make sufficient allowance for human dullness and prejudice.
He pondered the matter some time and then sent an agent to Gloucestershire to investigate. The agent reported that in fact he had found cows with the pustular disease, and by diligent inquiry learned of the existence of a tradition that the disease communicated to mankind gave immunity from smallpox.
Morton then ordered twenty young heifers to be shipped from Gloucestershire to Mortonia; two of them on leaving England were to be inoculated with the cowpox, and during the voyage two other heifers should be inoculated every ten days, so that the virus should be kept fresh. At Mortonia other heifers were to be inoculated, and thus a sufficient supply of virus would be provided.
Meanwhile the governor had published the matter and called for volunteers to be vaccinated. Several physicians and many other young men responded, having great confidence in the governor's wisdom and knowledge. The governor promised to confer a title of honor upon any vaccinated physician who would go into a smallpox hospital as doctor or nurse, and to give a pension of five hundred dollars a
