View report page

71
disease had really been taken, and immunity against a subsequent
attack secured, as in cases of natural Small.Pox, or of inoculated
Small.Pox manifesting itself in an eruption of pustules
In England the practice of inoculation at its introduction,
though much lauded and strongly urged by some, was bitterly
opposed by others. Moreover, the initial enthusiasm in favour of
it soon declined, so that in the years 1730.40 very little inoculation
seems to have been practised. About 1740, however, a revival
appears to have taken place ; in 1746 an Inoculation and SmallPox
Hospital was started in London ; and during the whole of
the latter half of the eighteenth century the practice may be said
to have been very general. It was especially so during the last
quarter of the century, the increase being at least largely due to
the ' improved methods' of inoculation introduced by one
Sutton in 1763 and known as ' the Suttonian method.'
This method, carried out by Sutton himself and his
immediate associates, as well as in a more or less modified form by
Dimsdale and others, had for its object the securing that the attack
induced by inoculation, while remaining a veritable attack of SmallPox
and so bringing immunity against future attacks, should be
as mild as possible; that the constitutional disturbance
should be slight and of short duration; that the eruptive pustules
should be few, or even absent altogether; and that a fatal issue,
the somewhat frequent occurrence of which had, in the early days,
been a great obstacle to the spread of the practice, should be
rendered at least very rare indeed, if not impossible. Concerning
the essentials of the method, which Sutton attempted to keep a
secret, there has been much discussion; they seem to have
consisted partly in a proper care or regimen of the patient before,
during, and after the inoculation, partly in the mode of inserting
the virus, and partly in making use of the fluid of the variolous
vesicle at a relatively early stage.
There can be no doubt that between the years 1770—1780
inoculation was very widely practised in England, and there is