Facts, for the most part unobserved, or not duly noticed, respecting variolous contagion / [Edward Jenner].

  • Jenner, Edward, 1749-1823
Date:
[1808]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Facts, for the most part unobserved, or not duly noticed, respecting variolous contagion / [Edward Jenner]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    20/42 (page 12)
    [ 12 ] \ There is every gradation then, from that point in which the con- tagion of the small-pox excites no sensible indisposition or marks of its presence, up to that which admits of the reappearance of the dis- ease in such a degree as to prove destructive. u f s That the small-pox may be received after supposed security, and yet, like the cow-pox, pass imperceptibly through the constitution, is a fact sufficiently proved by the following striking example : About five years ago 1 was requested by Dr. Croft to vaccinate the infant of Mrs. W. a lady in Portland Place. The vaccine fluid, which was inserted fresh from the arm of another infant, produced scarcely any effect beyond a little efflorescence on the part, which in a few days disappeared. On expressing my surprise at this, such an .occurrence happening very rarely, Mrs. W. soon removed my embarrassment.by the following narrative : A few days previous to her confinement she met a very disgusting object, whose face was covered with the small-pox. The smell and appearance of the poor creature affected her much a>t the time; and though she mentioned the circumstance on her return home, she had no idea that her infant could suffer from it, having had the small-pox herself when a child. During a few days after its birth her little one seemed quite well, but on the fifth day it became indis- posed, and on the seventh the small-pox appeared. The pustules, which were few in number, maturated completely. Dr. Cioft, who attended her, being curious to know the efl'cct of inoculation