Human and animal variolae : a study in comparative pathology / by George Fleming.

  • Fleming, George, 1833-1901.
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Human and animal variolae : a study in comparative pathology / by George Fleming. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    fully inoculated a large number of cows with Small-pox virus, and produced Vaccinia which gave him abundant vaccine lymph. In France, as in some other European countries, the origin of Cow-pox had long been a fruitful subject for discussion and speculation, and more than once it had provoked warm debates at the Paris Academy of Medicine. In 1863, M. Bouley, then director of the Alfort Veterinary School, had re-discovered at Paris the “ Horse-pox55 of Dr. Loy, of Pickering—in reality, the “ Grease ” of Jenner, Sacco, and others, who believed in the equine origin of Cow-pox. But M. Depaul, who had also, with Bouley, studied this vaccinogenous disease of the horse, was inclined to follow the example of Baron and his followers, and to conclude that it and all other eruptive disorders occurring in animals, and possessing analogous characters, were nothing more nor less than human Variola. So it was that he included Sheep-pox, and the aphthous disorder of animals known as Foot-and-mouth Disease, in the list of disorders having their common source in Small-pox. The influence which he and Bouley possessed divided the Academy into two camps, and the result was recourse to experimentation, which happily led to the conclusion that this equine eruption was capable of producing Cow-pox in the cow and Vaccinia in mankind. But the burning question as to the identity of Small-pox and the diverse varioliform affections of animals remained as undecided as before ; no new facts of a reliable kind were brought forward, and there was nothing to talk about save the well- known contradictory circumstances which had been so often alluded to before, but which were again brought into debate with all the oratorical ability and scientific ardour for which that renowned body is remarkable. Viewing it as a purely experimental matter, as a question which could only be decided by true facts, the Society of Medical Sciences of Lyons appointed a commission to carry out this inquiry. The commission was composed of Drs. Boudet, Delore, Dupuis, Gailleton, Horand, Lortet, Meynet, and Viennois, and the veterinary professor Chauveau. The latter was the president of the commission, and on him chiefly devolved the task of experimenting on the animals. A man more competent for the onerous duty imposed upon him could not be found in Europe ; his reputation in the world of medical science stands very high as a most accomplished physiologist and experimental pathologist, the results of whose experiments may be received as absolutely trustworthy. Drs. Viennois and Meynet were secretaries, and the three drew up the final report, which was presented in 1865. On March 5th,1866, the French Academy of Sciences awarded the Montyon prize, value 2,500 francs, to Chauveau and his two colleagues, Viennois and Meynet, and gave honourable mention to the other members of the commission. This award was made on the recommendation of a commission appointed by the Academy, and constituted by such men as Claude Bernard, Serres, Velpeau, Cloquet, Joubert, Flourens, Rayer, Milne Edwards, and Longet, who gave their opinion as to the great interest and value of the Lyons investigations. This commission, aware that the medical profession had been divided in opinion as to whether, if human Variola were inoculated on the cow, it could