difeafe, be for ever fecure; while another perfon, milking the fame cow the next day, might feel the influence of the virus in fuch a way as to produce a fore or fores, and in confequence of this might experience an indifpofition to a confiderable extent; yet, as has been obferved, the fpecific quility be ing lod, the conftitution would receive no peculiar impreffion. During this inve'tigation, he was ftruck with the idea that it might be practicable to propagate the difeafe by inoculation, after the manner of the fmali pox, firft from the cow, and finally from one human being to another; he boldly made the attempt, and for ever fecured humanity from deploring the ravages of the most pet tiferous difeafe that ever visited the earth; and in 1798 he divulged this wonderful difcovery to an admiring and atonished world. It is rarely that genius, however diftinguished, is fo accurate as to give a first effay, even upon a fubject in fome meature familiar, without omif. fion or redundancy, both as to matter and compofition. To delineate a new field of difcovery, from whom could we expect, not only a perfect outline, but the completion of every tint of light and fhade! Thefe, however, were fo accurately united in his " Inquiry into the Caufes and Effects of the Variola Vaccine," as to induce a fagacious Phyfician, who never uttered a fentence without weighing its import, unequivocally to declare, "It appears to me, that none of the facts and obfervations introduced by Dr. Jenner have ben difproved or refuted; and that no information has been gained on any material point by all that has been written upon the fubject fince the publication of his firft treatife;" and public conviction to this moment confirms the declaration of Denman. temple, an whofe lofty dome future generations ball gratefully infcribe JENNERI Some, indeed. learned members of this Society, where I fee a Ring, an Aikin, and an, Addington*, may ho. nourably be estimated as the coadjutors of Jeuner, and have offered their handful of inortar to cement the noble edibut Jenner alone is the architect who laid the foundation of the glorious fice: Thefe Gentlemen, who are Members of the Medical Society, have diftinguished themselves as authors on Vaccine Inoculation, GENIO SALUTIFERO. Had our illustrious Allocate fordidly appropriated the fruits of his difcovery to his private emolument, he might have acquired incalculable wealth; but elevate i by the dignified impule of univerfl benevolence, he voluntarily facrificed private benefit to public good, and gratuitously conferred upon mankind the means of preventing 800,000 infanticides every year; or, the facrifice of 2500 human lives every day of the world's existence. The philanthropy of jenner did not confine itself within the limits, of an empire, but extended from pole to pole: After divulging to Erope the means of fecurity from the mill pox, he was particularly folicit ous of conveying to India the falutary bleding, which all Europe adopted with gratitude and avidity; and to effect which he gave me authority to fubfcribe one thousand guineas in his name towards defraying the expenfe of conveying vaccine matter to Ceylon, and over other extenfive Afiatic poffeflions. In one of his letters to me, he defcribes the plan he had earnestly recommended to the Government here, in order to crown his exertions with fpeedy and certain fuccefs. "My first attempt was about the conclufion of the year 1799, by fending out my publications on the fubject of the cow pox, and a large quantity of vaccine virus, on board the Queen Eaft Indiaman. This hip unfortunately was loft at fea On hearing this dif aitrous event, I went on renewing my efforts to introduce vaccination amongst them, by fuch means as had proved fuccesful in tranfporting the virus to countries far diftant from this; but it never reached the fhores of Hindolan in perfection. "I was fent for twice to the Secre tary of State's Office, (Lord Hobart's,) where preing folicitations had arrived for vaccine mitter, on account of the devaftations the fmall pox was making, particularly in the Iland of Ceylon. I reprefented in the strongest terms the neceflity of employing means more effectul than fending out dried matter, and that I would engage to point. them out. The following was my propofition : That on board fome hip going to India, 3 India, twenty recruits, or men of any defcription that had not had the fmallpox, fhould be felected. That I should be allowed to appoint a furgeon to attend them, perfectly converfant with vaccine inoculation. "Thus I engaged that the difeafe fhould be carried in its molt perfect ftate to any of our fettlements. "After fome deliberation, my propofals were, each time, rejected, and I was requested to put up matter in a way the most likely to fucceed. This I complied with, and did my beft; but, as I told the gentlemen at the board, with only faint hopes of fuccefs. "Ruminating on the calamities to which our countrymen and natives of Hindoftan are expofed, and on the facility of fubduing the fmall pox, were the cow pox once etablished amongt them, I was ftruck with the idea, that that obstacle was by no means invincible; nothing being required to remove it, but a fhip properly equipped. It was then that I wrote to you on this fubject, and propofed the immediate railing by fubfcription a fum fufficient to defray the expenfes, at the fame time requesting you to put my name down for a thoufand guineas. "Happily, foon after, intelligence was received that vaccine matter had reached India in perfection, through the perfevering induftry of my friend Dr. de Carro of Vienna. It was by his means that it was first planted in Conftantinople, and from thence he contrived that it fhould move forward to Bombay. You need not be told with what exultation it was received by all ranks of fociety; the enlightened European and the poor Hindoo both hailing it alike as the deliverer from a dreadful peftilence." The difcovery of vaccine inoculation, when first announced by Jenner, was fo wonderful and to unexpected, as rather to dazzle than convince his contemporaries of its infinite importance. Even to many fcientific men, it appeared almoft incredible, whilft they wished to fee realized what they had deemed impoffible. Profound truths, or the vivid rays of conviction, on their firft impulfe, may confound intel. lect, or confufe vifion; hence, obferved the modeft Fontenelle, If both my hands were full of truths, I would open one only at a time.' At length, experience has enabled the world to appreciate the importance of a difcovery, unequalled in its hiftory, and gratitude has given its votive of ferings to the genius of Jenner, from the thrones of both the Cælars, to the imperial parliament of Great Britain, and the focieties of literary cha afters throughout the civilized world. Whilst in him Brain claims a triumph, which will be recorded to her glory as long as a Newton or a Harvey inali dignify the page of history. One weighed the globe in the fcale of gravitation, and the other explained to man the laws of his exiftence; but to Jenner was devolved the power of preferving that exiftence; and to this fociety will remain to futurity the honour of owning him its early allociate; for, however powerfully envy or malignity may attempt to leffen the importance of the Jennerian difcovery, or to depreciate the dignified character of its author, time will prove the vindicator of truth. As Linnè anfwered his opponent to the fexual fyftem of botany, by pointing to an academy of children- Thefe," faid he," will be our judges;" fo Jen. ner, not walking over hecatombs of the flain, not furveying with melan choly retrofpect, the blind or the de formed by the havoc of infection, may point to the rifing generation, and claim the fuperlative gratification of contemplating myriads of fellow-creatures refcued from a deadly petilence; which, under the deitinies of Providence, he lived to fubdue. Confcious, as he muft be, of the high estimation with which he ranks among philofophers and fages, he fhuns adulation; and courts rural retirement, whenever his profeffional duties admit of moments of leisure; moments not given up to ease and inglorious indulgence. Whilft the great and opulent have been protected by his difcovery; in the philanthropy of his mind, he confers the bleffing equally on the friendlefs and the poor. The manner in which thefe moments of relaxation are spent, is defcribed in fuch appropriate language in a letter I recently received from a correfpendent, as to encourage me to introduce it here. "About nine o'clock in the morning, I arrived at Berkeley, and immediately waited on my friend. He was juft fitting down to breakfast. After the ufual congratulations and inquiries refpecting our common friends were over, I joined him in the repaft of which he was about to partake. Our conver. 165 mixture of pain and entertainment in hearing fome of the poor villagers exprefs their apprehenfions retpecting the benefit which vaccine inoculation afforded them, and relate the prejudices of their ruttic neighbours. But the Doctor very well understands the a of dealing with their prejudices; and it gave me great pleafure to oblerve the gentle and effectual manner with which he endeavoured to footh their minds. It is a pleafing reflexion, said he. after they were gone out, that thele poor children are for ever fecured from the dreadful evils which the difeate I am ftriving to exterminate might have brought upon them: and when I confider the multitudes of the human race who have already availed themtelves of the benefit, which I had the felicity to announce to mankind, and those who will hereafter avail themfelves of it, my pleature is fo great, and my gratitude towards that Being whom I know to be the author of every blefling is to lively, that I can fcarcely exprefs either the one or the other. You have, faid I, good reafon to feel fo: and with re gard to your little temple here, reverting to the appellation which he had given to his cottage, it is a fortunate thing for us, that the fystem of polytheifm has given place to the dictates of truth, elfe Vaccina would have been introduced as a new deity to the world, and men, if they regarded the advantages which the produced, would have done homage in this rural manfion, with greater delight and veneration than in the molt magnificent and lumptuous temples that ever attracted the admiration of Greece and Rome." fation, as might be expected, did not dwell long on other topics, but foon haftened to that important fubject which has for fome time arrelted the attention of mankind, I mean the difcovery of vaccine inoculation. I heard with much regret of the obftacles which envy, prejudice, and ignorance had railed to impede the pogrefs of this falutary practice, and with heartfelt pleasure of its extenf.ve and rapid propagation through almost every country of the globe. The parlour, in which we were fitting, looked into an agree able lawn, on one fide of which ran a waik, here and there perceptible be. tween trees, till at length it was com pletely loft in a thick bower. I had obferved, during our converfation, a great number of females, with children in their arms or by their fides, palling down the walk, and proceeding for ward into the bower, which interrupt ed them from my view. The circumitance very much excited my curiosity; and I could not forbear interrupting the converfation to enquire of my friend what it meant. It has been my cuttom for fome time, faid he, to fet apart one morning in the week for inoculating the poor; and this being the appointed day, the people you fee are come from the adjacent villages on that account. You wonder, perhaps, continued he, to fee them go foregularly into the bower and difappear; I will explain it to you. In the midt of thofe trees is a fmall manfion, built in the cottage file; it confits of one room only, and was erected for the purpose of giving a rural appearance to that part of my garden. I have lately converted it into a place of utility; and the people who come to be inoculated affeinble there, and wait until I come among them. It is for this reafon I have given my little cottage the name of the Temple of Vac. ciña; and like a faithful priet, added he fmiling, I am always anxious to find it filled with worthippers. Bat after breakfast you shall go with me, and fee in what manner we proceed. I agreed to the propofal with pleafure, and in a few minutes we both rofe up, and went together to the cottage. We found it almost full of poor people with their children. My friend firit examined the arms of thofe he had inoculated the week before, and then inoculated others, ftrictly enjoining the parents to bring them the next appointed day. I felt a VOL. XLVI. SEPT. 1804. In contemplating the extent of this fplendid difcovery, and the facility with which the public good it promites may be carried into effect; and combining the various other difcoveries and improvements in fcience, which we have witneffed, what a fublime profpeét is opened to the ardent genius of afpiring and ingenuous youth! To look to a Franklin, who, by the me dium of a final metallic wire, fubdued and governed the most tremendous agent in nature, and opened to us the arcana of electricity; which Galvani and Aldini further extended; and by which we are led to conclude, that from the Gymnotus electricus, that. diffufes the electric power in the ocean,; clouds and from all animal matter, up to the clouds floating in the ambient air, an ætherial agency pervades all nature, and influences her hidden operations; but, as Seneca obferves, Multa etenim funt quæ effe audivimus, qualia autem fint ignoremus! Quamque multa venientis avi populus, ignota nobis, fciet. In a particular manner, the difcovery which this fociety commemorates this day, affords the strongest encouragement to cultivate, with ardour, the fcience of medicine, after the example of our illustrious affociate, to whom has been unanimoufly voted this gold medal, for his difcovery of vaccine inoculation; and which, in his abfence, I depolit, agree biv to his requet, with the learned Prefident of this loci ety; who has, upon numerous occafions from this chair, which he has fo long and honourably filled, inftructed and improved a liftening and grateful auditory: to my friend, Dr.Sims, therefore, do I, with the utmost pleasure, commit this medal, bearing the follow ing infcription, have been cafual; but the refemblance, now to be noticed in these Latin Iam. bics, was intended. The marks of imitation, impressed on the lines here felected, are not equivocal, but clear. These lines are taken from a Latin poem, written by Petrus Molinæus, i. e, by Peter Du Moulin; who was one of Salmafius's most learned friends, and one of Milton's most bitter enemies. This poem, which is a virulent invec tive, pus et fel merum, is published with other poetical pieces, in one fmall volume. The Infcription is, In impurissimum Nebulonem Joannem Miltonum. Should the reader, in his progress through this fcurrilous rhapsody, be dif pofed to compare the Latin lines with the correfponding Greek, he will find the points of refemblance betwixt them to be prominent and striking. Caffandra, as her cuftom is, has foretold the various fortunes, to which Ulyffes at different times and under different circumstances would be ex pofed. This portion of her narrative may be confidered as an epitome of the Don. Soc. Med. Lond. An. Salut. 1773. Odyfley: and, viewed in this light, it Inftit. E. Jenner, M. D. Socio fuo eximio ob Vaccinationem in honour of Dr. Jenner, as the greatest mark of approbation we can offer to the unrivalled merit, and deathless fame, of that man, who has removed the veil which concealed the facred myfteries of Ifis in this profound allufion to nature: ΕΓΩ ΕΙΜΙ ΠΑΝ ΤΟ ΓΕΓΟΝΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΟΝ, ΚΑΙ ΕΣΟΜΕΝΟΝ, ΚΑΙ ΤΟΝ ΕΜΟΝ ΠΕΠΛΟΝ ΟΥΛΕΙΣ ΠΩ ΘΝΗΤΩΝ ΑΠΕΚΑΛΥΨΕΝ *. LYCOPHRON'S CASSANDRA, L. 815. Ω σχέτλι, ὥς σοι κρεῖσσον ἦν μίμνειν πατρα IMITATIONS of Lycophron are seldom fought, and feldomer found. Yet he, like other poets, has had his imitators. Some of thefe imitations may I am whatever is, or has been, and will be; and no mortal has hitherto drawn anide my veil. is entertaining and interefting. The tale of complicated diftrefs is continued through more than 170 lines, and clofes with an apostrophe to Ulyffes, that conveys a fuitable reflection. This reflection Milton's angry adverfary has preffed into his fervice, and applied to his malevolent purposes. |