A letter to Sir Henry Halford, bart. ... proposing a method of inoculating the small-pox : which deprives it of all its danger, but preserves all its power of preventing a second attack / by R. Ferguson.

Date:
1825
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to Sir Henry Halford, bart. ... proposing a method of inoculating the small-pox : which deprives it of all its danger, but preserves all its power of preventing a second attack / by R. Ferguson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    4. Mixing the two poisons together, find then inoculating with the compound. This is very un- certain. Allow me, Sir, to recal to your attention Dr. Willan’s conclusions on the combined inoculation of the variolous and vaccine fluids. “ 1. That when a person was inoculated with vaccine and variolous matter, about the same time, both inoculations proved effective; for the vaccine vesicle proceeded to its acme in its usual number of days, and the maturation of the variolous pustule was attended by a variolous eruption on the skin. “ 2. That these effects took place without much variation, in all cases where the interval between the two inoculations did not exceed a week: but, ce 3. That when variolous matter was inserted on the ninth day after the vaccine inoculation, its action seemed to be wholly precluded.”—Willan on Vaccine Inoculation, p. 1. As to the second clause of my third question, whether the “ modified small-pox is dangerous, and in what degree,” I shall merely state, that the power of cow-pox, in mitigating small-pox, is so well known, that the common argument for induc- ing people to submit to vaccination is, that should small-pox occur subsequent to it, that formidable disease is disarmed of its terrors. It is a common practice to vaccinate, when there are any suspicions of an unprotected person having been exposed to small-pox ; and this with a view of either superseding or mitigating that disease. I have already stated sufficient grounds for be-