a Distemper; for what can be a greater Proof, what can ascertain the Excellency of this new Method more than the plain and convincing Demonstrations we have now before our Eyes, and the Thousands of living Witnesses to prove it? for Nine Thousand People or more, who have been inoculated, (within Thirty Miles round the Town of
Chelmsford
in
Essex,
and within the Space of these two last Years) not a Single Patient has lost his Life; and what is still more extraordinary, they have had this Distemper in so mild and favourable a Manner, that the greater Part of them have been capable of carrying on their Trades and Business during the whole Time, not being confined by it one Hour to their Bed or Room; except out of a Complement to those who have not had it, and would be fearful of catching it from them, may have induced some to keep up a few Days, but not from the Effect of the Distemper. This Method has also these several Advantages with it;
viz.
That it has been tried and answers with all Ages and Complexions, on every Constitution; the robust and infirm, the black and the fair, the corpulent and the lean; and in each extreme Season of the Year, the Summer and the Winter. Nor has it failed in any one Instance; the Patient being subject to very slight Symptoms, sensible of very little Sickness; nor do what few Eruptions they have, ever leave any Scars or Pits behind them.
I think it unnecessary to say any thing farther in Behalf of this excellent Method of recovering the Distemper. Therefore shall immediately proceed to lay before my Readers the Manner and Medicines, which will answer all those extraordinary Virtues above mentioned.
First,
As to the Manner of preparing the Body to receive the Infection.—But as the Preparation is material, and of some Importance, I hope no one, who intends to be inoculated, will be so far an Enemy to themselves, as not to be strictly careful and attentive to the Rules here laid down; which are meant to lower the Blood and Humours, and render the Body sufficiently prepared to receive the Infection in the most favourable Manner.
You must abstain from all Salt Provisions whatever, nor must you eat any Kind of Meat or Butter; nor drink Beer or Spirituous Liquors, not even Wine; Cheese and spiced Foods are likewise prejudicial.— But to make it more clear, I have set down a Regimen, or Method of preparing, which must be continued and persevered in for Nine Days at least, and is as follows:
Directions for preparing for Inoculation.
The
DIET
for
BREAKFAST.
Tea, Coffee, or Chocolate, with dry Toast, or ordinary Cake; Rice-Milk: Milk-Gruel: Skimmed Milk, Honey and Bread,
&c.
For
DINNER.
Plumb or Plain Pudding with Vinegar Sauce, which is made by adding Sugar and Vinegar to a proper Quantity of boiled Flour and Water: Rice-Pudding: Apple-Pudding: Apple-Pye: Rice-Milk: Frumenty: And the Productions of the Kitchen-Garden, with the Use of Salt.
For
SUPPER.
Any of the above Spoon Meats: Roasted Potatoes: Turnips,
&c.
But, if it can be complied with, going to Bed
Supperless,
and to
eat sparingly
even at other Meals, will be most proper; and, as observed above, abstain from all Flesh, Butter, Cheese, and Spiced Food. Most Kind of Fruits may be eaten at pleasure, except on the Physical Days.
DRINK.
In common it may be Toast and Water, Milk and Water, Lemon and Water, or Imperial Water; abstaining from all spirituous, vinous, and malt Liquors. Moderate Exercise withal is necessary.
Directions for taking the
Preparative Powders.
After having strictly observed the foregoing Rules for Nine Days, you must take one of the Papers of Powders at Bed-Time, in the Pulp of a roasted Apple, or any Jelly, and next Morning a Paper of the Salts, dissolved in a little boiling Water, drinking plentifully of Water-Gruel, Cheese-Whey, or Small Tea, as they work. The Patient should be very careful of Cold, during the Operation of the Physic; and if it does not operate Six or Eight Times in about Six Hours, it will be necessary to take half another Paper of the Salts, (more or less as Occasion requires). Or if they be vomited up shortly after being taken, as soon as the Sickness is entirely off, one of the other Papers of Salts must be given. The other Powders and Salts are to be taken as above, omitting Three Days between each Dose. The Deficiency of Salts may be had at an Apothecary's: It will be requisite for the Patient to have a Stool on each of the intermediate Days during the Preparation, in order to which Stew'd Prunes, Roasted Apples, or Tamarinds, should be eaten occasionally.
I shall now inform my Reader how to make every Medicine to be used throughout the Disorder, and first the PREPARATIVE POWDERS are as follows.
Take ten Grains of Calomel and one Grain of factitious Cinnabar, and mix them well together for one Dose.
A Child of six Years old may take a fourth part of a Paper; from eight Years old to twelve half a Paper, and from twelve Years old to fifty a whole Paper; from sixty Years old to an hundred half a Paper; be careful not to omit taken the Salts in the Morning as before ordered; the Salts are
Glauber
's Salts. A grown Person may take from half an Ounce to an Ounce, Children half an Ounce only: These POWDERS greatly cleanse the Blood, are not only very effectual to prepare the Body for the
Small-Pox;
but may also be depended upon as a never failing Remedy for Worms, as it scours away those roped viscid Humours which are apt to breed them in the Bowels; they may be taken with the greatest Safety by Men, Women and Children, observing the above Rules: they are good likewise in Cutaneous Disorders, such as Foulness of the Skin, or Sores or Ulcers, and teterous Eruptions, the Itch and Leprosy; and those who are unwilling to be Inoculated, yet fearful of catching the
Small-Pox,
in the natural Way, may in a great Measure, be secured from it by taking the above POWDERS, for it Purifies the Blood in such a Manner as to render it less liable to the receive the Infection. Or if the Distemper should be caught after taking the POWDERS, the Patient may depend upon having it in a more favourable Manner. These POWDERS are also very valuable as a Common Purge in the Spring of the Year, but Salts must in all Cases be taken after them. Observe, that when Children from two to five Years old are to be Inoculated, it will not be proper to give them the POWDER, but instead of which you must give them a Dram of Manna dissolved in warm Milk or Water, repeat it each Day, and continue it for a Week or ten Days, at the End of which time you may Inoculate them.
After the Patient has sufficiently prepared himself by strictly following the Directions for the Regimen; that is, having Dieted himself one Week, and the next Week dieting as before, and taken his POWDERS, he is now fit for Inoculation, which is very easily perform'd as follows: You must get some Matter out of a Ripe Pock upon the Point of a Needle, sharp-top Pen-knife, or Launcet, and with any of these Instruments (having the fresh Matter on its point) you must make a small Incision or Prick on the Arm, between the Elbow and the Shoulder; you need only make the smallest Drop of Blood appear, and wiping the mattery Part of the Instrument on the Place, 'tis done. In about four or five Days the Inoculated Part will grow a little red; in a few Days more it will rise to a Kind of Pustule having Matter in it; after which it decreases and goes away of itself. Several of my Patients have only had this Eruption, and no other Appearance of the
Small-Pox
upon them; but it is as effectual as having a large Number of Pustules. In about six or seven Days after the Inoculation, the Patient sometimes feels a Kind of a slight Pain in the Inoculated Arm, in his Back and Head, but all those Symptoms soon go off. About five Days after the Inoculation, the Patient (if of a robust gross Habit of Body) must at Night, going to Bed, take one of the
Repellent Pills;
if it operates but little, take another in the Morning; if that should have no considerable Effect, take two more Pills again at Night; on the contrary take only one, the remainder to be taken the next Morning. The Intention of these Pills are to carry off the Matter which would occasion Eruptions. The Pills are made as follows
The Patient must observe to continue strictly to the Regiment till all the Symptoms of the
Small Pox
have left him: which from the Preparation to the Recovery is generally about three Weeks.
The
REPELLENT PILL.
Take
ten Grains of Kermes Mineral
For the Virtues of Kermes Mineral,
See
Dr.
James
's Dispensatory.
, twenty Grains of the best Succotrine Aloes, and ten Grains of Camphor, add a sufficient quantity of Spirits of Wine to make them into a Mass for Pills, which is done by beating them together in a Mortar; of this Composition make four Pills.
N. B.
You must first pound the Camphor with a few drops of Spirits of Wine, then mix the other Ingredients.
Some few have a slight Fever at the time of breeding the Pock, those are desired to drink plentifully of the following Decoction, or
Punch,
as it is termed in
Essex.
The Patient may have it made, or make it himself, the Effects of which is to carry off the Fever. The Receipt is as follows.
Take unground Oats a Handful, and boil them for some time in a Quart of Spring-Water, then strain it, with which mix half an Ounce of Stibiated Nitre, half an Ounce of Citron, or Lemon-Juice, and an Ounce and half of the Sirup of Violets. About six or seven Days after Inoculation this Liquor should be drank very plentifully, as it tends from its cooling Quality to carry off every Symptom of the Fever.—[The Ingredients may be had at any Apothecary's; nor must the Patient be without it.]
But to make this useful Liquor more cheap and easy to the Poor, I have set down another Method of making of it, which in a great Measure will answer all the Intentions of the first, and is as follows.
Boil a Handful of Oats in a Quart of Spring-Water, add to it after it is strain'd, half an Ounce of Salt-Petre; sharpen this Liquor with a little Lemon Juice or Vinegar, and sweeten it to the Palate with brown Sugar or Honey.
This will not be so pleasant as the first Method of making it, tho' almost as effectual; by drinking plentifully of this the Fever will be almost immediately lowered: The first taking of it should be to drink half a Pint, or more at going to Bed at Night.
I have now gone through the whole Progress of the Cure, and if all the Rules here laid down are strictly attended to, the Patient may depend upon having the Distemper in the most favourable manner.
The great Success which in general attends this Method of Inoculation is no ways surprising; nor need we wonder at so many dying with it that have it in the Natural Way; for when we come to consider, that while the contagious Matter is exerting its Malignity upon the Humours, (which is generally seven or eight Days) Quietness, Moderation in Diet, together with cleansing Medicines, and every thing else is strictly observed in Inoculation; whereas many incur the Natural Distemper on a sudden, when the Blood is heated with Wine and Exercise, by which means all the Symptoms must necessarily prove more severe and dangerous.
I would also observe, that I do not pretend to persuade the Public, that all the Inoculators in
Essex
make use of these Medicines exactly as here set down, or that all of them make use of the same Compositions: I only say that the greatest Success may be depended upon from a proper use of these Medicines, they having all that Virtue comprehended in them, which is necessary to render the Disorder mild and favourable, as I have happily experienced by the Number of Patients, who have recovered from this Distemper without being confined to their Bed or scarce sensible of any Pain.
I shall conclude this Treatise with some few Cautions to those who take the Medicines. Those of a very weak and delicate Constitution, may prepare with taking only half a Paper of the POWDERS at a time with the Salts, and go on till all the Papers are taken. In case the POWDERS should cause the Mouth to water, or an Inclination to Spitting, (which I never knew happen in the Course of my Practice) upon such an occasion, the Patient must take larger Doses of Salts, and about an Hour after take near half an Ounce of Flour of Brimstone, which will prove an effectual Remedy. Be careful of the Subject which you Inoculate from, that it be a mild and favourable Sort, and that the Person is free from any other Distemper. The Patient, as I have before observed, must the first Week prepare by Diet, &c. the next Week prepare to take the POWDERS, (living as by Direction above) then Inoculate, and upon breeding the Pock, drink plentifully of the
Punch
before mentioned, and the Patient will find this Method answer his most sanguine Wishes.
N. B.
In about a Week after the
Small-Pox
is quite over, it would be necessary for the Patient to lose a little Blood, and take a Dose of Salts.
THE END.