Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1860-02-09

IHE SMALL fO1.-lHis AooeAoooOt DNt
thanks to modern discovery, no longer alar-
ming disease, still fingers IN the city,
and among the people of the neishboring
cities and towns 1t is most assurediy as
tonishing to the last degree, that there can
vet be found amongst us, persons, full
grown, otherwise intelligent, and sufficient
" provident, who are so unwise, foolhardy,
or so full of sheer prejudice, as to refuse or
neglect to avail themselves OF the only per-
feet preventive known to man OF this terri
bic malady, namely, caccination. But 1t IS
nevertheless only too true, that there are
such persons lin very limited number let
US hope) yet among US, furnishing material
in their own bodies to sustain and perpetuate
this dreadful scourge.
The origin Of the smallpox dates very far
back. 1t may be, so far Us is known, coeval
with man himself Hundreds of years ago,
it ragged in China. and that wonderful people,
for the purpose of modifying its power upon
the system, resorted to q practice, which
seems strange enough to US, at this day
1t seems they took the dried scabs from off
the bodies of the diseased, and after grind
ing them into fine powder, mixed this ma
terial with some more agreeable, probably
aromatic substance and administered this
compound in the form of snuff through the
nose.
The first innoeulation for the smallpox
by incision in the arm, was practised by
the Circassians, centuries ago The Clrcas-
slams were poor, and as low in their moral
perceptions as their worldly goods 1t is
we'll known that, time out of mind, these
miserable people have sold their marriage
able daughters for the harems ut CONSTANT
nople, Smyrna, Cairo and other cities
throughout Persia and Turkey. The small
pox was hindrance to this netarlous traffic.
Many of the poor girls persisted by the dis
ease; and, of those who recovered from It's
dreful attacks, q large proportion became
so frightfully disfgured as to be objects OF
disgust, and therefore unsaleable. The Cir
eassians resorted in all instances to innocu-
lation of their female infants at the age OF
six or twelve months. If it so happened,
that in any year the disease had disappear
ed, SO that no UiruS could be procured, with
which 20 immaculate their infants, that was
considered an unlucky year.
The first European 80 far rs it is known,
ever innoculated for the smallpox, was an
infant of Lady Worthy Montague, born at
Constantinople, in 1921, while she was re
siding in that city, with her husband, the
ambassador to the principal city in the
Turkish Empire. Lady Montague, against
the remonstrances of her household, having
learned the practice of the Circassians in
this regard, had her child iunoculated for
the smallpox. Upon her return, some years
afterwards, to England, she had al inter
view with the then queen of her native coun-
try, told her with what perfect success the
child had encountered this dreaded disease,
in It's modified form, and persuaded her
majesty to use her powerful influence TO IN
troduce the practice among her subjects
The queen entered readily into Lady Mon
tague's views, and proposed to four eoncicts,
then under sentence Of death, to procure
their full pardon, on condition Of their sub
hitting to incubation for the smallpox
The experiment was tried with entire sue
cess upon these culprits, and thence adopted
very soon, throughout the kingdom OF Great
Britain. The French nation held out against
this practice for many years, suffering i'm
mensely from the continual rayages Of the
disease. Many of their most eminent men
and women had died Of it, including their
king, Louis XIV In Paris alone, in one
year, after this experiment Of Lady Mon
tague, more than t0eAty thousand died Of
smallpox. In every hundred of the popula-
ton of France, sixty took the disease. Out
of that siry, the average deaths amounted
to ten; and of those who recovered, ten more
were frightfully marked by the disease.
1t was not till 1898, seventy-seven years
after Lady Montague tried incubation for
smallpox upon her infant, that DR.. Jeener
so happily introduced the cow-pox into Eng
land The history of this discovery is too
familiar to our readers to require repetition.
1t was first brought into the United States
two years after viz; in the year 1900. The
late DR.. Waterhouse, who died few years
ago, in Cambridge, claimed to have been
mainly instrumental IN presenting the sub
iect to our people, and aspired to the hon
orable distinction Of being called the "Jen-
ner Of America" with how much propriety
we do not know.
That the cow is subject now to just
precisely the same disease as in 1898, and
that she has it too, everybody knows; and
that vaccination now is just as perfect pre-
yentive Of smallpox as il was in Jenner's
time, all experience and the testimony Of
millions of witnesses prove beyond all cayil
and controversy.
Let then, every individual, who from any
cause. has hitherto omitted such an imperi-
Gus duty to himself, his neighbors and fel-
low man, 20 at once to some skiltul and up
right physician, and avail himself Of this
great safeguard against one Of the most
frightful of all human Affections Boston
Courier.