The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1881-02-23
SMALL PoX IN THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY.
How they Managed incubation Parties,
and What Came of It.

OF Tue VI ANtN lpAt ~ thS oS'SSNaA'~-
to ascertain what progress tue small pox had
made Tn the town since the previous January
and it was found that during the interval thirty
eight persons had taken the disease in nat
ural way, of whom four had died and that sly
hundred and forty persons had been lnocuiatec
for small box, of whom two had died. The
population at that time was about seven thous-
and. From this it appears that about ten per
cent. of the inhabitants were inoculated during
that period, which shows that the people OF
Newport had far more enlightened views OF
this subject than were displayed in many Other
quarters. The idea of filling ones blood will
the virus of a loathsome disease could scarcely
fail of being repulsive, and it was not an easy
matter to tolerate those persons who advocated
the measure. A newspaper suggested that
the College of Physicians should give gold
medal to the professor who should Prove "thi
whatever distemper any person shall die OF al
seventy years of age must infallibly be owing
to his having been inoculated at seven; and
that every person who has the small pox by
incubation may have it ten times in the nat
ural way" And even when Prince Edward
and the Princess Sophia were inoculated by
Pennal and Caesar Hawkins in 1890, not only
for their own protection, but also for an exam :
pie, the reluctance of many persons in Eng
land TO take the disease was not overcome.
Nearly twenty years later Cowper wrote to
Lady Hesketh % We talk of our freedom, and
some Of us are free enough, but not the poor.
Dependent as they are upon parish bounty
they are sometimes obliged to submit to impo-
sitions which, perhaps in France itself, could
hardly be paralleled. Can man or woman be
said to be free, who is commanded to take a
distemper, sometimes at least mortal, and in
circumstances most likely to make it SO? No
circumstance whatever was permitted to ex-
empt the inhabitants of Weston, We're asked
who is the most arbitrary sovereign on earth,
l should answer, Neither the King Of France
nor the Grand Seignior, but an Overseer OF the
poor in England.
After the first burst of opposition in America
to the introduction Of incubation, and the
TRADE of abuse heaped upon the head of DR..
Boylston, there was disposition on the part
of the people to run the risk attendant upon
incubation (for they could not be led to be-
lieve that they were not endangering their
lives by so doing) rather than live in mortal
fear of the disease they wished to escape. But
for a time there was a certain amount OF
auackery connected with tue practice, many
practitioners pretending that they alone were
familiar with the best known method of treat
llE pdAlGliN. III lafA Jul SCOh ANothhihJ VI
the Kings 18th Regiment of Foot, gave out in
New York that he was prepared to inoculate
for the small pox after the Suttonon system,
and that he was the only person in the city
who was authorized to use the method. DIR.
Shutteworth, brother-in-law of Sutton, was
at the same time the only person who had the
right to inoculate in this way in Philadelphia.
Latham offered to go to New England to inocu-
late the people, and he asserted that a person
inoculated by him need not lose day from
business. There were COLLINS then-"Codlin's
the friend, not Short "-as we'll as at later
period There was Goblin in and John
Cochran, who declared that many persons
were deferred from being inoculated for fear
of the evil results that sometimes followed a
want of proper treatment, which could be
avoided by adopting peculiar method known
only TO himself. With Sam Weller he might
have said, cts the seasoning as does it"
Cochran had secured pleasant location for a
hospital near New Brunswick, where good
accommodations could be had, and the whole
charge, exclusive of travelling expenses, was
limited TO nine dollars.
There was money in it at that. Philip Tur-
ner and Jonathan Loomis saw millions in
it." That year, IVA, they fitted up an estab-
lishment on Fishers Island, where they said
that they enjoyed peculiar advantages for
the treatment of persons who wished to be in
oculated for the smallpox: one of which ad-
vantages was the fact that the junior partner
had passed year in Philadelphia, to which
city ''he had travelled for the express purpose
of learning the business of incubation" In
l7ss Daniel Lee opened similar establish
ment on Ram Island between Stonington and
New London, where ladies ard gentlemen
were provided for and inoculated at the very
modetate outlay of six dollars, which covered
everything down on entering and
one-half when leaving. But John and Elisha
Ely came in ahead on prices. They declared
that at Duck Island, about a mile from Say
brook and not more than twenty miles from
New London, several hundred persons had
been inoculated, during a period of twenty
seven years, without the loss of single pa
tient, and that they continued to furnish with
their unsurpassed treatment every luxury that
could be looked for in such an establishment
at cost not exceeding 81 lawful money.
There was but little restraint after being
inoculated, beyond taking the prescribed
number of basilic powders, and drinking freely
of barly water, calculated with tamarinds of
outdoor sport there was no lack, SO the Ely
brothers asserted, and when night closed in
one could dance and sing at Duck Island till
bed time. An old negro white haired and
with white teeth, who had 4" The Rake of
Mallow" and "The Miller of Marshield at
his fingers ends, scraped the fiddle and called
the figures.
This was the beginning of move to make
smallpox hospitals places of popular resort
an idea worthy of the sexton who, when times
were dull and but few entertainments were
given, " tried to make the funerals as cheerful
as possible" Parties were made up to pass
few days at hospital pleasantly situated at
the seaside--virtually to be inoculated, but
really to have good time. Samuel Lees
retreat was n notable example. He made it
known in 1895 that there was good chance
for eighteen or twenty young gentlemen and
ladies at time to have the smallpox in safe
and mild form and at the same time enjoy the
best of fishing, hunting and boating. Applica-
lion was to be made at the old hospital at
New London, near the lighthouse. The sea-
son opened in May and closed with frosty
weather. In this way Lee secured two par
hes a month, and we may presume that he |
usually had his house full Out of a party of |
tlIis kind there grew at least one love affair |
here in Rhode Island.
In 1892 the town of Newport set apart |
Coasters Harbor Island place where per-
sons so ulspOseu couiu 80 anu NC ln0culaleu. |
By the last of June the hospital vas really. |
rhe first class numbered more thas hundred |
persons, for the people generally had conf
ience in the treatment and it was known that |
patients of all ages had been safely carried |
through at the hospital on Conanicut, which |
was abandoned only for the reason that
Coasters Harbor was more convenient. Drs. |
Jonathan Easton, Jr., Isaac Senter, who |
marched to Cambridge with the Rhode Island |
rooms in ITS and was captured at Quebec |