Anti-vaccination poem and letter

Anti-vaccination poem and letter composed only a few years after Edward Jenner's first experiment with vaccination against smallpox on 14 May 1796. The poem, entitled 'Verses / Composed upon that Sublime Subject the Cowpock Preached by Mr Lyons', argues against vaccination on religious grounds e.g. 'Let God alone the first infection give / Then should they die resigned to him you live / No second causes would perplex your mind / But in the first a Heaven of Heavens you find'. The poem is undated and unattributed, but is accompanied by a letter in a different hand from John Gibson of Scarborough to his friend Mr F. Hopper, grocer, Dagger Lane, Hull, 23 September 1803. Gibson shows himself to be strongly against vaccination on religious grounds e.g. 'it is my fixed opinion that the smallpox by inoculation never saved the life of one single person nor never will[.] Does not the Scripture say all things are of God[?] I know you are great advocates at Hull for inoculation particularly the cowpox[.] Our little girl we leave in the hands of the Lord who does all things right'.

1803

1 file

Purchased from John Wilson, 2002