Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/652

J E N N E R dents connected with it are too remarkable to be omitted. Perhaps the most striking is the expedition which was sent out by the court of Spain in 1803, for the purpose of diffusing cow-pox through all the Spanish possessions in the Old and New Worlds, and which returned in three years, having circumnavigated the globe, and succeeded beyond its utmost expectations. Many of the expressions of enthusiasm seem to us strained and almost ridiculous. Thus we read with surprise how clergymen in Geneva and Holland urged vaccination upon their parishioners from the pulpit ; how in Sicily, South America, and Naples religious processions were formed for the purpose of receiving it ; how the anniversary of Jenner s birthday, or of the successful vaccination of James Phipps, was for many years celebrated as a feast in Germany ; and how the empress of Russia caused the first child operated upon to receive the name of " Vaccinoff," and to be educated at the public expense. The truth is that we who live in that security from the horrible and universal plague of small-pox for which we are indebted to Jenner s immortal discovery cannot realize the greatness of the blessing he conferred upon mankind. This universal enthusiasm caused vaccina tion to spread over the whole world in the marvellously short period of six years, it being accepted with equal readiness by nations of the most diverse climes, habits, and religions. About the close of the year 1801 Jenner s friends in his native county of Gloucester presented him with a small service of plate as a testimonial of the esteem in which they held his discovery. This was intended merely as a preliminary to the presenting of a petition to Parliament for a grant. He was advised to apply for this, partly to obtain the formal approval of the highest court in this country for vaccination, but also for personal reasons. The premier, Mr Addington, approved fully of this step, and iixed the 17th of March 1802 for the presentation of his petition. This was referred to a committee, of which Admiral Berkeley, one of his warmest friends, was chair man, which examined carefully into the utility of vac cination, and Jenner s claims to its discovery. The in vestigations of this committee resulted in a report in favour of the grant, and ultimately in a vote of ,10,000. Towards the end of 1802 steps were taken to form a society for the proper spread of vaccination in London, and the " Royal Jennerian Society " was finally established, Jenner returning to town (having retired to Berkeley for three months) to preside at the first meeting. This institution began very prosperously, more than twelve thousand persons having been inoculated in the first eighteen months, and with such effect that the deaths from small-pox, which for the latter half of the last century had averaged 2018 annually, fell, in 1804, to 622. Unfor tunately tho chief resident inoculator soon set himself up as an authority opposed to Dr Jenner, and this led to such dissensions as caused the society to die out in 1808. Jenner was led, by the language of the chancellor of the exchequer when his grant was proposed, to attempt practice in London, but after a year s trial he returned to Berkeley. His grant was not paid until 1804, and then, after the deduction of about 1000 for fees, it did little more than pay the expenses attendant upon his discovery. For he was so thoroughly known everywhere as the discoverer of vaccination, that the correspondence of the whole world on this subject was upon him. As he himself said, ho was "the vaccine clerk of the whole world"; and, at the same time, he continued to vaccinate gratuitously all the poor who applied to him on certain days, so that he sometimes had as many as three hundred persons waiting at his door, Meanwhile honours began to shower upon him from abroad : he was elected a member of almost all the chief scientific societies on the Continent, the first being that of Gottingen, where he was proposed by the illustrious Blumenbach. But perhaps the most flattering proof of his influence was derived from France. He endeavoured on several occasions to obtain the release of some of the unfor tunate Englishmen who had been detained in France on the sudden termination of the peace of Amiens, but with out success, until, in the case of two persons (Dr Williams, a Ratcliffe travelling fellow, and a Mr Williams) he applied to the emperor Napoleon himself. It was on this or some such occasion (for he afterwards repeated his intercession) that Napoleon was about to reject the petition, when Josephine uttered the name of Jenner. The emperor paused and exclaimed " Ah, we can refuse nothing to that name." Somewhat later he was of the same service to Englishmen confined in Mexico and in Austria ; and during the latter part of the great war persons before leaving England would sometimes obtain certificates signed by him which served as passports. In his own country his merits were less recognized. His applications on behalf of French prisoners in England were less successful ; he never shared in any of the patronage at the disposal of the Government, and was even unable to obtain a living for his nephew George. In 1806 Lord Henry Petty (afterwards the marquis of Lansdowne) became chancellor of the exchequer, and was so convinced of the inadequacy of the former parliamentary grant that he proposed an address to the crown, praying that the college of physicians should be directed to report upon the success of vaccination. Their report being strongly in its favour, the then chancellor of the exchequer (Mr Spencer Perceval) proposed that a sum of 10,000 without any charge for fee or reward should be paid to Dr Jenner. The anti-vaccinationists found but one advocate in the House of Commons ; and finally the sum was raised to 20,000. Jenner, however, at the same time had the mortification of learning that Government did not intend to take any steps towards checking small-pox inoculation, which so persistently kept up that disease. About the same time a subscription for his benefit was begun in India, w r here his discovery had been gratefully received, but the full amount of this (7383) only reached him in 1812. The Royal Jennerian Society having failed, the National Vaccine Establishment was founded, for the extension of vaccination, in 1808. Jenner spent five months in London for the purpose of organizing it, but was then obliged, by the dangerous illness of one of his sons, to return to Berkeley. He had been appointed director of the institution ; but he had no sooner left London than Sir Lucas Pepys, the president of the college of physicians, neglected his recom mendations, and formed the board out of the officials of that college and the college of surgeons. Jenner at once resigned his post as director, though he continued to give the benefit of his advice whenever it was needed, and this resignation was a bitter mortification to him. In 1810 his eldest son died, and Jenner s grief at his loss, and his incessant labours, materially affected his health. In the following year he happened to be in London when the town was much excited by the case of one of Lord Grosvenor s children, who took the small-pox severely, after having been vaccinated by Jenner himself ten years before. The boy s recovery was no doubt to be ascribed to his vaccination, but the occurrence revived for a time all the clamour with which the discovery had been from the first greeted. In 1813 the university of Oxford conferred on Jenner the degree of M.D. It was believed that this would lead to his election into the college of physicians, but that learned body decided that he could not be admitted until he had undergone an examination in classics. This