Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-11
Next Saturday Marks the One Hundred and
Eighty-Fnst Birthday Anuiversary Of the
British Doctor U/h0 Rendered One of the
Greatest Ser0ices to Humauity TN the His
tory Of Medicine BY Giving to the WwN a
Means of Preventing Smallpox.
T BY MARC RET JEAN BAILEY.

T BY MARGARET JEAN BAILEY.
1, =" EDWARD JENNER, third son of Rev.
Il Stephen Jenner, vicar of Berkeley,
~ Worcestershire, England, was born
on May II, 1749
At the age of he was inoculated
against smallpox, at that time the scourge OF
Europe. BY incubation was meant the injec-
ton Of smallpox virus from mild case of
smallpox into the arm of a well person ms
practice was then in common usage. Edward
was first prepared during period OF six weeks
by being bled until his blood was thin to find
out if it were fine" purged until he was almost
a skeleton, fed on a meager vegetable diet and
dosed with drink that was supposed to sweeten
his blood. He never slept soundly afterward
and was always sensitive to strange noises IL
was this dreadful experience that later set
his active mind to work to discover remedy
for smallpox.
Smallpox at that time was indeed plague.
It has been estimated that at least sc, 00O,00
people in Europe died of it during the eight
zenith century. Ten out of every hundred deaths
were caused by. it. More than one-hah Of the
living were terribly SCARED or disngured.
EDWARD showed strong liking for natural
science. Before he was 8 years old he
made collection of. dormouSe nests His fam
lily therefore decided that he should be doctor
and hexwas apprenticed to surgeon of Sod
bury. While .,there he learned OF belief In
Gloucester that person who had cowpox
could never take smallpox
He later studied under the famous DR.. John
Hunter The teacher and student soon formed
a friendship that lasted until DR.. Hunters
death. Through his recommendation DR.. Jen-
ner was employed by Sir Joshua Banks to ar
range and prepare the geological specimens
brought back from Capt Cooks first voyage
to Australia. DR.. Jenner was offered the posi-
ton of naturalist in the second voyage, but
preferred to practice medicine in his native
Berkeley near the brother who had reared
him.
He soon built up large practice and also
continued his studies in natural history. One
of the most interesting of these was concern
ing the habits of the cuckoo He found that
the mother cuckoo laid one or more eggs in
a sparrow's nest, leaving the mother sparrow
to rear her offspring. He also found that soon
after the young cuckoo was Matched he placed
the young SparrowS one at a time, on depres-
sion on his shoulder and threw them out Of
the nest so that their mother could devote her
full time to him. If two cuckoos were Matched
in the same nest the stronger Hedging applied
the same cruel fate to his blood brother.
DR.. Jenner became a great favorite on ac-
count of his entertaining and informative con-
versation. His company was so much enjoyed
that he was often accompanied many miles
of the way home on horseback, even though
it were midnight. He part singer in the
Cathedral Choir, played the violin and flute
and also wrote humorous verse for the benefit
of his many friends
In 1888 he married Miss Katharine KingScote,
also of Worcestershire. They soon afterward
took up their residence at picturesque Chantry
Cottage, which adjoined Berkeley Cathedral,
so called because certain monks formerly lived
there. DR.. Jenner added much to its quaint
beauty by the original landscape gardening with
which he adorned its premises Here, among
the hills and dales of Berkeley they reared their
three children and spent the remainder of their
lives.
.XJHILE establishing his medical practice, DR..
wv Jenner never lost interest in the association
of cowpox and smallpox. Cowpox greatly re-
sembled smallpox and was very contagious.
Many of the milkmaids became infected with
it. After much careful investigation and many
experiments he found that two different forms
of disease had been called cowpox, only one of
which protected against smallpox He later
found that the true cowpox only protected
when communicated at a certain stage of the
disease. Just at that point in his investiga-
tions cowpox became scarce in Gloucester and
1t was several years before he had an oppor-
tunity to try the experiment he had in mind.
But at last on May IA, 1896, he vaccinated
James Phipps, boy of 8, with lymph from cow
box sores on the hand of Sarah Nelmes a dairy
maid. Two years later he tried q second expert
ment which was also successful. He then wrote
@ pamphlet in which he announced the result
of his investigations. Before publishing it he
went to London to demonstrate his discovery
TO his friends but stayed there three months
without finding any one who would submit to
vaccination. He went home in despair, but soon
afterward 0 DIR. Cline inoculated some of the
cowpox lymph over the hip joint Of q child,
thinking that the counter irritation might be