Vaccination vindicated against misrepresentation and calumny, in a letter to his patients / by Edward Jones.

  • Jones, Edward.
Date:
1805
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vaccination vindicated against misrepresentation and calumny, in a letter to his patients / by Edward Jones. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    in which whatever may be the abilities of the disputants, the merits of Dr. Jenner and his discovery cannot fail to acquire new triumphs.—Dr. Squirrel claims credit for candour, humanity, and honour: the evidence of his own writings invalidates his claim to the two former virtues and professions of the latter are so universally prostituted to the purposes of empiricism and imposture, that in this instance I cannot fofbear answering in the words, of the poet:—- Talk not of honour, Vis the cant of knaves. The specious covert for a thousand frauds. To pave the way to guilty eminence; But when its honest dictates guide she heart. It seldom ’scapes the lips of the possessor. In Dr. Squirrel’s book will be found the following propositions, on each of which I intend to offer a few observations :— “ 1st, That it is proved that the origin of the cow-pox is, “ the grease in horses.” “ 2d, That the grease in horses is a loathsome scrophulous “ disease.” , “ 3d, That the cow-pox when introduced into the human «< constitution is always a severe disease; that it always pro- “• duces scrophula or some other injurious effects on the “ constitution;” “ 4th, That inoculated small-pox is always a mild disease, and is never productive of any baff effects, but on the contrary “ improves the constitution.” “ 5th, That small-pox matter has a greater affinity to the human blood tlian cow-pox matter, and is therefore more “ congenial to the human constitution.” •»« 6th, That the cow-pox is not a preventative of small-pox “ but for a certain time.” «« 7th, That the advocates of vaccination were ignorant of “the practice of inoculation, and therefore not competent “judges of the comparative merits of the two modes of practice.” To the first assertion, I beg leave to observe, that it was very early conjectured hy Dr. Jenner that the cow-pox originated in grease: the conjecture was certainly a very probable one, but how it has been proved this learned Dr. S. has not condescended to r » inform