I Am very Sensible of the Respect that is due to the Profession, and Character of the Author of the Let­ter against Inoculating the Small Pox; but am no less sensible of the Obli­gation I lye under to vindicate my own Re­putation, which a violent Fit of Sickness hath hitherto hinder'd me from doing. And I can do it with the more Freedom, be­cause I am conscious to my self, that I be­gan this Practice in England with the same View to the Publick Good, with which, I hope, the Learned Author condemns it. I must take the Liberty to say, that allowing the Doctor's Abilities to be as great as pos­sible in his own Profession, he seems not quite so well qualify'd to write upon this Subject; because of the Narrowness of his [Page 2] Experience (as far as appears by his Letter) and his partial Credulity, or Incredulity in Matters of Fact, which he takes from others; and lastly, because of strong Prejudices, which impose upon his most excellent Understand­ing; and draw him into Reasonings, which either are inconsequential, or conclude strongly for the Practice of Inoculation, which they are brought to overturn. All these, I believe, will appear very plain to any Im­partial Reader, in the following Animad­versions, in which I will endeavour to be as short as the Subject will allow.

The Letter pretends to be an Admonition to Physicians not to meddle in this Practice of Inoculation, 'till they are better ascer­tain'd, by Experience, of the Success of it: At the same Time, it is a most warm Dis­suasive, not only to Physicians, but to all Sorts of People, not to practise it at all; and consequently, to deprive them of all Possibility of coming by Experience. Would it not found somewhat absurd, if any one should say to a young Physician, Pray, Sir, don't Practise 'till you have Experience? But it is still more so in this Case, because in a Practice that is entirely to be laid aside, you can neither have the Benefit of your own, nor other Peoples Experience.

As to Physicians meddling with this Pra­ctice of Inoculation, I can only say, it may favour too much of Novelty to be bigotly [Page 3] zealous for it; and too much of a Faculty-Interest to be so violent against it. Physicians cannot ingraft People against their own, or their Parents Consent; and a Physician would be out of his Duty, who should persuade them to it contrary to their Inclinations: On the other Hand, If a Person, from the Experience of the Fatality of the Small Pox in gene­ral, or in his own Family in particular, should resolve to ingraft his Child, any Physician, who should dissuade him from it, might, in a great measure, be chargeable with the fatal Consequences of the Neg­lect of a Method, which the Parent had pro­pos'd, as the only Moans to save his Child's Life: And he would be still as much to blame, if when the Parent had resolv'd to ingraft his Child, he should refuse to attend him. It is very common with Parents, not only to leave their Children in Houses in­fected with the Small Pox, but to bring them into the Room, where their Brethren or Sisters lye ill of them; and a Parent who does so, conveys the Infection to his Child as deliberately, and according to the Doctor, certainly more than he, who orders him to be Inoculated. Would it not then be equally, impertinent in the Physician to deny his Attendance in either Case?

I must put the Doctor in Mind, that there are very few of the most useful Discoveries in Physick, that have not been strenuously [Page 4] oppos'd by many of the Faculty upon their first Appearance. There is extant a Decree of the College of Physicians at Paris, a­gainst the Use of Antimonial Vomits: It were easy to assign many Instances of the like Nature.

As the Doctor is surpriz'd, that an Ex­periment, practis'd only by a few ignorant Women, amongst an illiterate and unthinking People, should on a Sudden, and upon a slen­der Experience, so far obtain in one of the Politest Nations in the World, as to be receiv'd into the Royal Palace. I hope he has not forgot, that the Practice of Curing Inter­mitting Fevers by the BARK, was intro­duc'd of a Sudden, by a barbarous Indian, if not into the Royal Family, into the Family of a Viceroy; and thence transmitted to us.

Page 7.] The Blood of the English if we speak of it as National, is the Product of the richest Dyet, &c. Ergo, to bring 'em to a spare Dyet before they have the Small Pox, must be extremely dangerous and hurt­ful. This must be the Doctor's Conclusion: mine, I own, would be the direct contradi­ctory. If the Inflammatory State of the Blood, arising from the Richness of the Dyet, makes the Small Pox in England very mortal; That Practice, which either takes the Advantage of a contrary State of the Blood, or by a Spare Dyet introduces it, must be benefi­cial.

[Page 5] Page 8.] The finest, the most Volatile, and indeed, Insensible Particles of the Animal Juices, are the most penetrating, and conse­quently the most contagious. And for the same Reason, the most noxious: Does it follow therefore, To convey the Infection by the grosser and sensible Parts, must be ex­tremely unfit and dangerous? I confess, I should have inferr'd the contrary.

The Symptoms are more or less, and the Distemper appears in a greater, or a less Degree, according to the State of the Blood at the Time of Infection. Therefore the Pra­ctice of Inoculation is highly to be encou­raged, because it either finds, or puts the Blood into a good State, before the Infe­ction; seems to be a more natural Conclu­sion, than the contrary One.

Page 10.] If we could be assur'd, that the Distemper would not be equally uncertain by Inoculation, according to the Nature of the Injected Matter, or the Disposition of the Fluids, in the Person who receives it; so that it would constantly prove of the mild­est Kind, Inoculation would, no doubt, be a very rational and useful Practice. The Doctor surely will not affirm, that a Person Inoculated is equally uncertain of the Cir­cumstances mention'd, with one who catch­es the Small Pox by the common Way of Infection. First, He may be assur'd, if the Inoculation takes Place, of the Time when [Page 6] he shall have the Small Pox. Secondly, That he has not the Infection by the insensible Particles, which the Doctor owns to be the most contagious; or which is near the same Thing, convey the Contagion the strongest, Thirdly, He may be as sure, as his Operator is careful, that he is infected by a favour­able Kind. And, Fourthly, He may be much more sure of the Disposition of his Fluids, than a Person who catches them by Chance, after a Surfeit, or a Debauch: And after all this, he may be assur'd, if he has not abso­lute Certainty, (which, I believe, one has hardly in Blood-letting) that he has a much greater Probability to escape, which is suffi­cient Ground for human Prudence to act upon: If the Doctor will deny those Things, I think it is Folly to reason upon this Sub­ject any longer: And if, as the Doctor says, Inoculation may be a more uncertain Me­thod to give the Contagion, than that which Nature has pursu'd; it may be, notwith­standing that, much more safe.

Page 11.] The very Choice that is made of a thick purulent Matter, to intermix im­mediately with the Blood, seems a little re­pugnant to our Reason, since we know, that the Particles have such a different Contex­ture, and such different Powers to Attract. It may proceed from my Ignorance, or Dul­ness, but, I confess, I do not easily appre­hend the Meaning of this Sentence; Whe­ther [Page 7] by the Particles he means the Parti­cles of purulent Matter, or the Particles of Blood; or whether the Particles of purulent Matter have different attractive Powers, from those of the Blood, is not obvious from the Construction of the Sentence. I chuse ra­ther to understand him in the last Sense, be­cause he has afterwards very sagaciously dis­cover'd, That the blended Particles of Blood with Blood, may, in all Reason, be thought more likely to unite, and less liable to raise Commotions. But it happens unluckily in the Case of Inoculation, the Design is to raise a Commotion; and the purulent Matter, for the Reason mention'd by him, is fittest for that Purpose; And his Observation, that pur­ging Medicines injected into the Blood will Purge, does not prove, that the Pus of the Small Pox, mix'd with the Blood, may not raise the Small Pox. What he says in this Paragraph, as likewise in the following, con­cerning the Experiment of the Mangey Dog, proves, that Pus is a more proper Vehicle to convey Infection than Blood; I cannot find any more in it.

Page 13.] It never came into the Heads of the Practitioners above-mention'd to raise Distempers by Art in a human Body. Then I will be bold to say, it never came into their Heads to practise Physick; which, con­sider'd in a true Light, is founded upon that single Principle of Curing Natural, by rais­ing [Page 8] Artificial Diseases. What is Bleeding, but an artificial Haemorrhagy; Purging, but raising an artificial Diarrhaea? Does the Vo­miting produc'd by a Surfeit, and that pro­cur'd by a Medicine differ so much, as that the One must be call'd a Disease, and the O­ther not? Are not Blisters, Issues, and Setons, artificial [...] Imposthumations? I hope he has not forgot the of his great Ma­ster Hippocrates. The Wounds and Ampu­tations of Surgeons, differ only from acci­dental Ones, by the Manner and Intention; Morbus est ille corporis status qui functiones Animales laedit: And it may be likewise observ'd, that Physicians produce those Di­seases in their Patients often by Way of Prevention as well as Cure; and in this they do nothing but imitate Nature, which often attempts the Cure of one Disease by another.

Page 14.] His next Argument is taken from the fatal Consequences of this very Matter it self returning into the Blood, in the very Height of the Small Pox, where there seldom is a full and sufficient Discharge by the Skin, &c. One would imagine, that the natural Inference from this, would be to the Advantage of Inoculation; For if there are terrible Symptoms, which arise from Want of a sufficient Discharge of the purulent Matter in the Small Pox; Inocu­lation, which provides for such a Discharge, [Page 9] by artificial Out-lets, must needs be useful; and seems more proper than the Blisters, which the Physicians apply on that Occa­sion. As to the fatal Consequences arising for Want of a sufficient Discharge upon the Skin, I am affraid the Case is quite different from what the Doctor represents; for the more Matter is discharg'd upon the Skin, the more is often return'd into the Blood; witness the confluent Kind of Small Pox, where the Dis­charge upon the Skin, as well as the Symp­toms arising from the Return of the Mat­ter into the Blood, are both the greatest: And I believe it will be found, the less the Discharge upon the Skin, the less will be the Danger from these Symptoms. The Do­ctor says, That one may always observe in this artificial Method (even where the Di­stemper is the fairest and most kindly) that the Pustules scarce ever plump up to that Degree, or contain so laudable a Matter, as they do in the natural Sort. Here is an odd Jumble of the Words always, scarce ever: Suppose for scarce ever one put seldom, then the Sentence runs thus; One may always observe the Pustules seldom plump up, &c. What happens but seldom, happens some­times; and to observe always That not to happen, which happens sometimes, is odd, or oddly express'd. I would be glad to know how many Cases the Doctor has observ'd, to frame this so general a Proposition upon; [Page 10] of the contrary of which, Hundreds of Per­sons about this Town, who know the Di­sease perfectly, have been Eye-Witnesses.

Page 16.] The Doctor foresees some Incon­venience that must happen, from those vis­cid Particles intermixing with the Blood, without undergoing the common Alterations of Aliment. But they have that in common with the Volatile and most Insensible Parti­cles. But then they are viscid, and therefore, (according to the Doctor's Reasoning) don't convey the Infection so strong: But they oc­casion great Disorders; Not so great as the Insensible and Volatile Particles. At last, they break through the Glands of the Skin: If only the small Quantity of purulent Mat­ter, that mixes with the Blood, break thro' the Pores of the Skin, the Eruption, indeed, would be very small; But to cause an Erup­tion, is the very Intention of the Operation; the Small Pox cannot be produc'd without it: And if the Doctor still insists, that it is only like the Small Pox; all I can say is, If he had been pleas'd to attend Multitudes of Cases of Inoculated Persons, here and else­where in England, since this Practice began, he must have been convinc'd, that the Erup­tions, produc'd by Inoculation, are the Ge­nuine Small Pox. If his Arguments so far prevail, as to hinder any future Inoculation, he must for ever continue in his Mistake; If the Patient recovers, then it was only some­thing [Page 11] like the Small Pox; If any one dies, then to be sure it was the Small Pox catch'd by Inoculation, and of the worst Sort. In this Paragraph it is no Small Pox; by and by, it is a Small Pox so bad, that it is capa­ble of spreading the Small Pox through a whole City; and an artificial Way of depo­pulating a whole Country. This Way of Ar­guing is a very plain Proof of the strong Pre­judices the Doctor lyes under; and that as he has taken up his Opinion early, he is resolv'd to defend it obstinately.

Page 20.] The Inoculators are charg'd with Acting like Empirics, because they are not ascertain'd of the different Doses for Chil­dren and Adults. There does not seem to be any great Matter in this Nicety, by Ex­perience, as it stands hitherto; a small Quan­tity will communicate the Small Pox, and a greater has been found not to do hurt in a­ny one Instance. If the Inoculation is per­form'd by Incision, the different Apertures will answer that Intention: However, there is a great Difference between recommending Caution, and forbidding the Practice: It is still more strange to forbid the Practice, 'till that is determin'd, which can only be found out by Practice. According to this Princi­ple, it had been impossible ever to have found out any Thing in Medicine; for he that gave the first Dose of a Vomiting, or Purging Medicine, or of any other, could [Page 12] never be sure of the proper Dose; nay far­ther, according to this Doctrine, it is impos­sible to give any Body their first Dose of any Medicine: For who can tell what is the pro­per Dose for any particular Person, there be­ing often Singularities in every one's Consti­tution: In all these Matters, Mankind ge­nerally govern themselves by common Sense, and strong Probabilities; there being no ab­solute Certainty in any human Affairs.

Page 25.] The Doctor returns to his for­mer Point, that it is not the Genuine Small Pox, and consequently no Security against that Disease. The Matters of Fact I will answer by themselves; all I shall say at present is, that if the Symptoms of the Ingrafted Small Pox are more mild, than those of the natu­ral Sort, I hope the Doctor will not bring that as an Objection against the Practice. I believe the Patient, in this Case, has just as great Certainty for not having the Small Pox again, as any other Person who has had them; which is no absolute one. Those who are In­fected by any Method, I believe, are much in the same Condition, as to their Security from the Disease for the future; for which, I will give the Doctor this one plain Proof, which is sufficient to establish a moral Cer­tainty. This Practice of Inoculation has been continu'd for many Years in several Countries; if the Inoculated had been subject to catch the Small Pox a second Time, something [Page 13] of this Kind must have happen'd; and a very few Instances of this, must have put an End to the whole Practice: For can any one ima­gine, that People in their Senses would have continu'd a troublesome Experiment, which was not effectual for the Purpose for which it was design'd? I will take the Freedom to say, that this single Reflection is a stronger Proof of this Point, than all the Doctor's Doubts and Suggestions, who knows nothing to the contrary; as I shall shew by and by. May it not at least be adviseable to al­low a Truce in the Dispute, 'till an uncon­tested Case of that Kind happens?

Page 28.] But, Innoculation does not al­ways take Place and produce the Disease: is Therefore the Practice to be left off? There are some Persons, who by a Speciality of their Constitutions, seem hardly susceptible of the Distemper; and others, who have had the Disease, but it has been mistaken, or forgot. They go farther in Turky, and af­firm, that the very running Sores are a Secu­rity against the Small Pox. There may be, indeed, a strong Presumption, that Persons, who have had so severe a Tryal as Inocula­tion, may not be susceptible of the Distemper. Besides, there are several Incidents in perform­ing the Operation, which may not be carefully attended to; if the Patient has not the Small Pox, there is little Hurt done. There are some, whom a very strong Dose of Phy­sick [Page 14] will not purge: What then? must we never afterwards give a Purge?

If the Doctor's Aphorism, laid down, Page 36, That an Experiment, to make it useful, always must be nearly uniform; there must be no such Thing as the Practice of Physick; unless by the Word nearly he allows a very great Latitude.

I cannot allow it as a solid Argument a­gainst Inoculation, that the French and Ita­lians have not begun it; no more, than that the House of Bourbon has never been Ino­culated. Were the Doctor's Letter publish'd in Italian too, as it is in very elegant French, both Nations, to be sure, will be sufficiently frighten'd from ever attempting this Practice: And to make the Antidote still more univer­sal, let us have it in Sclavonic and High-Dutch, Welsh and Irish also.

What the Doctor says, Page 44, of the Attention that is to be given to the na­tural Weaknesses of the Constitutions of the Persons Inoculated, is a very proper Cau­tion; and perhaps Miscarriages, if any such there be, may be owing to the Neglect of it. But, as I hinted before, if the least ill Success, even in the most innocent Branch­es of the Practice of Physick, arising from Want of Care, or Skill, should be a per­petual Bar to the Repitition of them, Peo­ple must leave off to Purge, Vomit, Bleed, or even to cut Corns, of which Operation [Page 15] several die in a Year within the Bills of Mortality.

Page 45.] But it is possible, and even pro­bable, the Matter of the Small Pox may communicate the Diseases of the People from which it is taken. This is hard! The Doctor will scarcely allow, that the Matter of the Small Pox will communicate the Small Pox; but it is probable, that it will commu­nicate any other Disease. Que vive Thomas Diaphoinus, il n'a Jamais ete vaincu en dis­pute! How are we sure, that the Aliment, or Drugs, both for External and Internal U­ses, don't communicate the Diseases; nay, the very natural Qualities of those Animals from which they are taken? I think, indeed, the Election of wholsome Subjects to Ino­culate from, is a proper Caution; but the Doctor demands absolute Certainty, which cannot be found in any human Affair, and less still in any Medical or Chyrurgical Pra­ctice. Mankind in all those Matters govern themselves by the strongest Probabilities; and that these are on the Side of Inoculation, I shall plainly demonstrate.

Page 51.] The Doctor's Argument from the jarring Opinions of the Innoculators; if all he says were true, is just as strong against the Practice of Physick in General: For if no Body was to take any Medicine 'till Do­ctors cease to differ, I believe the Faculty would starve: May we not with more Truth [Page 16] affirm, that the Anti-inoculators (a Word more sonorous, and longer by two Syllables than that of Inoculators) are as inconsistent and changeable in their Opinions? One while they asserted, that it was impossible to give the Small Pox by this Method; when Experience had convinc'd them, some of 'em at least, of the Untenableness of this Do­ctrine; then they allow'd, if it prov'd mor­tal, that it was the Small Pox; if they esca­ped, to be sure they would have them again; If it was a favourable Sort, then there was some inveterate Distemper transplanted with it; If any Boils or Imposthumations appear'd at the going off of the Disease, those were the Effect of the Inoculation, not the Con­sequence of the Small Pox in General, or of the Constitution of the Patient. These are certainly, not the Reasonings of inge­nious and inquisitive Philosophers, but the Cavils of interested Disputants; and it would be ridiculous, for any Man to be determin'd by the jarring Opinions, either of the one Side or t'other.

There is nothing material in the Way of Argumentation, 'till we come to Page 62. There this Practice is condemn'd, as it tends to propagate and continue an Infection in any Place: Here again it is the Small Pox; else why should it spread the Small Pox? I answer, if it be true, that the Generality of Mankind have the Small Pox; if they [Page 17] are rare in some Years, they must be rise in others; because a new Stock of Subjects susceptible of the Distemper is produc'd; and the Operation of this Distemper upon the Mass of Mankind in any particular Place, is nearly uniform. When this general Run of the Small Pox happens; I take it to be indif­ferent to the Mass of the Inhabitants of any Place in general, except in this one particu­lar, that when the Disease is produc'd by a bad Constitution of Air, as it is most Epide­mical, so it is then most mortal. Now if this Distemper should happen to be propaga­ted by an artificial Method in a favourable Season, would not this be rather an Advan­tage to Mankind than otherwise? For exam­ple, The Doctor alledgeth that hardly one of a hundred hath dy'd of the natural Sort this Year; would it not then have been highly profitable to Mankind, that a general Run of the Small Pox had happen'd in so fa­vourable a Season; and this would still ope­rate more strongly for the Benefit of Man­kind, if not only the Season, but the Method of Propagation had ten to one of odds of producing a mild Sort. So that this Argu­ment of the Doctor's has the Misfortune, with a great many of the rest, to prove the Contradictory of his Conclusion: But with­out taking the Advantage of the Doctor's hardy Assertion, that hardly one of a hun­dred have dy'd this Year of the Small Pox: [Page 18] I will examine it a little by Numbers. I have not all the Bills of Mortality by me, but by a small Specimen, the Accompt stands thus:

By which it appears that the single Branch of Mortality occasion'd by the Small Pox is some Years 1/ [...] and in a Circle of twelve Years about 1/12 of the whole Mortality in ge­neral; For 21,788 is near 1/12 of 274,615. During this Term of Years, London wanted an Addition of near 22000 People yearly to keep it equally full. If all Mankind had the Small Pox, then 22000 People, one Year with another had it; of which 1/12 dy'd; If [Page 19] one half of Mankind had the Small Pox, then 1 out of 6, who had the Distemper, dy'd of it. Which, by the way, shows the Doctor to be out in his Calculation; for if only 1000 die this Year, as perhaps may ap­pear by the Bills, 100,000 must have been sick of the Distemper, to make his Assertion true, that one only of a hundred dy'd: If he means it only of Children, it is a strong Argu­ment for Inoculation, because it allows that to be a favourable Age.

By the Bills of Mortality of Breslaw it ap­pears, that the Mass of Mankind lose above 25 per Cent, before they are a Year old; that is, of a 100 that are born, more than 25 die that first Year: I may say with great Proba­bility that not 1/9 of those have the Small Pox at all; but die of other Diseases; and that in the Account, as it stands before us 8 of 9 of Infants may be reckon'd neither Subjects of the Distemper, nor of this Practice, but as it were non-Entities. Therefore out of the 22000 People, the yearly Recruits of London abovemention'd, substracting 4000, there remains 18000, of which yearly there died above 1800 of the Small Pox; that is, 1/ [...]: So that the Small Pox may be reckon'd to cut off 1/ [...] of Mankind above the Age of one Year. I wish the World is not malicious enough to say, that Physicians (like the Clergy) are now strugling for their Tenths. But to proceed, If, as I said, all Mankind a­bove [Page 20] a Year old have the Distemper, I out of 10 dies of it; If one half, then 1 out of 5, which have the Distemper the natural way, dies of it: If ¼ of Mankind have the Small Pox once in their Life, then of them 2 out of 15 die: If 5/6, then 3 out of 25, which have the Distemper, die of it. According to D. Net­tleton's Calculation; out of 1245 who had the natural Small Pox in some Neighbour­ing Towns in Yorkshire there died 270, which is about 22 out of a hundred. As to the pru­dential Part of Inoculation, it is all one whe­ther a greater or lesser Number have the Small Pox; for the Chance of not dying by the Small Pox the natural Way, is made up of the Chance of escaping the Distemper, and that of escaping in the Distemper. If ½ of Man­kind have the Distemper, it is ½ of ⅕ or 1/ [...] ▪ If [...]/4 of Mankind have the Distemper, then it is ¾ × [...]/ [...] or 6/ [...] or 1/ [...] &c. Still all Mankind must be consider'd with the Seeds of a Dis­temper within them which has the Chance of 1 to 9 to cut them, off. Then surely they don't merit such hard Names, of Homicides and Spreaders of Infection, who do but at­tempt to lessen the Dread and Danger of this terrible Pestilence.

By the Accounts of the Inoculation in Eng­land and the Plantations, tho' it is an early Practice, and has not been manag'd with due Care and Circumspection; out of about 500 on whom it has been perform'd, the Enemies [Page 21] of the Practice have not produc'd the Names of above 3 Persons that have died; allowing their Deaths chargeable on this Practice, which I believe is not in Fact true: A Pra­ctice which brings the Mortality of the Small Pox from one in ten to one in a hundred, if it obtain'd universally would save to the Ci­ty of London at least 1500 People yearly; and the same Odds wou'd be a sufficient pru­dential Motive to any private Person to pro­ceed upon, abstracting from the more occult and abstruse Causes which seem to favour this Operation. It is a self evident Proposi­tion, that a Person who receives the Infe­ction by Inoculation, has a much fairer Chance for his Life, than he who takes it the natural Way; unless it can be affirmed, that the having the Election of all the Cir­comstances of the Disease, is of no manner of Advantage. For Example, it must be of some Benefit, to know that one is to have the Distemper nine or ten Dayes before it comes; rather than to be surpris'd, or per­haps mistaken in it. To have it at an Age when it is not so mortal: To take it when the Body is in a temperate and cool State, ra­ther than in a contrary one: When the Con­stitution of the Air is favourable, rather than malignant: After a cool Dyet and other due Preparations, rather than after a Surfeit or a drunken Bout. For if the principal Strokes towards the Cure, are in the Regimen, in the [Page 22] Beginning of a Distemper; it must be still more so, in a Regimen before it begins. If the Doctor will deny these Truths, I have done. But if the having all the Circumstan­ces abovemention'd in one's Power be of some Advantage, then the Practice of Ino­culation cannot be hurtfull but beneficial to Mankind in general: Then why must an Ex­periment already practis'd with Success in an­other Country, that bids fair to save the Lives of Multitudes, be entirely laid aside and crush'd in the Bud? Cannot the learned Physicians, who so zealously oppose it, have a little Patience, and Time will clear up ma­ny Things in it, which perhaps may be now doubtful? Therefore since this Practice can­not be hurtful but beneficial to Mankind in general, it ought not to be discouraged.

As to the Inconsistencies and Mistakes, the Doctor is pleas'd to charge me withall: I shall always be so ingenuous as to own such, as my Inadvertency or Want of Experience have subjected me to. What I wrote was ac­cording to the best Information or Expe­rience I had at that Time. General Propo­sitions, in practical Matters, are not to be understood in the Strictness of a Logical U­niversality. The Symptoms from which I exempted the Inoculated Small Pox, are to be understood in a Comparative Sense, with regard to those of the natural Sort; the Word usual will justify this Meaning, in [Page 23] which any Reader, not quite Captious, will interpret them. If with all these Restrictions I cannot be favourably understood, I beg Par­don; and as I said before, I shall be always willing to recant any Mistake. But as on the one hand, I study to keep myself free from Prejudices, so as to be susceptible of any fu­ture Conviction, which may arise from Ex­perience; so I wou'd not submit a Point al­ready establish'd, to the silly Cavils of those who have none.

I am sure, I am not mistaken in the Account of the Inoculation at Newgate; but the Doctor is. I referr the Reader to my printed Journal; whereby it ap­pears, that the Operation was fairly and equally perform'd on all: And I can with great Truth, declare, that I had no Intention to make any Difference in the Incisions; nor was there, indeed, any made. The Doctor not having seen Evans, the Man who had had the Small Pox before, till next Day, when they were partly heal'd, this might occa­sion his Mistake. Nor was the Matter taken from a violent Flux-kind, but from a full distinct Coherent kind, and at the proper Time. Mrs. Tompions Boil (as he call's it) on her Arm; was not the same from the first Day of the Eruption; nor the only one she had: But was a fair, regular Pustule of the Small Pox, of which also she had others, if he had been pleas'd to examine. Alcock, [Page 24] who had the Goal-Distemper, had also 60 Pustules, at least, of the Genuine Small Pox; with a gentle Fever before the Eruption. As to all of them, having had but few Erup­tions; I hope, that is no Objection against the Practice. And as to the Time and Man­ner of their Pustules going off; they were much the same, as in the gentler Sort of Small Pox: Only that Alcock opening his with a Pin, made them fall off sooner. The Doctor might have taken Notice, that Eliz. Harrison, who had them as gently, at least, as any of them; has been employ'd since in Nursing above 20 People in the Small Pox, and never has catch'd them: Which any im­partial Person will judge to be a better Proof of the Genuinness of the Distemper, than all his Observations can evince to the contrary.

As to Mr. H [...]n's Case, it is true. But the Inference is only, that there was one Per­son, on whom the Inoculation did not take place. I hope the Doctor has not forgot that he own'd to me that Mr. Colt's Children had the true Small Pox; tho' their Case differ'd in nothing from those in Newgate; but in the Degrees of the Distemper.

As to the Experiment in St. Thomas's Hos­pital, after two vastly large Incisions, and an immoderate Quantity of the Matter ap­play'd; three Days and Nights Confinement of the Patient to his Bed, without opening his Bandage, a warm Regimen, in a hot Sea­son; [Page 25] I visited him, (to know the Truth of the Noise that was made) on the sixth Day after the Operation, and saw no Eruptions, nor had he any; nor were his Incisions di­gested: I took the Freedom to ask Doctor Wadsworth then present, whether the Sores (pointing at them) were like those he saw at Newgate? And he fairly own'd, he cou'd not say they were. I again saw this Patient a Week after, but still no Eruption; If any Eruptions happen'd between these Times, they could not be the Small Pox: And I be­lieve, none who saw and attended both Ex­periments, can truly say, they were like those in Newgate.

I own that it seem'd probable that the six Persons in Mr. Batt's Family might have catch'd the Small Pox of the Girl that was Inoculated; but it is well known that the Small Pox were rife not only at Hertford, but in several Villages round it, many Months before any Person was Inoculated there: Witness Mr. Dobb's House in Christ's Hospital Buildings, where he himself died of the worst Sort with Purples; and his Children had it. Some other Families there, and particularly Mrs. Moss's, where the a­bove-named Elizabeth Harrison, Inoculated in Newgate, attended several Persons under it, to prove whether she would catch the Di­stemper by Infection; Both Latin Boarding-Schools; Mr. Stout's and Mr. Loyd's Fami­lies; [Page 26] Mr. John Dimsdale's Coachman and his Wise; and Mr. Santoon's Maid-Servant, who was brought to the same House, and died of the Confluent kind of the Small Pox; I took Matter from the said Coachman to Inoculate Mr. Batt's Daughter in the Coun­try Farm House, the first Ingrafted in that Country. After this I took Matter also from Mr. Stout's Maid-Servant to Inoculate Mrs Heath's two Sons; which were all I Inocu­lated in that Town. Besides all these there were a great many more, whose Names I cannot at present call to mind both in Town and Country about it, who had the Small Pox, and several died of it, the Summer be­fore I began this Practice: These are Mat­ters of Fact, which the Doctor's Author can­not disprove. To charge then the Spreading the Infection and the Consequences of it, [...] that Town, upon two single Boys who were Inoculated in a Court in a manner se­parated from all the rest of the Town, which was fuller of the Small Pox before than after the Inoculation, is not agreeable to that In­genuity which the Doctor seems to demand of his Adversaries.

The Case of Mr. De Grave's Daughter which fills up three or four Pages in the Let­ter, and upon which the Doctor lays the Foundation of his Hypothesis, the Reader may please to take from her Father's own Words in his Letter annex'd. From which it ap­pears [Page 27] that the Girl had the Small Pox but once, of the favourable kind; and in all Probability by Inoculation. So far the Case is singular, that it did not take place till ele­ven Weeks after the Operation; and untill the Blood was put into a Ferment by violent Motion. Here the Doctor triumphs in his Dilemma, Either she had, or she had not the Small Pox by Inoculation; If the first, then it is plain Inoculation is no preventive of the Disease; If the second, the Experiment is good for nothing. I think in this way of Ar­gumentation, to make it conclusive, there ought to be a perfect Enumeration; but here is a Third Case, and the real one, not enu­merated; which is, that the Girl had the Small Pox, and that but once, by Inocula­tion; tho' not at the same Time when the Doctor lays the Scene of his Dilemma. But to consider the Second Branch; allowing that this Small Pox was the natural Sort, and not produc'd by Inoculation, of which, I think, the contrary is plain; sure it is a strange Inserence to say, that because Inocu­lation has not taken Effect in one Subject, it is therefore good for nothing. The Do­ctor's excellent Judgment will instruct him to reason with more Temper and Solidity in other Matters of his Profession; and not make Use of his Aphorism, That one In­stance is as good as a thousand in Matters of Experience. What the Doctor says of his [Page 28] Fears of a great Class of Hypothetical Di­seases, is all vanish'd, and the Girl is very well. I refer the Doctor upon this Head of the Preventive Power of Inoculation, to the Letter which he lays so much Stress upon, from Boston; where his Ally in this Dispute owns, That not one of the Ino­culated (being about three Hundred) during the Space of five or six Months, in a general Run of the Small Pox, has had the Small Pox the natural Way, as far as we know: But of this more afterwards.

As for his second Story of Captain Hus­sart, it requires only a bare Reading to make it ridiculous; For no unprejudic'd Person of common Sense can believe that one, after ha­ving been Inoculated twice without any Ef­fect, would try it a third Time: But after a third Time, to try it a fourth, fifth, and sixth Time, passeth all Degrees of Credibility. But it seems this Captain was not very certain, whether it was five or six Times; one Inocu­lation had quite slipt out of his Memory: he wanted one Quality, which the Proverb de­mands in some Sort of People. Since the Doc­tor can give Credit to this Story of Captain [...] and at the same Time question the [...] what is said by eminent Physicians, who [...] from their own and other Peoples Observations on the Spot, where Inoculation is practis'd daily; I appeal to my Readers, if I may not with Justice tax him of being par­tially [Page 29] Credulous or Incredulous, as Facts make for or against his Purpose. And with all due Respect to the Senate of Boston, I question whether a Bill, or an Hypothesis, founded up­on such a Fact, is more extraordinary. But al­lowing it to be true, what is the Inference? That a Person, who could not catch the Small Pox by Inoculation, had them the natural Way: If that were granted, will it prove, that one who has the Small Pox by Inoculation, may afterwards have them the natural Way? If upon the same Authority, the Doctor can believe the Story of the Muscovite Dragoon, or the Inoculated Soldiers in the French Ar­my; I wish him much Joy. I promise him I will not (like the Gentry who went in quest of St. Alban's Trough) ride twenty Miles to be able to disprove it. I should be glad to know, which Way the Doctor supports so bold an Assertion, That [Page 17] by the Ac­count Dr. Nettleton gives, as also by the best Observation upon those who have been Inocu­lated in this City, scarcely a fourth Part of them have had a true and genuine Small Pox; I have read over carefully Dr. Nettleton's Ac­count, contain'd in his Letters printed in the Transactions of the Royal Society, N ^o 370; and for my Life I cannot find any Thing to justify this Assertion; on the contrary he says, We have not yet found, that ever any had the Distemper twice, neither is there any Reason to suppose it possible; there being no Difference [Page 30] that can be observ'd betwixt the natural and artificial Sort, (if we may be allow'd to call them so) but only that in the latter the Pu­stules are commonly fewer in Number; and all the rest of the Symptoms are in the same Pro­portion more favourable. I hope there is at least as much Credit due to an ingenious Pra­ctitioner, who writes from a very extended Experience, as to one who writes for the most Part by Hearsay.

As to those who have been Inoculated in London; to oppose my own, and other Per­sons Testimony from ocular Inspection, against his, who talks by Report, may seem perhaps too great Presumption. I therefore challenge the Doctor to name the Cases and Authori­ties whereby he supports such a wild Asser­tion.

As to Mr. Sp [...]r's Case, I will not pre­occupy my Reader with any Reflection; but refer him to the Matter of Fact here subjoin'd, as it is testify'd by the Surgeon and Apothe­caries that attended him.

As to the Case of Lord B [...]ts's Servant, I refer to the Account subjoin'd.

He is just as much misinform'd of the Case of Lord F [...]s's Son, who had a favourable Sort of Small Pox, and was in no Danger of his Life; as the Physician who attended him will readily own.

As to the unfortunate Accidents which have happen'd to some of the First Rank by [Page 31] this Ingrafting Method; if I guess right who he means, one of them is perfectly well with­out any unfortunate Accident; and the Im­posthumation, which had no Dependance nor Communication with the Incision, is per­fectly cur'd without any Exfoliation of the Bone, or any Hectic Fever. But it is hard to charge the common Accidents of the Small Pox in general, upon this Method in par­ticular.

It is no less a Misinformation, that the Children of a Nobleman, understood in his Letter, were Ingrafted from a bad Sort of Small Pox. As to what he says of the poorer Sort of People of Scotland, running about with the Small Pox upon them, without ei­ther Shoes or Stockings; the Doctor seems here to intend a Reflection, but I choose to avoid all Reflections, either National or Do­mestick. I believe the People of England, as well as those of Scotland, for the most Part, neither wear Shoes nor Stockings in the Small Pox: As to their Custom or Ability of run­ning about, they are much in the same Con­dition, as they are here; some have them fa­vourably, some otherwise, and every one has Conveniencies and Helps according to their Circumstances.

As for the three Letters from Boston in New England, printed by Way of Appendix to the Doctor's, It might suffice to say, that they are only a severe, and perhaps a just In­vective, [Page 32] against the Clergy and others, for meddling in this Branch of the Physicians Practice: Upon which Encroachment, some of the Faculty invoke the Vengeance of the Civil Magistrate; and threaten the Offen­ders, as Poisoners and Spreaders of Infection, with Prisons and Gibbet's: And if the Laws in being are somewhat deficient, modestly call, as some others have done, upon the Le­gislature for new Ones. This general Consi­deration is sufficient to invalidate the Credit of any Thing that is said by a Person so strong­ly interested: But so great is the Force of Truth, that it has extorted enough from this partial Complainant to justify the Practice, which he so bitterly inveighs against. For first he owns, that the whole Practice of Ino­culation was manag'd by unskillful Persons; and that many who dy'd or suffer'd much un­der Inoculation, if they had had better Ma­nagement, might have had better Fate. That the Practitioners neglected as trivial both the Advantages of a suitable Season, and a well prepared Body; That they Inoculated all A­ges and Constitutions from the Beginning; That they Inoculated Women with Child, and Hysterical people: And after all, They pra­ctis'd it at first with indifferent good Success: That it had been practis'd, since the Middle of June to the Date of his Letter, Dec. 20. upon above two hundred Subjects with vari­ous Succcess. He tells you in his second Let­ter, [Page 33] That they had at that Time the Expe­rience of two or three Hundred Inoculated: And after all this, in all his three Letters, he gives you only two Letters of the Name of one Inoculated Person who dy'd, Mrs. D [...]l. He says at Random, that others dy'd of it, whom Time may bring to Light. Were the Bodies of those Inoculated Persons hid under Dunghills? Had they not Christian Burial? It is wondrous strange, that in a Place, where the Practitioners in Physick and the Magi­strates both were against Inoculation, he could not come at the Knowledge of a Mortal Case but one, the Inoculated Mrs. D [...]l, who is trump'd up upon all Occasions: He says, many of the Inoculated suffer much, Page 2. What then? A Person that has the Small Pox, even in the gentlest Sort, must suffer, And at last, Page 10, he ingenuously acknowledges, That the Small Pox (acquir'd by Inoculation) is frequently more favourable than in the common Way, and not altogether so mortal.

Secondly, That not one of the Inoculated during the Space of five or six Months has had the Small Pox in the natural Way, so far as we know; that is, of about three hundred People Inoculated, some of which, no doubt, had only those Eruptions, which they will not allow to be the genuine Small Pox; In a Time, when the whole Town and Country was an Hospital of People sick [Page 34] of the Distemper, and few Persons exempt from its Rage, for the Space of five or six Months, not so much as one had the Small Pox, for ought they knew: I say, if such a Case had happen'd, it is not probable it could have been conceal'd; and that this Acknow­ledgment from one, who is so zealous an E­nemy to the Practice, is a stronger Proof of the Efficacy of it, for the Purpose intended, than all the Ifs and May-be's of this or any other Letter-Writer.

It had been fair in this Gentleman to have given in the Numbers that dy'd of the natu­ral Sort of Small Pox, during that Season; or to have stated the Case fairly between two or three Hundred sick of the natural Sort, and as many of the Inoculated Kind, both under the Care and Direction of unskillful and un­experienc'd People: And then, perhaps, as in the Inoculated Kind, he could instance, by Name, only One that dy'd; In the other Sort he would have been puzzled to find the Names of those who escap'd.

But to this he will say, that the Inocula­ted Small Pox propagated the Mortality of the natural Sort. There is a full Answer gi­ven to this Objection of spreading Infection before. I think it is hard to exclude Men from the Means of securing themselves from a great Pestilence, upon a meer Suggestion: The Influence of the natural Small Pox up­on Mankind, in any Place, in a Circle of [Page 35] Years, may be affirm'd to be uniform with strong Probability; and if the Air of any Place, in a contagious Season, is such, as ren­ders the Distemper very mortal, it is a strong Motive for People to take the Advantage of a good Season, and secure themselves in Time from a Plague, which is so likely to de­stroy them: And if Prudence only were to be consulted, it would perhaps be much more the Duty of the Legislature to order, than to forbid this Practice. And no doubt, accord­ing to the Acknowledgment of the Enemies of this Practice, they would, by this Method, diminish the Mortality, and encrease the Number of their People; and the Magistrate is forc'd often upon more arbitrary Proceed­ings in any Pestilence: But as that would seem too great an Encroachment upon the natural Rights of Mankind, I should not ap­prove of it. But on the other Hand, it would be a most Tyrannical Encroachment upon the same Rights, to debar Mankind from the lawful Means of securing themselves from the Fear and Danger of so terrible a Plague.

As for the particular Faetor, that, accord­ing to the Letter, attends the Sores of the In­oculated; it is much of a Piece with the Story of the Kentish Long - Tayls: It shews him to be an utter Stranger to the whole Practice; and makes one doubt, whether he ever saw a Case of Inoculation quite through. And the Pointing at the Inoculated in the [Page 36] Streets, is as great an Instance of Barbarity, as the other is of Ignorance.

There is a Letter in Town from the Revd. Mr. Mather at Boston of a later Date, which has several remarkable Passages in it. The Distemper (meaning the Small Pox) has late­ly visited and ransacked the City of Boston; and in little more than half a Year, of about five thousand Persons, that have undergone it, near nine hundred have died.

But how many Lives might have been sav'd, if our unhappy Physicians had not poi­son'd and bewitch'd our People with a blind Rage, that has appear'd, very like a Satanick Possession, against the Method of Relief and Safety in the way of the Small Pox Inocula­ted? I prevail'd with one Physician (and for it, I have had bloody Attempts made upon my Life by some of our Energumens) to in­troduce the Practice; and the Experiment has been made upon almost three hundred Sub­jects in our Neighbourhood, young and old, from one Year to seventy; weak and strong, Male and Female, white and black; in Mid­summer, in Autumn and Winter: And it suc­ceeds to Admiration.

I cannot learn that any one has died of it, tho' the Experiment has been made under va­rious and marvellous Disadvantages. Five or six have died upon it or after it; but from other Accidents.

[Page 37] He mentions afterward that Cats had it; and takes notice of the same thing in Doctor Leigh's History of Lancashire; and subjoins,

That it was generally complain'd that Pi­geon-houses of the City continu'd unfruitful; and the Pigeons did not lay or hatch, as they us'd to do, all the while that the Small Pox was in its Epidemical Progress: And it is very strongly affirmed, that our Dunghill Fowl felt much of the like upon them.

At last concludes; with the great Benefit they have found by Blisters early apply'd and continu'd in the natural Small Pox, and is sorry it was so late before they fell into this Way; but it has constantly prosper'd: I know not, says he, that it has once miscar­ried since we came into it. I refer the Rea­der to his Letter annex'd.

It appears by this Letter, that somewhat more than one out of five, and less than one out of six died of the Distemper. And like­wise, by the Effects mention'd upon Animals, that the general Contagion was owing to a bad Disposition of the Air; and not char­geable upon Inoculation.

And lastly, notwithstanding the unfavou­rable Constitution of the Air, the Inoculated did well.

I doubt not but the impartial Reader is now satisfy'd that this Practice of Inocula­tion may be still beneficial to Mankind, not­withstanding any thing that the Doctor has [Page 38] adduc'd to the contrary, either by way of Argument or Fact. And that by the same zealous Partiality, it had been easy to have crush'd any, the most useful Practice in Me­dicine in the Beginning. It is pretty remar­kable, that in a Neighbouring Nation, where Agues are the best Branch of the Physicians Practice, the Use of the Bark has been, and is still in a great Measure, suppress'd by Me­thods not much unlike what are us'd against Inoculation; and indeed every one of the Doctor's Arguments would have concluded more strongly against the Use of the Cortex, than against this Practice. I will suppose any Stickler against the Bark to have reason'd thus in the Doctor's Strain. A Drug that has been only us'd among Slaves, an illiterate unthinking People, who have the Advantage of a warm Climate, and a Spare Dyet, is not fit to be immediately dispens'd to the English, whose Blood, speaking of it as National, is the Product of the Richest Dyet: Is it not plain by the Diseases that it often leaves be­hind it, that it spoils the Constitution? Wit­ness the Jaundice, Tumours of the Legs, and other Cachexies that are often subsequent up­on it. Besides none but Empirics can give a Medicine of which they are not sure of the Dose; Is it not plain that it will not answer the Design of preventing the Disease for the future? For notwithstanding the Use of this Drug, the Patient suffers many a Relapse. Be­sides [Page 39] there are not only one or two, but innu­merable Instances of People who have died after the Use of it; and others, who have had a diseased Constitution all the rest of their Lives. The Dispensers of this Medicine dis­agree widely among themselves, both as to the Manner of its Operation and the Dose; Some give it in Tincture; some in Substance; some in greater, some in lesser Quantities, &c. In fine, there are three Letters from a Friend in New England, which inform me that ma­ny who have taken the Bark have suffer'd ve­ry much; and Mrs. D [...]l, who had taken great Quantities of it, actually died, &c. Tho' I have not my self made Use of this Medicine, nor seen much of the Effects of it; I am well assur'd, that not a fourth part of the Diseases it pretends to cure, are Genuine Agues: Be­fore I had seen the Practice of this Medicine, I affirmed, that is was impossible, it would cure an Ague; but I am willing to retract that Opinion, being convinc'd by an Experiment, that it does so sometimes. It were easy to carry this Parallel reasoning thro' the whole Letter, not only with equal, but more Strength in most Places.

The Doctor, in appearing with so great Zeal against this Practice, is not the Repre­sentative of the whole Faculty. For there are many of them who from their Disinte­restedness and Innate Love to Mankind, are willing, that an Experiment should go on, [Page 40] which, in Proportion to the Extensiveness of the Practice, must necessarily diminish the Mortality of the Small Pox in general: This is a candid, as well as decent Way of proceed­ing. At the same Time, I only blame the Author of the Letter, and those who take part with him, for their too early and strong Prejudices; being unwilling to Censure their Intentions, which I hope, are for the Good of Mankind, as well as my own.

But there is still a stronger ^* Objection a­gainst this Practice; That it is unlawful, and first introduc'd by the Devil, who Ingrafted Job of the Confluent Sort of Small Pox.

From useful Discoveries, there can always be drawn important Consequences. First, Hence learn we, that the Small Pox is an ancient Disease; for if it was convey'd to Job by some such Way as Inoculation, the Matter must have been taken from some Bo­dy Infected with the Distemper. Secondly, That Sydenham was not the first that began the cool Regimen; for Job fat down upon the Ashes in the open Air; his Friends saw him afar off. Thirdly, That his Friends were tardy, above three Weeks before they came to see him; for in the Genuine Confluent Kind of Small Pox, it will be that Time before they can bear scraping with a Pot­sherd. [Page 41] Fourthly, Beloved, this confluent Sort of Small Pox were more gentle, to be sure, than the common natural Ones; for he seems neither to have had Delirium, sore Throat, nor Shortness of Breath; he talk'd distinctly and good Sense.

Now here a Question ariseth, Whether an honest Man can do that which the Devil has done? I answer in the Affirmative; there are three things mention'd; of the Devil's Assem­bling himself (as in this Place) with the Sons of God; Believing, and Quoting of Scripture. All these Things a good Man may not only do, but is bound to do.

I readily agree with this Reverend Divine, that if Inoculating the Small Pox be an un­lawful Action, it cannot be justify'd by the Good which may ensue from it; but that it is unlawful, must be prov'd, either by some natural or positive Law: That this Reverend Gentleman has brought no such Proof, either from natural or reveal'd Religion, will ap­pear plain upon a very short Review of his Discourse.

Page 13.] He says he will attempt to prove, That Diseases are utterly unlawful to be infli­cted by any who profess themselves Christians: He terms it very right; for it is an Attempt to Prove, and no more. By restraining the Prohibition to Christians, one would think, there was some positive Command in the Go­spel against it; but he has brought none, which, [Page 42] by the most forc'd Construction, can prove Inoculation to be prohibited by the Christian Dispensation. I know of no Immorality that is forbid to a Christian, the Practice of which is allow'd to an Infidel. Indeed Morality is more clearly taught and more strongly en­forc'd by Rewards and Punishments amongst us; but it does not change its Nature amongst the rest of Mankind. He does not wonder, that the Practice of Inoculation should obtain, where the Doctrine of Fatality is believ'd; but the Misfortune is, that the Matter of Fact is quite otherwise: For if he had carefully pe­rus'd Dr. Wagstaffe's Discourse, which he so much commends, that would have inform'd him, That no Body pretends to give us an In­stance of an Inoculated Turk. And why? Be­cause their Belief of a Fatality makes them neglect very much the ordinary Helps of Me­dicine for preserving their Lives.

Page 14.] The Instances which he gives of Almighty God's having given a miracu­lous Power to Mankind to inflict Diseases for their Punishment, does not prove, that He has not given them an ordinary one for their Benefit.

And his saying, [Pag.15] That no Man was ever yet condemn'd to an immediate Sickness, for Want of sufficient Authority; is, without any Proof. Diseases are External, and In­ [...]; the Magistrate very often inflicts both: That Criminals are lawfully punish'd with the [Page 43] Mutilation of their Body, I suppose he will allow to be common. Is not that inflicting a Disease with a Witness? And are there not many Executions perform'd by Poison, which is inflicting an Internal mortal Disease? And here his own Argument turns upon him; for if Diseases are sent for the Punishment of our Sins, then it would seem to follow, that the Magistrate, who has a Power from God to punish our Crimes, has likewise a Power to inflict Diseases, for Sins that are manifest to him and all the World. The greater Power of inflicting Death, certainly includes the les­ser in the Choice of the Means: If, for Ex­ample, there should be a Law made to pu­nish the Inoculators with the Inoculation of some Disease, I fancy this Reverend Divine would not think it sinful or unreasonable.

Page 16.] He spends a long Paragraph, to prove what no Body ever deny'd; That a Man cannot lawfully do all that is in his Po­wer to do: And another as evident, That the Means, as well as the Intention, must be law­ful; but these are only general Propositions; The Subsumption, that inflicting Diseases for a good Purpose is unlawful, is only suppos'd, not prov'd.

Page 18.] He doubts whether the Life of Man be a Good or not. If the Life of Man is no Good, then, indeed, to act for the Pre­servation of it, is not to act for any good End; and consequently, not only this Pra­ctice, [Page 44] but all others in Medicine, and many other charitable Actions, must be given up. The rest of the Argument of this Paragraph, is grounded upon the Insufficiency of this Method for the Purpose intended. The Do­ctor might have remember'd, from his Ex­position of his Text, Job had the Small Pox by Inoculation from the Devil, even of a fa­vourable Sort; that he recover'd of them, and never had them again. But in this he must forgive me, if I put him in Mind, that he is out of his Sphere; and that notwithstanding his Professions to the contrary, he lays aside the Divine, and takes upon him the Physi­cian. The Question here is, Whether giving a Disease with a good Intention, be in it self an unlawful Action.

Page 20.] Another Argument is, That a Law which forbids the Evil, forbids also e­very thing that has a Tendency to it; therefore all causeless and voluntary Mutilations are for­bid: And yet, notwithstanding this Law against Mutilation, more express than any against I­noculation, Surgeons cut off Peoples Limbs. Here the Intention hallows the Action, which is in itself expresly forbid; and which is more, I believe no Surgeon will affirm, that in all Cases, where Limbs are cut off, there is a direct Impossibility to save the Patient's Life otherwise; or that the Operation is always successful. A Surgeon who cuts a Person for the Stone, even if his Patient dies of the O­peration, [Page 45] does not think he has committed a mortal Sin, in inflicting a mortal Disease; and yet the Patient perhaps might have liv'd many Years, and not dy'd of the Distemper at last. The Difference of the two Cases, the one being for Cure, the other for Prevention, does not change the State of the Question; which, in general Terms, is this, Whether Mankind have a Lawful Power of inflicting Diseases for good Purposes? A Person who has not had the Small Pox, may be very justly consider'd, as having the Seeds of a mortal Distemper within him; and the Dread of it is surely a Suffering, that will justify the Lawfulness of using Means, which have the greatest Probability of saving him from a Danger, which, for ought he knows, may be nearer and greater, than that of a Stone in the Bladder. Anxiety and Bodily Pain, don't differ so much, as to make an Action lawful in one Case, sinful in the other.

Page 21.] But it seems it is a Tempting of Providence. And there is no great Diffe­rence between the Devil's Proposal to our Saviour, to cast himself down headlong, and that of Inoculation. It is wonderful, into what Absurdities, Zeal for an Opinion, will drive a Man, even to assert that there is no Difference between a Man's running into a Danger absolutely unnecessary, and from which nothing but a direct Miracle can save him; and a Venturing on a small Hazard to [Page 46] avoid a much greater. The Case put it as disadvantagiously as possible, more resem­bles that of a Person who leaps out of a Win­dow for fear of Fire, and surely that can ne­ver be reckon'd a Mistrust of Providence, even if he did it before he was much in Dan­ger; for no body can say that God Almighty may not save a Man from Fire in the ordi­nary Course of his Providence; And if a Per­son, who being prompted by his too early Fears had taken this Course, and lost his Life by the Fall; no body will arraign him of Self-murder: He might have done an impru­dent, but not a sinful Action. The Parents who suffer their Children to converse with their infected Relations; which differs in no Moral Point from the Case of Inoculation, would think it very hard to be treated as Ho­micides or Murderers of their Children, when the very Action proceeds from, the contrary Principle, extreme Tenderness.

Pag. 22.] In the former Page, it was a pre­sumptuous Trust; in this, it is an intire Mis­trust of Providence. He is sure to have the Inoculators some way or other.

Pag. 23.] They cannot pray for a Blessing upon their Endeavours; because Prayer sup­poses the Use of lawful Means.

I believe the contrary is true, for as a Person, who is Inoculated, puts himself more immediately into the Hands of God, if he has any Sense of Religion, cannot avoid [Page 47] praying for a Blessing upon the Means, which, to be sure, he thinks lawful, and has not yet been prov'd to be otherwise.

Page 24.] His Argument to prove that Inoculation tends to promote Vice and Im­mortality is the most extraordinary of all. This it does, by taking off the Dread of the Small Pox, and consequently the Re­straints of Sobriety that Mankind lie under upon that Account. This Reverend Gentle­man has very justly found fault with one Ma­xim, to do Evil that Good may come of it: But he has establish'd one, just as dangerous in the room of it, not to do Good least Evil come of it. For if the Diminishing the Fear of Dying of Diseases catch'd by Irregularity, is an Evil, then an able Physician is a com­mon Nuisance. We have reason to be thank­ful, that there are a sufficient Number left, who cannot be charg'd with being Encoura­gers of Vice and Immorality, upon this Score. This Principle in its full Extent would de­stroy all Works of Charity and Mercy; for the Hope of Forgiveness is an Encouragment to do Injuries; and the Hope of being re­liev'd in Want is a Discouragement to In­dustry.

I am touch'd with the devout Reflections upon Providence, that are all along spread thro' his Sermon, to which I subscribe with all my Heart; but I cannot so much com­mend the Distorting those great and solemn [Page 48] Truths of our Holy Religion to mantain lit­tle Party Interests and fashionable Opinions. The Text that is quoted Pag. 22. that the ve­ry Hairs of our Head are numbred; I take to be a stronger Argument against Periwigs and Shaving; than all that the Sermon contains against Inoculation: Our Hairs of our Beards were given us for an Ornament by Provi­dence, and it is known, that many have catch'd great Colds with mortal DisEases en­suing upon them by Shaving. Is not a Man answerable for all the bad Effects that fol­low upon an unwarrantable Action that con­tradicts the very Intention of Providence?

The Peroration Page 29, is equal to any Piece of the whole Performance, Let the A­theist and the Scoffer, the Heathen and the Unbeliever disclaim a Dependance upon Pro­vidence: Let them Inoculate and be Inocu­lated, &c. I think this clinches the whole Matter; and this Reverend Gentleman has furnish'd us with a new, sensible and religious Test, an Atheist or Infidel can be found out, as a Witch, by the Marks upon his Body: And that, as it has been intimated already, that the Devil was the first Inoculator; I think, it is not impossible that the next zealous Preacher upon this Subject may prove the Cicatrices of Inoculation to be the Mark of the Beast. Thus it appears, that the Doctors Position, of the Unlawfulness of inflicting Diseases for good Purposes, is groundless, and contrary to the common Usages of Mankind.

[Page 49] I have been oblig'd to be the more parti­cular in answering this Sermon, because the Charge in it against the Inoculators, is hea­ [...] than that in the Letter, in as much as immorality is a greater Fault than bad Pra­ctice in Physick.

From all that I have said, I will draw this one Conclusion; that there does not appear as yet any Objection of Weight enough to stop the Progress of the Practice of Inocula­tion. But if upon future Trials, it should be found that the Inconveniencies do over­ballance the Advantages of it; I shall then be as ready to condemn, as I am now to justify it.

[Page 64] I Here think fit to declare, that whatever Pamphlets, Advertisements, or Queries are, or shall hereafter be publish'd in News Papers or otherwise, as some have lately been with unknown or fictitious Names of Per­sons Inoculated; and false in Fact, mali­ciously intended to Discredit this Practice and impose upon the Publick; I will not take any Notice of them, except the Author wi [...] own his Name, and bring sufficient Vouch­ers for what he advances.