Comparison between the small pox and the cow pox.

Date:
[1807?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Comparison between the small pox and the cow pox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    3 INSTRUCTIONS FOR 9' VACCINE INOCULATION. Let the vaccine fluid be taken, for the purpofe of Inoculation, from a puftule that is making its progrefs regularly, and which poflefles the true vaccine charaAer, on any day from the fifth to the eighth, or even a day or two later, provided the efflorefcence be not then formed around it. When the efflorefcence is formed, it is always moll prudent to defilt from taking any more of the virus from that puftule. - To obtain the virus, let the edges of the puftule be gently punctured with a lancet in feveral points. It will gradually ooze out, and fliouldbe inferted upon the arm about midway between the flioulder and the elbow, either by means of a very flight fcratch, not exceeding the eighth part of an inch, or a very fmall oblique pundlure. A little red fpot will appear on the pumftured part on the third day, if the operation fucceed, which on the fourth or fifth becomes perceptibly velicated. It goes on increafing till the tenth day, when it is generally furrounded by a rofe-coloured efflorefcence, which remains nearly ftationary for a day or two. The efflorefcence then fades away, and the puftule is gradu- ally converted into a hard glofly fcab, of a dark mahogany colour. Thefe progrelTive ftages of the puftule are commonly completed in lixtecn or feventeen days. A Angle puftule is fufficient to fecure the conftitution from the fmall-pox ; but as we are not always certain the pumfture may take eftetS, it will be prudent to inoculate in both arms, or to make two punAures in the fame arm, about an inch and a half afunder, except in very early infancy, when there is a great fufeeptibility of local irritation. If the efflorefcence furrounding the puftule Ihould be extenflve, and occafion much local heat upon the arm, it may be cooled by the repeated application of pieces of folded linen dipped in cold water ; or ftill more expeditioufly by a ftrong folu- tion of the aqua lythargyri acetati* in water; an ounce, for example, of the former in five or fix of the latter. If the fcab fliould at any time be prematurely rubbed off, and not fucceeded by another within twenty-four hours, the part may be occafionally touched with the undiluted aqua lythargyri acetati. Vaccine virus, taken from a puftule, and inferted immediately in its fluid ftate, is preferable to that which has been pre- vioully dried; but as it is not always pracfficable to obtain it in this ftate, we are compelled to feekfor fome mode of preferv- ing it. Various means have been fuggefted, but from the teft of long experience it may be afferted, that preferving it between two plates of glafs is the moft eligible. Let a piece of common window glafs be cut into fquares of about an inch each, fo that they fliall lie fmooth when placed upon each other. Let the colletSled vaccine fluid be confined to a fmall fpot (about the lize of a fplit pea) upon the centre of one of thefe glaffes; which fliould be fuffered to dry in the common heat of the atmo- fphere, without expofure to the heat of fire or the fun. When dry, it fliould be immediately fecured by placing over it the other piece of glafs. Nothing more is neceffary for its prefervation than wrapping it in clean writing paper. The virus, thus preferved, when wanted for the purpofe of inoculation, may eafily be reftored to its fluid ftate by dif- folving it in a fmall portion of cold water, taken up on the point of a lancet. It may then be ufed in the fame manner as when juft taken from a puftule. The vaccine fluid is liable, from caufes apparently trifling, to undergo a decompofition. In this ftate It fometimes pro- duces what has been denominated the fpurious puftule; that is, a puftule, or an appearance on the arm not pofleflfing the cha- racSteriftic marks of the genuine puftule. Anomalies, afluniing different forms, may be excited, according to the qualities of the virus applied, or the ftate of the perfon inoculated; but by far the moft frequent variety, or deviation from the perfeiS: puftule, is that which arrives at maturity, and finlflies its progrefs much within the time limited by the true. Its commencement is marked by a troublefome itching; and it throws out a premature efflorefcence, fometimes extenfive, but feldom circumferibed, or of fo vivid a tint as that which furrounds the puftule completely organized; and (which is more charadteriftic of its dege- neracy than the other fymptoms) it appears more like a common feftering produced by a thorn, or any other fmall extraneous body flicking in the Jdn, than a puftule excited by the vaccine virus. It is generally of a ftraw colour; and when pundtured, inftead of that colourlefs, tranfparent fluid of the perfedl: puftule, its contents are found to be opaque. That deviation from the common charadter of the puftule, arifing from vaccine virus which has been previoufly expofed to a degree of heat capable of decompofing it, is very different. In this inftance, it begins with a creeping fcab, of a pale brown or amber colour; making a long and flow progrefs, and fometimes going through its courfe without any perceptible efflorefcence. Its edges arc commonly elevated, and afford, on being pundfured, a limpid fluid. A little pradlice in vaccine inoculation, attentively condudled, Imprefles on the mind the perfedl charadter of the vaccine puftule; therefore, when a deviation arifes, of whatever kind it may be, common prudence points out the neceffity of re-ino- culation, firft, with vaccine virus of the moft adtive kind, and fecondly, fliould this be ineffedlual, with variolous virus. But if the conftitution fliews an infufeeptibility of one, it commonly does of the other. When any conftitutional fymptoms occur in inoculated Cow-pox, they are commonly firft perceptible (efpeciaUy in chil- dren) on the fourth or fifth day. They appear again, and fometimes in adults, not unlike a mild attack from inoculated fmall-pox, on the eighth, ninth, or tenth day. The former arife from the general effedts of the virus on the habit, the latter from the irritation of the puftule. If the effluvia of the fmall-pox have been received into the habit previoufly to the inoculation of the vaccine virus, the vaccine inoculation will not always be found to flop its progrefs, although the puftule may make its advances without interruption. The lancet ufed for inoculation fliould always be perfedtly clean. After each pundlure, it is proper to dip it into water, and wipe it dry. The Pradlitioner fliould be particularly cautious in obferving that its point be free from ruft, either contradled by common means, or from the adlion of the vaccine virus, which, even when dry and in contadl with it, has a tendency, in a little time, to produce it. The prefervation of vaccine virus upon a lancet, beyond the period of a few days, * Goulard’s extract of tatuioi EDWARD JENNER. IriiitcdUy D, H. Story, Berwick Street, S$to..