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266 BRITISH PHYSICIANS. Being from whom this and all other blessings flow," Hitherto he had only remarked the casual dis- ease; it remained to be proved whether it was possible to propagate the affection by inoculation from one human being to another, and thus com- municate security against small-pox at will. On the 14th of May, 1796, an opportunity occurred of making the trial. On that day an annual festival is still held at Berlin to commemorate the event. Matter was then taken from the hand of Sarah Nelmes, who had been infected by her master's cows, and inserted by two superficial incisions into the arms of James Phipps, a healthy boy of about eight years old. After zealously multiplying his experiments, he published his first memoir in June, 1798. He had originally intended to con- sign his results to the Transactions of the Royal Society ; but Dr. Gregory has quoted from Mr. Moore's History of Vaccination (p. 20) the cause of their not appearing in that form — Jenner had been seriously admonished not to present his paper, lest it should injure the character which he had pre- viously acquired among scientific men by his essay on the Cuckoo. In this work he announced the security against small-pox afforded by the true cow-pox, and also traces the origin of that disease in the cow to a similar affection of the heel of the horse. This is neither the time nor the place for record- ing the various disappointments and difficulties which darkened the outset of this inestimable dis- covery, nor do we wish to recall the names of those who violently opposed its progress, or who less