I Have perused a Pamphlet entitled,
Some Reasons why the Practice of Inoculation ought to be introduced into the Town of
Bury
at Present,
and have been surprized to find this elaborate Piece so little in Substance, and so little to the Purpose: Insomuch that at the first, I determined only to point out, and expose the Mistakes of it in Conversation, being under a full Perswasion and Conviction, that the Author would
Triumph neither a Week nor a Day,
but that the Project
would
very soon
end in Confusion.
Being since reminded of a warm Resolution made by me, to oppose any Efforts to revive a Practice so justly exploded and condemned by all rational Men, I have changed my Mind, and set Pen to Paper; but if a Promise to answer an Author before I knew the weight and Strength of his Arguments, may be by
some
thought Rashness and Prejudice, I hope an Abhorrence I have of a Practice so cruel, unsafe, and uncertain to Mankind, an impartial Consideration and full Acquaintance of what has been advanced pro and con, and a great Diffidence of the Author's Abilities to support it, may to
others
clear me from the Imputation of Rashness and Prepossession.
THIS barbarous and dangerous Invention was about 10 Years past imported at
London
from
Turkey;
the Curiosity like many other
foreign
Monsters pleased at first, but soon after grew ungovernable by it's own Masters, and when let loose, made great Havock and Slaughter. But after all the Difficulties and Disappointments, it was endeavoured to be buoy'd up by
able
Hands which undertook to prove that this
Turkish
Method of Inoculation, might safely and securely be practised in our Climate and upon our Constitutions, and that a
Circassian
Impiety of bringing Diseases upon ourselves was reconcileable to a Christian Conscience.
BUT in spight of all such Aids, and Supports, it daily sunk into disuse and contempt, and of late has scarce been mentioned amongst Us, till our Author on a reliance of his mathematical Skill, and a thorough Acquaintance with the Doctrine of Chances, undertook to strike a new Light, to open our Eyes, and by plain and easy Calculations, to evince the Reasonableness and Security of it,
even to a Demonstration.
VAIN Delusion! For if many have died in
London,
when the Incisions were made by the most skillful Hands, and under the Care and Direction of the most Eminent
Regular
Physicians What (may we suppose) will be the Consequence? What a Tragic Scene shall we have? when this Practice shall be brought into the Country, and committed to common Hands, Men of less Abilities and no Experience; but from hence it appears,
Providence has given some Persons Heads to contrive, and Hands to execute any thing that will serve their own Advantage.
BUT to proceed to my Undertaking of an Answer, which I shall do by giving my Opinion of the Tract in general, and then make some Remarks upon the Observations, Calculations, and Arguments in particular.
IN the general View I observe three Things.
1. A specious Pretext of a tender Concern for the Detriment of all Trade, and
perhaps loss of Assizes, Sessions, Fairs, and other publick Meetings,
which is a popular Argument to the Tradesmen of the Town. But here I must observe, that this Practice was endeavoured to be introduced, when only a Person or two had the
Small Pox
when the variolous Matter was to be purchased at a
dear
Rate, and all the Tradesmen were very active and vigilant, to prevent its spreading. However 'twas very necessary that this artful Address to the Populace, should appear glittering at the Top to engage their Attention, but unluckily
Self-serving
pops up in the Middle, and
Self-regard
lurks and skulks at the Bottom. But this is not the only Instance of his Fondness of being thought
Somebody,
for the Reader must be acquainted with his Conversation with Dr.
Jurin
at the Coffee-house, and his Correspondence with Dr.
Nettleton
when he was at
Newark.
2. HIS Submission of the
Business of his Paper to the Clergy
is respectful, but designing, and perhaps the Gentlemen of that Order are very little oblig'd to him for his Compliment, for I am very much mistaken if many of them are not able to give more Reasons than are founded upon a Supposition that the Practice does not
promote our Lives, Healths, and Happiness,
but in Casuistry are convinced that the Practice is presumptious and sinful; but as to the Morality of it, shall refer him to those Gentlemen he shall have the Honour to have farther Converse with.
3. I OBSERVE his Arguments are old, stale, and borrow'd, and that he has chose
some Reasons
out of many, very injudiciously; for he has offer'd the Weakest and left the most Enfor
ing. Does this ill Choice proceed from want of Judgment? To presume that, by his Friends would be interpreted a Weakness of my own; I will rather then imagine that he writes with great Cunning and Policy, and has been taught by some military Man a stratagem in War,
viz.
To place sometimes the weakest of his Forces in the Front, and spare his bravest Men to do the most Execution, for which Reason, and under which Caution, I shall reserve my Veterans till we come to a closer Engagement.
I NOW proceed to consider his Observations, Calculations, and Arguments in particular.
ART. I.P. 3.
If Inoculation was generally practised— we need not have it six Months.
IF this Limitation of the Small Pox to six Months be true it must be so, because by an Elegancy of Stile, the Author can perswade all the Timorous to undergo an Operation they think dangerous, and by his Cas
istry can prevail upon the Scrupulous to enter upon an Action they believe Sinful, and can be secure upon Inoculation of producing any variolous Symptoms and Pustules, and besides all this has by his irrefragable Arguments, proved a general Inoculation an infallible Preservative against the Distemper in a natural Way. Now if I could imagine this to be Fact, yet I would not dare to assert and fix so exact a Time as
of six Months
for its Continuance. But I am fully assured he has not removed the Apprehensions of the Fearful, or satisfied the Doubts of the Conscientious, nor even promised to produce the Distemper by Inoculation in every Case, nor given good Reasons of security against the Small Pox in a natural Way after Inoculation; to say then we need not have it
six Months,
is downright Arrogance and Presumption.
ART. II.P. 3.
As the utmost Hazard of dying of the inoculated Small Pox appears by the last authentic Accounts, to be no more than that of
1
in
50,
and by the same Accounts, that of dying of the Natural is shewn to be that of
1
in
6.
IN this Article our Author appears a Man of as great Figures, as in the first of Eloquence, and those Gentlemen and Townsmen that have not been perswaded into a good Opinion of Inoculation by 12 Lines of unanimated Oratory, are to be over-powered by a Demonstration of Numbers. Let us then suppose that there are 10,000 Persons in
Bury,
and but 3 of these have any Confidence in the Practice, there will remain 9997 clearly unsatisfied in Inoculation upon this Supposition. But since this Article is wrote to perswade the Wise, and deceive the Simple, and is the Basis of all the rest, I may be thought unseasonably Drolling, where I should be seriously Arguing.
THE strength and force of this Reason depends on the Truth of the Accounts, and what I have to say to their Authenticness will be this; the Computations from the Tables are
arithmetically
True and Just, but as many Facts have been partially epresented, many material Circumstances, which made against the Practice, were then suppressed; as the moving Declarations of the dying Patients, and as some Miscarriages by Inoculation were never transmitted to the Calculator, all which I think can be made evident beyond Contradiction, in such Case the Accounts are so far from deserving an
authentick
Character, that they are mere Impositions. I say not this to asperse the Author of those Accounts, for if I understand who is meant, I honour his Learning and Judgment, and have a great Opinion of his Integrity, and believe he used an honest Diligence to state the Account right, but his Correspondents a disingenuous Industry to deceive him. And here I must observe, that worthy Gentleman promised that he would acquaint the Public with the Progress of this Practice from Year to Year, till it should be firmly established or justly exploded. But whether from a Discovery of the Suppressions on one side, or the Misrepresentations on the other, he sound it impracticable to do it with impartiality; or from a general Discredit the Method of Inoculation soon fell into, he found it useless, I am not willing to determine, but know of none he has publish'd for many Years past.
BUT for once I will suppose the Account authentic, and admit that every Fact was truly, exactly, and faithfully represented, and every individual Miscarriage was transmitted to the Calculator at the juncture of Time when the Supputation was made; Yet surely our Author's Industry in getting fresh Intelligence, or his Integrity in concealing what he received, or the little Acquaintance he has with Men of our Profession must be called in Question; because he takes no Notice of several unhappy Families, some of whose Branches died miserable Sacrifices to this inhumane Practice, long since the Date of his authentic Tables. To deny such Facts, so well attested is
Fr
nt,
and to call them
Forgeries
is taking an unwarrantable Liberty with the Character of Witnesses, for which reason I shall forbear laying before him some authentic Original Papers on this Subject, transmitted to me by Persons of good Fashion, and of undoubted and unquestionable Credit, till such time as the Author shall creep out of his Ambuscade, and shall freely and openly declare upon what Issue he will put this Dispute. I can easily believe Dr.
Jurin
gave our Author such a cautious Answer to his Query, and encouraged the Practice by Inoculating his own Child, and am as fully perswaded the Doctor was so Ingenuous as to tell him, how Tragically the Practice ended in another Family about that Time, where 2 out of 2, died by Inoculation, which were under his Care.
BUT to proceed; As I am willing to make our Author all possible Concessions, I will grant him that not only his Accounts are truly Authentic, but that they have been carried down to the present Time, even to Yesterday, and that the Calculation stands that only 1 in 50 have died by Inoculation. Happy those who have by such a lucky Chance, met at once their Death and end of all their Miseries▪ For are there not many lamentable Spectacles just alive who have been Inoculated, many dreadful Images of Death, Monuments of Terror to any that are capable of Fear? If this be the Case, I cannot but compassionate the Condition of even those that have survived the Operation, and
what the Inoculators call,
Recovered. But I shall consider this Point more hereafter, and now go on to the Accounts of the Fatality of the natural Infection. And here tho' I could lay down several Calculations made in different Parts, widely differing from our Author's
last Accounts,
yet as I am sensible how ready some Persons are to embrace all Opportunity of Cavil and Objection, and perhaps would insinuate that such distant Supputation cannot be rely'd on; To put the Matter out of Question, I have been at the Expence and Trouble to make a
Local
one, whereby it appeared that
Jan.
28, 1683 Persons had had the
Small Pox,
out of which Number 124 died, but as it evidently appears to me that many may, and ought to be deducted out of this Account of the deceas'd, I shall submit the following Particulars to our Author's and the Reader's Perusal and Consideration.
Probably died for want of proper Physic, Attendance, Sustenance, and even Cloathing, notwithstanding the extraordinary
Charity
of some Gentlemen, and the great Care of the Magistrates, and Officers. 35
Abortives supposed to have died of the
Small Pox,
because the Mother had it. 6
Supposed to have died of the
Small Pox,
without having any Eruption. 3
Men and Women died of the
Small Pox
between 60 and 70. 5
Dy'd of the natural Sort, such as the Inoculators would not have practised upon, as appears by their Cautions, which see hereafter
in Page
12. 30
In all 79
IF this Reduction be allowed me, then the Proportion will be considerably altered, and that it may, and ought, is evident to any that will consider how few have died in Families where there was tolerable Care taken, and proper Medicines and Methods of Cure followed. I could indeed further convince our Author of Mis-calculation, when he says 1 in 6 died, but it must be in a Way most disagreeable to myself, for I should subject myself to the Imputation of Ostentation, when I tell him that out of the great Numbers which I have attended
ab Origine,
not 1 in 70 have died under my Care; but to make him amends for such supposed Vanity, I will inform him, that, under Providence, the Success lay in a previous Care, and such Rules of Management I gave to the Persons, which in a general Infection I supposed probably might soon receive it.
BUT to return; and make our Author farther Allowances, and totally reject this Reduction, yet after all 'twill not appear the Calculation stands good: but shall leave and request him to consider the Proportion between 124 and 1683. To this I am really at a loss to conceive what he will say, unless it be what he Personally insinuated to me, that many Errors and Mistakes were made by the Persons who took the Supputation, which put me to a second Trouble, to make a Review and Re-examination of the Matter, which was compared with the Church Books or Clerk's Accounts, and upon the Whole I sound the Differences very immaterial; But to give our Author all possible Satisfaction, I will indulge him what Numbers he thinks reasonable for Mistakes, tho' I am not acquainted with one. Yet I cannot but observe that a very material Imposition was offered me from the
House
where this mighty Project was laid and is
aily carried on, by a false Representation that Four had had it and Two died, whereas only One had it who recovered; What Motives could induce a Man of no great Sagacity or reach of Thought to give this Account, I shall not determine.
'TIS now high Time to dismiss this Article, I shall therefore only add, that supposing the Accounts with regard to the inoculated and natural Sort to be Authentic and
True,
yet our new Introducer of this Method lies under, in my Opinion, two insuperable Difficulties.
1. THO' I grant him the Numbers given, yet be has not proved that this artificial Eruption is a preservative against a natural One, so that some who have submitted themselves to be practised upon by these
Schematists
may fall a Sacrifice to the providential Infection.
2. I WILL fairly suppose that some Persons will never have the Small Pox. Now if the Inoculators should practise upon such a one, (and for ought they know they may) and the Patient die, and 'tis Presumption to say he shall not. What Name shall I give the Fact? What can be said to alleviate the Sorrows of the surviving Relations? That the Inoculators are Principals of, and the Friends Accessories to a
horrid, wicked Act,
is poor Consolation.
ART. II.P. 4.
It is to be observed that the inoculated Small Pox has been found to be as favourable to grown People as to Children.
MONSTROUS is this Observation! How many of the Inoculators shall I produce as Evidences to the Contrary? To stumble at first setting out is certainly an ill Omen, and let him be careful that he makes no more false steps, least he Tumble down.
Is it not well known that the Operators were so Diffident of Success, that they chose Children as Objects of their Cruelty, and whenever they ventured upon grown Persons, were they not curious in their Choice?
Is it not a secret Caution amongst 'em not to admit
Women with Child.
2.
Such to whose Families the Small Pox used to be fatal.
3.
Such as are extremcly Fearful, Fanciful,
Hysteric or Hypocondriac. 4.
Such as are of choleric Constitutions, are apt to Fevers, inflammatory Affections, Plearisy, Erysipelas,
&c.
and such as have lately surfeited and over-heated themselves with
Bacchus,
or
Venus,
or great Labour.
5.
Such as use to spit Blood or have over-much Catamenia.
6.
Such as have a Phthisic, Consumption, Hectic-Fever,
&c. 7.
Such as have the King's Evil, Gout:
Or in Dr.
Jurin
's Words;
To Inoculate none but Persons of good Habit of Body, and free not only from any Apparent, but as far as may be judged from any
LATENT
Disease?
How many then of both Sexes by these Exemptions are discharged from the Danger, or not entitled to the Benefit of Inoculation, is an Inference obvious to every Reader; I would therefore (in Mr.
Howgrave
's Words) ask these learned Mimicks of a few Ignorant
Greek
Women two Questions. 1. Whether Inoculation is not the most Gentle and safe Manner of having the
Small Pox;
and 2dly, Whether a Person of a weak Constitution, or bad Habit of Body, be not as liable (if not more) to receive the
Small Pox
by Insection, as the most Healthful can be? The former Question they will answer in the Affirmative, and the Latter I am consident they cannot deny. If this be the Case, and Ino
lation be gentler and safer, weak and disordered Persons ought of all others to be incoulated, as less able to bear the more hazardous Effects of the natural Sort.
THE next Observation, P. 5. shews the Author has not recovered his first Trip, but is still staggering on; for says he, it is also to be observed,
all those who have not had the
Small Pox,
and resolve to continue in the Town, must almost certainly
have it now. I would willingly understand what is meant by that accurate Expression, All-
must Almost certainly. Almost
joined with
must have it now,
breaks the Necessity of some having it at all, if connected with
certainly,
weakens the Certitude of it. But I stand not upon this Criticism, since as a
Grammarian
he may be right, yet that he is wrong in the Supputation will appear by the Account here given.
THE 3d Article, P. 5. is introduced with an astonishing Violence to all the Rules of Reason, and all the restraints of Truth, and closes with a single Instance of an uncommon Slaughter that the
Small Pox
made at
Uxbridge;
For says he,
A favourable Sort, produces a favourable Sort, a Malignant, a malignant One;
and then the Author with a magisterial Air, lays down a notorious false Assertion.
This is certain in Inoculation.
Surprizing Confidence! 'Tis true indeed, the first Inoculators did boast as much, yet the many Instances of the malignant Sort from a distinct Sort, obliged them modestly to yield what they could not maintain.
I HAVE always thought that a malignant or a favourable Sort proceeded from the Disposition of the Blood and Temperament of the Person receiving the Contagion; if this wants Proof, the different Sorts which have been produced in many Families of this Town, shut up and excluded from the Commerce or Sight of any of the infected, is a Demonstration: For
aver it upon my own Experience, I have observed, tho' sometimes the first of a Family that fell down of the Distemper, had I will say, a malignant, confiuent Sort, the next the 2d, and 3d, who in all humane Probability received the poisonous Infection from this Person, had the Favourable and Distinct; and in the same Family, the 4th or 5th Patient should have the Malignant, and so
vice versa,
and therefore one Part of this Assertion,
[viz.] very highly probable
is false.
LET us examine the other, which with great Boldness is pronounced
certain in Inoculation.
Now I would ask this Author whether he thus roundly asserts this upon his own experience in the Method of Inoculation; if he avers this, I am not such an obstinate Enemy to this dangerous Method as to deny Fact: But if he has not his own Experience to support it, I may be allowed to tell him that the printed
Vide
The Case of Lord
Bathurst
's Servant, Mrs.
Waller,
Mr.
Hugh
's Daughter,
&c.
Relations of the unexspected Stubborness and Danger of this Distemper under the Inoculators Hands, are Convictions that the Author tramples upon the Rules of Modesty to support an ill Cause. If the famous Operators in this Method have not always had the Charm to raise a kind Sort from a mild one, but have frequently
conjur'd
up a malignant Sort which nothing but Death could
bind.
I would gladly know if this Gentleman has been taught this unfound Certainty in Inoculation by
Inspiration,
and has honestly conveyed all the Secret to his Operators altogether unskilled and unacquainted in this Practice; If so; I am not so hardy as to dispute (tho' we live in an Age not very sond of)
Inspiration.
But I expect proper Credentials, and till he produces 'em, shall call in Question his Veracity in the next Lines, as much as I disbelieve the Certainty of his Assertion now. For here the Experience of old Nurses will consute his Reasoning, and inform him that the
Small Pox
at its first
coming into a Town is not always favourable, and as it spreads grows more Malignant;
and indeed at this very Time,
viz. Febr.
20. 'tis notoriously otherwise. For they have Sense enough to know, tho' few at its first Invasion die of the Distemper, and a great many die when it has continued long, this is owing not to an encrease of a malignant Sort, but to the Number of People taking the Infection at one time greater than the other. And thus every old Woman by her Remarks and Methods of telling by her Fingers, is ready to say the Author's Arithmetick which comes next, amounts to o. o. o.
I MUST follow him then thro' the By-Roads he takes to
Uxbridge
near
London,
where I stop to lament the Loss of so many People who died of the
Small Pox
in a natural Way; and tell him that to draw an universal Inference from a particular Instance, is very illogical, and unscholarlike.
ART. IV. P. 6. The last Reason,
viz. the general Good of Mankind,
must if well supported, bring Inoculation into Repute and Practice, and be with great Readiness embraced by those who have not divested themselves of all Humanity and Benevolence. But our Author leaves the most Prevailing of his Reasons, if true, to stand by, and shift for its self, for he gives it no enforcement; unless Dr.
Jurin
's Calculation is a Support to it, but having already under the second Reason shewn the In-equality of that Supputation with our Own, I shall add no more; but wish our Author had.
YET I would under this Article say, that if Inoculation was thought so great a Preservative to Mankind, We of the Profession might in 10 or 12 Years, have study'd the safe practical Part of it, and brought it to a greater Perfection then at present is appears in, and kept it up in greater Honour then it now maintains amongst Us. But since there is such Uncertainty and Insecurity in, and such a general Aversion of the People to the Operation, I am ready to believe the Inhabitants of
Bury
will choose to resign themselves into the Hands of Providence, rather than to submit to be practised upon, in a dangerous, painful Manner by inexpert Operators.
THAT the
Bark, Opium,
and
Mercury
have met with Opposition I own, but have made their Way thro' the Indignation and Contempt of their Enemies, because upon experience they have been proved useful Parts of the
Materia Medica;
these without question in some Hands are very fase, and very effectual Medicines, but by Mis-application have proved very dangerous and destructive Ones, and yet he must be very Weak that Condemns the use of these and many other Medicaments, because some
Empiricks
thro'
Interest, Dishonesty, Ignorance or Folly,
have wittingly or designedly given them improperly. But the Practice of Inoculation is justly condemned, because it is found to be unsuccessful, insecure, and not to answer the Intention.
AND now I proceed to Objection the 1. P. 7.
WE are not certain that Inoculation is a Security from having the Distemper again.
But before I examine our Author's Solutions of this Objection to Inoculation, give me leave to say, if I condemn'd his Judgment in the Choice of his Reasons in Defence of the Practice; I will for once venture to commend his Skill in picking out such Objections, which he imagined he could answer, and passing over many more because he could not. For
some Reasons
I beg he would be pleased to accept of some more Objections, I will not be unmerciful, but at present lay before him only these. 1. Our Climate and our Blood not so proper to an Operation invented and practised in
Greece
and
Asia.
2. No Criterion is found to know the Disposition of the Blood, to receive most advantageously the purulent Matter to be inoculated. 3. No Proportion of the contagious Matter is agreed on by the Inoculators to do the Work safely. When these shall be answer'd, I will ask him a Question,
viz.
What is the Consequence in that Constitution, where Inoculation produces only an imperfect Sort, or
(as they artifully express it)
has no Effect?
I WILL now consider his Answer.
Several Persons who have been Inoculated, have been made to converse with, to handle, nurse, lie in the same Bed with others sick of the natural
Pox,
and no one ever had it again, as far as they that have enquired can learn.
To give Force to this Answer the Author slily supposes, the inoculating Method has produced a true genuine
Small Pox,
and as a Proof of it, says, all Patients by the Means of receiving the Infection he mentions,
never had it again, as far as they that have enquired can learn.
I will not now enter into a Dispute, whether a true
Small Pox
is
ever
brought out by Inoculation, or lay before him well attested Histories of Persons
Inoculated,
and some Time after, falling down of a
natural Small Pox,
since in his second Answer I find all these must go for
Forgeries.
But will tell him a Performance of all these kind Offices, which some Parents from an innate Affection to their Children have undertaken, others from a Notion of catching a kind Sort have Industriously ventured on, some from a Necessity of their Condition attending the Sick in those Offices of Humanity, and escaping the Infection then, have Years after received the contagious Distemper. There are some in this Town who 21 Years past, when it was visited with this Distemper stood clear of this Discase, under such Tryals, but have now had it. So that upon parity of Reason this Part of his Answer is not sound, for tho' the inoculated Patients have for some time stood the Test, yet they may hereafter fall, and for ought they know very soon into the natural
Small Pox.
And I am not without a Rationale of this Observation, which will further evidence the Weakness of our Author's Answer, and confirm the Strength of mine. There is generally agreed to be an occult Disposition or Seminium in the Blood to receive the
Labes
of this Disease, which may be so entangled in its
Sinus,
and may be under such a singular Combination of Texture,
&c.
as to resist the contagious Effluvia at one time, and at another may be fusceptible of them. 2d Answer.
Several Stories that have been invented to perswade the World of the Contrary, have been detected, and shewn to be Forgeries.
If my Reader is as hard of Belief, as our Author, in Histories well supported, which both of them may meet with in those Tracts wrote 1722, 1723, and in many more since, I must leave them entrenched in their Infidelity and consider his 3d Answer.
As the inoculated
Small Pox
is in
EVERY MINUTE
Circumstance
EXACTLY
like the natural One.
It would be very extraordinary —
if it should not be like in this.
This is an Assertion so shocking, because egregiously false, that I have not Temper and Patience to speak to it, but will venture to leave his own Practice, if he will allow proper Judges, as he ought to confute it, and am Confident 'tis not only Anomalous in
some,
but almost in
every
Circumstance. Under this Head he adds.
Whatever be the Reason why the Natural
Small Pox
preserves us from Infection, it is inconceiveable that the Inoculated should not do the same, for the same Reason.
I will kindly offer him two or three Conjectures, which I lay no great Weight upon. 1. That we take this Distemper in a natural Way is most generally agreed, from infected Particles in the Air, and conveyed to the Lungs by Inspiration; and then possibly the Vesiculae of the Lungs may undergo such a Mutation and Alteration in their Contexture, as ever after to be unsusceptible of the variolous Infection; but a Transfusion of this Venom into the Arms and Legs, will not by its Fermentation be any Preservative at all. 2. If there be a necessary Concurrence and Association of the Texture, Shape, Order, and Magnitude of the Blood required to receive the Infection, this may in the Course of Nature meet once and never again; But this Conjunction of Circumstances being entirely unknown to us Mortals, must leave the Inoculators in the Dark, and their Art insecute. 3. The Alteration made in the Skin by the
Small Pox,
that is, the Distention of the miliary Glands and Pores, Dr.
Drake
conceives to be the true Reason why that Distemper never comes a second Time; And Dr.
Pitcairne
has observed, that those that have taken much
Mercury
which dilates those Pores, are not so susceptible of a Fever, for tho' the same feverish Disposition should, and may arise in the Instances of the
Small Pox,
or after much
Mercury
taken, yet the Passages thro' the Skin being more free and open, the Matter will never be so stop'd as to raise the usual Symptoms in either Case.
BUT that this cannot be the Case after Inoculation, is certain both in Reason and Fact, for the very Practicers of it have been obliged to confess and acknowledge that their Method has sometimes only produced an
ingenuine or imperfect
Small Pox, and have express'dly granted (because several Instances have prov'd) that such
artificial
Ingraftment was not preventive of of a second natural Crop; and 'tis farther evident as Sir
Richard Blackmore
observes, that the Seeds of the Disease are not always carried off with those Impurities, which are discharged by Inoculation: but that those false Eruptions may be wholly unmixt and unconcern'd with the Principles of the
Small Pox,
since they alike follow upon Inoculation, whether the Person has ever had, or had not that Distemper before. I should now proceed to the 2d Objection, yet cannot but first observe our Author's artful Insinuation, that it has been the
Opinion of some
(I suppose he means old Women)
that the natural
Small Pox
was not an absolute Security against it a second Time,
and then thank him that he owns this so
rarely happens as not to deserve Notice.
A very pretty, modest Confession! but let me tell him that I hereby call upon him to produce an Instance or two of this, under some
regular Physician
's
Hand
within
these
twelve Years, the Time Inoculation has been practis'd amongst us, and in return by way of Compliment, promise him for every such single Case well attested, to give him several, where the natural
Small Pox
has came on, after the Inoculators had roundly asserted all possible Security against it, and when I have made good this Engagement and produced some plain Histories, I shall humbly beg our Author to inform me how stands the
Proportion.
I NOW proceed to the 2d Objection, which is,
That the inoculated
Small Pox
often leaves bad Consequences, as Consumptions, Boils, and Blotches, weak Eyes,
&c.
WHOEVER is acquainted with the Rules of Controversy (a State of Life, few that have regard to themselves would be brought into, but many that have a concern for others may) will own how unfair that Disputant is, who does not put the Objections against him in the strongest Light, let the Event of the Dispute be what it will. Had this Objection, now to be considered, been fairly proposed, I am willing to believe, we might have recollected the
Fable
of the Viper and the File, but rather than not answer all Difficulties, because some are insolvable, many are to be stifled. In this manner our Inocularian cowardly suppresses a Catalogue of Maladies which are the Consequences of Inoculation, but not of the natural
Small Pox,
and undauntedly mentions those which are the Consequences of both. However, I shall beg leave to enforce this Objection, by giving an Explanation, and Interpretation of the Authors
&c.
and adding to what he has mentioned, CONTRACTED LIMBS, HEMEPLEGIES, PERPETUAL CEPHELALGIES, PHRENSIES, FATAL MORTIFICATIONS.
HAS the Power of Prepossession in favour of this Method barr'd up all the Avenues to our Author's Mind, that Truth shall be hindred admittance? Or are the Mistakes of this Answer owing to an excusable Ignorance, or unpardonable Inadvertency? For to say that the natural
Small Pox
is apt to leave
the same sort
of ill Consequences is a mistake I am positive, but under
which sort
to place the Rise of it. I am really at a Loss, I had rather our Author should chuse. But if he will still insist on
the same sort of ill Consequences,
which he acknowledges
there
are Methods which will
for the most Part entirely prevent or remedy, and always do it in some Degree.
I must expect of him to point me out some Cases from the natural Sort, so formidable and so stubborn, that the Care and Skill of the most eminent Physicians and Chirurgeons, have been so far baffled and prov'd ineffectual, that they have not
in any Degree
been meliorated by Art; for with many of these I take upon me to charge Inoculation, and
at a proper Time
will produce my Vouchers, and if so, the
Force of the Objection
is beyond his reach of Refuting. I will grant indeed our Author that the Disorders attending the natural
Small Pox
principally (but not altogether) depend on a Resorbition of the putrid Matter into the Vessels upon the Declension of the Disease; but in the unnatural Kind, the Case is quite otherwise, for in this, all the dismal Train of Maladies, derive their source and origine from Nature's Inability, to throw out the venemous, malignant Matter, or in a proper Degree to depurate the Blood from the Poison which has been implanted; and I am firmly of Opinion, that Mr.
Howgrave
's Observation is just, that these Disorders are the Effects of the
very Operators
Preparations, which are by
Purging and Bleeding;
for what is proposed by
Purging,
if the Patient to be inoculated
be not only free
from any APPARENT but even any LATENT Disease; and if these are the only Persons to be inoculated, which has been shewn, Where is the necessity of Physic or Physician? We know not when, or where the Patient is afflicted but by Symptoms, and if none of these offer themselves, we must conclude the Body is in a good State, and if any Person be of such a Habit of Body as to require these Preparations, then by their own Account, he is not a fit Subject for Inoculation. And as to
Bleeding
'tis not only not necessary, but MUST ALLMOST CERTAINLY be prejudicial, especially when the very cold Regimen is rigorously enjoyn'd, because by these the Crasis of the Blood may be so weakned, as to render it incapable of throwing off the corrosive Matter, which Inoculation has forced into it. 'Tis true indeed, in the natural Sort these and other preparative Methods, may, and frequently ought to be advised, for in this Case there will be no Danger, but that Nature of herself, or when properly assisted, will effectually reject whatever is offensive to her. Notwithstanding what has been said, I will upon second Thoughts grant our Author that
Preparation
before the Operation,
Attendance of a Physician, during the Distemper,
and
Care afterwards,
may be very proper—
if the Patient can pay well for it.
BUT to be serious and return to our Author who, as I before observed, has a magisterial Way of laying down Positions unsupported, but must here remark a Method more soft but not less affronting to his Reader, when he would
smoothly
lead him into two Mistakes thus:
One would naturally think therefore that where the most corrupted Matter of the worst Kind is returned into the Blood, there the Disorders succeeding the
Small Pox
should be most and worst.
And again, P. 11.
It is inconceivable how a Quantity of corrupted Matter falling into the Body, should be the occasion of the Disorders succeeding the
Small Pox, — and
yet the inoculated
Small Pox
where there is less of the Matter, and of a more kindly Nature be attended with worse Consequences.
Here are two Things taken for granted which I can by no means allow. 1. That a greater Quantity of the infectious Matter is received Naturally. And 2dly, That 'tis of a more malign Nature than what is received by Inoculation. Is there any Argument to make either of these good? Is there any Reasoning to evince the Truth of 'em? No; 'tis enough,
Ipse Dixit,
and we must submit to his superiour Judgment, and implicitly swallow down his
Composition.
But with his Leave let me consider the Nature of the Malignity of the Infection. Is our Author unacquainted with some Poisons which when communicated to the Blood immediately prove fatal, but when received into the Stomach and so digested, are innocent and inoffensive? May not the Virulence of the contagious Effluvia of the sick and infected Things be newly modify'd by the Air, and many of the venomous
Spicula,
broke and blunted in their Passage? Whereas the Acrimony of gross Matter from a Pustle is no ways sheath'd or obtunded by the Inocularian Conveyance. But when our Author
personates
a Physician, I have never been surpriz'd to find him talking very erroneously concerning the Quality of Diseases and Remedies, but as a
Geometrican
I really always expected to have him very exact in any Consideration of Quantities and Divisibility of Matter. Let our Author then meditate a little upon the Difference between GROSS MATTER and EFFLUVIA, and if he be at a Loss after such Reflection, I wou'd refer him to Mr.
Boyle,
who will inform him that several Bodies are sound to emit Effluvia for a great Number of Years, as Magnets, Electrical Bodies, Ambers, divers Odorous Bodies, the Tenuity of whose emanant Corpuscles are so incredibly small that they perceptibly lose neither Bulk or Weight.—Or let him consult some
Apothecary,
who will inform him how a Tun of Sack is poison'd and made an Emetick by a small Quantity of
Crocus Metallorum,
or by the
Antimonial Cup,
without dimunition of its Quantity or Quality: And if these will not give him Satisfaction, I cou'd tell him of a worthy Family in the Neighbourhood which has for many Years been possess'd of an Indian Stone, which immerg'd in Water, will make a generous Cordial, and in less than a Minutes Time; and this without any apparent Abatement of Substance or Quality. Now if this be the Case, and the Difference between gross Matter and Effluvia be so wide, one single Pustule may contain Particles sufficient to insect 10000 Persons in the Natural Way.
I SHALL add no more, but conclude this Reply to our Author with informing him, since he seems to have so little Acquaintance with Men of our Profession, that so many Remarkable and Notorious Facts have supported the Force of this Objection, that the most Learned and Judicious Practicers of Physick and Surgery, both
at Home and Abroad,
have totally discredited and rejected this Operation.
Obj. 3. P. 13.
By Inoculation we may communicate other Distempers.
Whether I was in the right when I commended our Author's Skill in choosing Objections against Inoculation, because he thought he cou'd answer them, I know not, but am certain this Objection is founded upon solid Reason; supported by Experience, and is so formidable to the Practice, that if our Introducer of this
Mankind-Self-serving
Project does not clearly answer it, I am fully perswaded he will be disappointed of his first View injudiciously open'd to his Readers in his last Words, because it leaves them with Impressions unfavourable to the Writer. If other Distempers may be communicated and the Small Pox may not, as
some Inoculators honestly own,
that such a Miscarriage sometimes arises; I question whether our Inoculator stands the
Chance
of
being regarded
by 1
in
50,
perhaps
60, 80, 100, 1000, or even more of the Inhabitants of
Bury
for an Enterprize so hazardous to their Lives.
I shall therefore particularly examine how he answers in the way of
his Profession
this stubborn Objection.
MOST
chronical Distempers,
says our exact NUMERIST,
are chiefly owing to the irregular make of the Vessels thro' which the Blood and Juices pass.
Had he said SOME FEW I had agreed with him. But since so many chronical Distempers derive their Sources from the Viscidity, Fermentation, Raresaction, or Condensation of the Juices and their constituent Parts, the Motion and Circulation of which are often stopped and impeded, when they are not well comminuted by Concoction: since many more are entirely owing to too great an Increase of sharp and acrimonious Salts, which intermixing with the Fluids, leave in them such a corrosive Quality, as instead of filtrating thro' the Glands, break thro', or wear them up. Since then so many chronical Distempers take their Origine from other Causes, I cannot accede to our Author's Assertion. Nay, he is so diffident and distrustful of the Truth of his own Sentiments, that soon after he acknowledges
there are several Distempers which may be communicated by Methods no ways consistent with this Account.
I shall leave therefore the further Examination of this Assertion, which indeed has no Force here, and had better have been omitted, since if our Calculator is wrong in his Account as he most egregiously is, the Position betrays at the same Time his want of Judgment, in the Nature and Cause of chronical Distempers, and the Method of palliating or curing them. But this puts me in mind of an Observation of the great
Baglivi,
who if I remember right somewhere says;
"In my Judgment, Mathematicks, Rhetorick, Arithmetic,
&c.
are as serviceable to an accurate History of Diseases, as the Art of Painting is to a Musician."
BUT to follow our Author who goes on thus:
Now if this was the Case of all, it would be as just to affirm, that Inoculation could communicate the Features of another Man's Face, as communicate other Distempers.
I must own this is to me an unintelligible Consequence drawn from the Author's own Premisses, but as they are innocent, harmless Words, and
communicate
no force to his Answer, and do no hurt to the Objection, I suffer them to stand in their Place, or to CIRCULATE
with the Milk thro' the Body of a Nurse.
But I call myself off from breaking such Bubbles, and plead in my Defence, 'tis none of my Fault, if some Authors Write so Triflingly, that they are not to be solidly refuted.
YET since I said this Objection was built upon solid Reason, and supported by Experience, I think myself obliged to prove the Possibility, Probability, and Certainty of communicating of other Distempers by Inoculation of the
Small Pox.
1. IT is generally allowed that the Stamina or Principles of some dangerous Diseases, such as Madness, Leprosy, Kings-Evil, Consumptions,
Lues Venerea, &c.
are by an hereditary Right entailed upon some Families for some Time.
2. These Principles compounded and sormed in the Constitutions of some Persons, are of a size so exiguous, as to be imperceptible even to the most Eagle-ey'd Chirurgeon, and of a Nature so quiet and dormant as not to enter upon Action, unless by some adventitious Cause roused up.
3. A VARIOLOUS FEVER by a violent and extraordinary Fermentation of the whole Mass of Blood, rouses these Seeds, and they mix with those of the
Small Pox:
and a Pustule taken from such a Person, who has the Seeds of any of these Diseases, may as well convey the Principles of such Diseases, as of the
Small Pox
into another clear of them before.
4. WHEN thus conveyed they have a Power in the minutest Size to convert a large Mass of Liquids into their noxious Nature, and by this Assimilation ruin the Crasis of the Blood, and in progress of Time produce a homogeneous Disease.
THAT I am not singular in allowing such
Semina
and Agency of 'em to corrupt the Blood and Humours, and by Degrees bring them into such a state of Assimilation as may cause a Distemper of the same Family to break out, will be clear to those who have read the mechanical Account of Poison, wrote by the judicious and learned Dr.
Mead,
in which Treatise he several Times, and various Ways confirms and establishes this Notion, Particularly p. 84.
"What is thrown out from Liquors in a Ferment is capable of inducing the like Motion in another Liquor of the same Kind, when duly mixt with it".
Again,
"A Person thus affected
(viz. by a mad Dog)
may be said in a Degree to have put on the canine Nature, tho' his Reason be all this time untouch'd and entire, may Bite, Howl,
&c.
because the like violent Agitation of the Blood in him as was in the Dog, will present like Species, and consequently (so far as their different Natures will allow) produce like Actions,
&c
".
I WILL only add another Quotation, from an Author who is as great an Ornament of our Profession in the
French
Nation, as the Last is in our
own, [viz.] Helvetius,
who expressly says in his
Essay on the Animal Oeconomy,
P. 132.
"When the Blood abounds with Humours of different Qualities, which are likewise dissolved along with the variolous Humours, the Disease in that Case cannot be Simple, but must be complicated".
From these Authorities it appears that the Deposita of some bad Disease may incorporate with the purulent Matter of a Pustule, and the Pustule being a Composition of variolous Poyson and of these Seeds, may
possibly
and
probably
communicate a Chaos of Diseases.
BUT Possibilities and Probabilities are Bugbears and may fright Children, but not move a wise Man; For
the infectious Matter
(says our Author)
according to Experience appears to communicate nothing but what it was intended to communicate, the Small Pox.
Now this is another unsupported Assertion against Fact, and
must be tried
by Experience, which shews a CERTAINTY of such complicated Communication, and as a Proof shall
at present
only beg his Review of the printed Relations, and particularly Miss
Rolt
's and Lord
Percival
's Son's Case, both of which in a lingering Disease miserably lived
and at last
died Victims to this barbarous Practice; but
hereafter
if our Author shall think fit to undertake a general History of the Success of Inoculation
n
iseto give him my Sentiments of the Performan
, and wh
further Sat
faction I can on this Subject.
I GO on with our Author who generally at the beginning of an Article seems to
triumph be it only for a Flourish
in a
line or two
but at the Close supposes
all that has hitherto been advanced may be set aside,
and is by my Consent. But his forsorn Hope being cut off, we must depend upon Porters, Ploughmen,
&c.
and
here we have a moral Certainty, that these have sound and healthy Constitutions.
These indeed
cannot
be Leprous, Scabious, Scorbutick, Rheumatick,
&c.
these
cannot
be subject to any LATENT Disease; so that from these, all Gentlemen may be inoculated very safely without any Communication of any other Distemper, and the Ladies have no reason to fear a Communication of Features,
because it would be as just to affirm that Inoculation could communicate the Features of another Man's Face, as communicate other Distempers.
But I will farther add, and oblige our Author with another necessary Caution in the Practice of Inoculation, which perhaps he never heard of before, and tell him that
it is the Opinion of some,
that even the vicious Inclination of a Nurse may by the Milk be communicated to her suckling Infant; if so, methinks he should be very careful and inquisitive into the moral Disposition of the Person from whom the Matter is taken, for otherwise he may imprudently bring an Honest Man to the Gallows, and make a Modest Virgin a Brazen Prostitute; but
this perhaps will so rarely happen, as not to deserve Notice.
I HAVE now given a short Answer to a Pamphlet, entituled,
Some Reasons,
&c. If my Friends have expected it sooner, or wish'd for a Longer, I must tell a plain and undisguised Truth, I had neither Inclination for the one, nor Time for the other; and in those Hours I sat down to write, I have been so frequently interrupted, that it is more my Wonder that I have finish'd so soon, than that the Impatience of my Acquaintance shou'd make them think I delay'd too long. But I hope I have said enough to discourage a Practice insecure of its Intention, often pernicious in its Consequences, frequently fatal in its Event, to those who voluntarily and freely submit to it; and surely neither Perswasion or Compulsion should be used when Health and Life are the Stakes. It must undoubtedly therefore lay all those who are by fine PROMISES drawn into it, or by inhumane THREATS forc'd into it, under unrequitable Obligations to the Projector.
IF OTHERS can calmly see a detestable Method discredited every where else, introduced amongst their Friends and Acquaintance; I must own I could not be Passive and Silent and with coolness of Temper see it; I could not even forsee their Miseries without Horrour, and thought myself obliged by the Ties of Humanity and Friendship, to do my utmost to prevent them. This was the sole Motive of my Writing this Answer, and if I am so happy as to stop a most dangerous Scheme, the Pleasure of doing good is Reward great enough for me. And since our Author in his last Line without any Hypocrisy owns an ambitious View of being
regarded,
I without Envy wish he may meet with as much regard, as his Modesty joined with his Merit may justly claim.
Bury,
Feb.
27, 1732-33.
FINIS.
APPENDIX.
I Had determined not to Publish any Letters from my own private Correspondents, or Re-print any from the Tracts
at present,
but to fill up an empty Page, have subjoined the following Moving one from Mrs.
Rolt,
a Lady of good Sense and Fashion.
A Letter from Mrs.
Rolt.
Dated
September, 16, 1724.
WHEN I determin'd by my Friend's Perswasion to have my Daughter inoculated, I sent for Mr.
A—d,
he as'k but few questions about her, but I told him she had the
Jaundice
about a Year before, and some Months after a small relapse into it, that from that time she had been very well, till she had the
Measles
about two Months before, and getting soon well of it, had been ever since with a Relation at
Epsome.
He declar'd himself very well satisfied with her State of Health, and tho' I propos'd having a Physician to attend her, ask'd him whether there was not to be some Preparation, and particularly mention'd, cutting off her Hair; he said there was no occasion for any thing I had offered, that the Child would be so well all the Course of the Disease, that she would play about the Room the whole Time.
About five or six Days after the Inoculation, she was seized with great Pains in all her Joints. The
Small Pox
came out about the 10th or 11th Day very violently, and was what they call the
flux
Sort; upon which I propos'd again a Physician, Mr.
A—d
upon it nam'd one he had a mind, which I consented to, soon after another was call'd, who he said understood Inoculation: soon after their Bleeding her, there appeared a swelling upon one of her Elbows, upon which I was very much flatter'd, that it was a mark she would do well, as I was often in the course of her Illness. In nine Weeks after the Inoculation, and after the most miserable Suffering, that ever poor Creature underwent, she died worn to nothing but Skin and Bone. She had
six and thirty running Sores (none of them having ever been heal'd)
when she died; and they were forced to roll up her
Joints in Past-board,
least the Joints should fall out of their Places.
I am very sensible of the Reports which have been spread about her,
[viz.]
that she was eat up of the Kings-evil, that she had had the Black-Jaundice, and that she was not well cured of that, nor of the
Measles.
The Contrary of which, was affirm'd to me by those who had the Care of her in those Illnesses, and as to the King's-evil it never happen'd, either to Mr.
Rolt
's or my Family, nor was it ever suspected by the
Physicians
who had treated her. And Mr.
A—d
himself as I said before, allowed her to be in a very good Condition, and fit for the Operation even without the help, either of a
Physician,
or any Preparation.
After this it is very extraordinary to have such Reports spread; and particularly that
any Man
should talk in Print
of the irregular Life of a Child of nine Years old;
for near two Years before the
Measles,
she had been at Mr.
Caverlas
School, which is allow'd to be one of the best govern'd in
England.
I could say much more upon this Subject, but as every particular of this is
Fact,
the World may see by it the
Humanity
of having such a
Misfortune
aggravated, by the very
People,
who at least should shew some Repentance, for the Misery they brought upon an afflicted Mother.
ANNE ROLT.
As this Letter is wrote within the Confinements of Truth, and with the Accents of Sorrow, I may leave it without any Reflection. Every Man of Sense from this Case will observe a Communication of Diseases by
Inoculation,
POSSIBLE, PROBABLE, and CERTAIN. And every affectionate fond Mother and tender Virgin may from this doleful Instance see the Mercies of Inoculation are Cruel, and dread a Practice of an Influence so malignant, as may render the Lives of them and theirs miserable, and their Bodies an Hospital of putrid Sores, and incurable Distempers.
ERRATA.
Page 16 l. 12,
for
wittingly,
read
unwittingly.
Advertisement.
ANY Person who has had an Opportunity of making any Observation of the ill Consequences of Inoculation, is carnestly requested to communicate the Case well circumstantiated to Dr.
Warren,
at
Bury St. Edmund
's in
Suffolk.