SOME time ago, I promis'd to send you some new Observations I have lately made in some ex­traordinary Cases of the Small Pox, and its in­cident Symptoms. At this time I entertain you with our most extraordinary Occurrence relating to that Distemper, viz. The Com­munication commonly call'd, Inoculation of the Small Pox, by applying some laudable variolous Pus, to a fresh cutaneous Incision in a Person who never had the Small Pox; se [...]en or eight Days, sooner or later after this Application▪ arises a Fe [...]e [...] ▪ whose Crisis is a cutaneous Eruption, some­thing analagous to the Small Pox Pustules, and sometimes a true genuine Small Pox; but with an uncertain Period of Eruption, Maturation and Desquamation.

I. The Rise, Progress and Success of this novel Practice, or artificial Small Pox, in Boston.

A Physician of th [...]s Place, lent to a certain Reverend Gentleman of the Town the Philosophical Transactions, wherein he found the Letters of Timonius and Pylarinus, from the Levant to the Royal Society in London, giving some Account of the Method and Success of this Practice in those Countries; being a Man of Whim and Credulity, thinks this Juncture a fit Opportunity to [Page 2] make Experiments on his Neighbours, (which in Vani­ty he might judge acceptable to the Royal Society,) takes the Hint, sends circular Letters to all the Practi­tioners of the Place, (the owner of the Transactions ex­cepted,) inviting them to come into it. At first they all declined so rash and ill vouched a Practice: At length one of them (more bold than wise or knowing in his Business) finding by his bad Success in the cure of his first natural Small Pox Patients, that he should make but a poor hand of it, embraces the Project; but being rash and unlucky in his first Experiments, he was pub­lickly expos'd: Then he applys to the two Ministers of the Congregation to which he belongs (being himself illiterate) to vindicate his Character as an able Practi­tioner: They as his good and careful Pastors, with three or four more Parsons whose Assistance were desired, take him under their Protection, and in Print bestow on him Quackish Characters high enough [...]o make the most celebrated Physician in England blush. Thus these few of the Clergy were drawn in to support the Inocu­lator, and consequently Inoculation it self; and you know▪ many Clergymen think they give up their Cha­racter of Ora [...]les, if they should retract tho' in matters the most absurd. Several things were publish'd in the Week­ly News Papers by the Pra [...]itioners (as in Duty bou [...]d) to put a stop to this rash and dubious Practice; ( N B. at this time those Ministers contrived to shut the Press a­gainst them) and much has been since that wrote on the other side by the Inoculating Parsons, full of Cant and [...] ▪ The Small-Pox being so universal for some time past, the Practitioners could not find Time to pe [...]u [...]e thei [...] [...]cri [...]l [...]s and give them suitable Answers; upo [...] this the Parsons b [...]came uppi [...]h, thinking they had gain'd the Field of Battle; but now, GOD be thank [...]d, the Small Pox is over▪ and the Practitioners are like to find leisure Time to amuse the Town and themselves in driving them home within their own Lines.

In the first Tryals, the Eruption P [...]er of B—n's Son and old Mr. W—b, startled the Inoculators; but as [Page 3] Persons scorning to give ou [...], and in Contempt of the Guardians or Select-Men of the Town who forbid the Practice, as also contrary to the declared Opinion of the Practitioners in Physick, they make a second Attempt on a few with indifferent good Success: At length many inoculated suffer [...]; Mrs. D—l (and others whom Time may bring to light) dye [...] of it▪ Then they gave out, that the Infection was so universal, that it was likely all the Inoculated had received the Infection in the common Way, and the difference of Climate from that in the Levant was the reason of the Eruptions be­ing mo [...]e. They seem to intermit the Practice for some time; but lest it should be taken for recanting, they ral­ly once more, and with Precaution inoculate those who could not be suspected of having received the Infection in the natural Way, for some Days pretty lucky; but soon after several of the Inoculated dye, and many suf­fer much. Now they say the Winter Season will not do, tho' this is the only Season recommended by their Authors: So that with various Success it has been practised since the middle of Iune to this Time on about Two Hundred Subjects. When the Confusion is over, I shall be able to learn some Remarkables in their Cares, and transmit them to you.

II. The Motives and Methods used to induce Peo­ple to this Practice.

First, Timodius an [...] [...] Communications to the Royal Society, (falsely [...]aid in a late Paper to be appro­ved of by them.) If all that is published in the Phy­losophical Transactions, viz. Amusements, Projects, cre­dulous Relations, &c. ought to be put in Practice, the World would be soon turn'd upside down. How ridicu­lous is it then to find fault with the owner of the Trans­actions, because he does not comply with their WICKED DESIRES to reprint here those Accounts of the Le­vant Gentlemen? He has more regard to the Lives and Health of his Neighbours, than thus to bring them in­to a S [...]are. If his Conscience could give way to such [Page 4] Things, he might transcribe and publish from the Philo­sophical Transactions and other Authors, many Projects and Amusements, no less feizable than this, but which might prove dangerous Edge-Tools in the Hands of Fools. I shall instance but one, which if it were not for its bad Consequences, might be of vastly more universal Benefit to Mankind.

The Transfusion of the Blood of a sound Person into the body of a Morbid Subject, first projected and practised by a very eminent Physician Dr. Richard Lower: It is to be found in Phil. Transact. for Dec. 1666, being a Letter to the Hon. Mr. Boyle, dated Oxford 6th Iuly, 1666. where he describes the whole process of the Operation: It was afterwards put in Practice in France, and published there March 1667; and in Dr. Lower's Works since pub­lished, it is farther recommended▪ saying, that tho' it is the disposition of some Men not to be pleased, and not to allow of any new thing but what proceeds from themselves, he doubts not but this Invention may be much for the benefit of Mankind, if practised by a well advised and discreet Person; then gives instances of some on whom this had been practised; afterwards tells what Subjects may allow of this Practice, and recom­mends it in the Gout and many other chronical A [...]s; and desires the Physicians all the World over to put it in Practice, that by use and custom the Practice of it may become universal; concludes, that as Harvey discovered the benefit of Circulation within the proper vessels of an individual, he had found the way of transferring Circula­t [...]on without the Sphere of the Individual, for the bene­fit of a second Person.

All our Inoculators (Dr. C. M. excepted) have these Levant or far fetch'd Accounts only at third Hand (so strong is their faith) viz. from the partial abstract of C. M. of the abstract of Dr. Woodward, from Timonius Original Letter which is not published in the Transacti­ons.

Timonius and Pylarinus in some things clash; the first says it came from Asia, the other from Greece▪ Timonius [Page 5] says it had been practised for about the space of Forty Years among the Turks and others at Constantinople. Pylarinus (the latest Author) says, That the Turks only would not come into it, because repugnant to their doctrine of Predestination. Thus one would think they were writing concerning a thing they had rather heard than seen much of, especially if we take Pylarinus own words, Quamvis de omnibus, ut ingenue fatear ocula [...]us testis [...]sse non possum, meaning all the circumstances of this Operation or Practice: and take their whole accounts, Phil. Transact. No. 339.347. you will find they did not know half so much as we do at present in our short ino­culation Practice, v. g. The Operatrix says, The Pus of the Artificial Small Pox is ineffectual for further transplan­tation; Pylarinus, its true, conjectures (not having try'd it) that it may be more benign and more effectual; but we have put it in practice and suffered thereby. Pylari­nus forbids Flesh and Wine for forty days, because some who have erred in that point have run great hazards by fresh eruptions; we confine them to no Regimen only for a few Days about the eruption. Timonius says, None that ever used it, dyed of the Small Pox; and in another place mentions two inoculated Children who dyed, but says he it was of Cacochymy; we to our sad experience know, that several have dyed. He says without reserve, They who have this Inoculation practised upon them are sub­ject to very slight Symptoms, and in another place of 50 who were Inoculated about the same time, four had the Symptoms worse, and came near the confluent kind, as we have also learn'd in our experience; several of the Inoculated in Boston, when I insinuated to them the danger of having, after some time, the Small Pox in the common way, told me, it could not possibly happen, because their eruption Fever was more violent than gene­rally in the common way.

As to the faithfulness of Dr. C. M's abstract, on which foundation all did at first depend, take these few instan­ces. Timonius says, at first the more prudent were cauti­ous. C. M. turns it, At first the People were cautious, be­ing [Page 6] unwilling to say it was prudence to be cautious. Pylarinus says, Turcae h [...]nc negle [...]erant huc us (que) Our fidus interpres renders it, The Turks do not yet much come into it; Pylarinus in English is, the Turks had not at all th [...]n come into it. Pylarinus says, Nunquam fere ex trans­plantatione hac funesti (mortal) quid accid [...]sse observa­tum fuit hactenus; our straining interpreter renders it, that it was hardly ever known that there was any ill con­sequences of this Transplantation; which is a very unfair and fatal Translation, designing that his Readers should not think that Death or Fatality sometimes follow it, tho' other bad consequences may. He partially omits every thing that seems not to favour the Project; he does not tell us that Pylarinus advises it ( immaniter grassa [...]te Varicl [...] Epidemia) when the Small Pox was very malignant, and Timonius in the time when it was so mortal that half the infected dyed; then indeed (if the Law allow) an Anceps Remedium may be embraced, but not when it is so favourable that not above one in 10 dye of it. He with no good design omits that passage in Timonius, that of 50 who had this Inoculation practi­sed upon them almost the same day, four had the erup­tions too sudden, Tubercles more, and Symptoms worse, and came near the confluent kind; and a little farther a Boy 3 aet. of a bad habit of Body who was Inoculated, had the Small Pox as is usual in that way, but about the fortieth day dies of a Marasmus. A Girle 3 aet. of a bad habit and looseness of long standing, had as u­sual the Small Pox by Inoculation, but dies the thirty second Day. To conclude our Abstractor's PROBITY in the matter, he says, that the Author of these Abridg­ments addressed them to those who had the Originals in their Hands, and therefore it could not be thought that it was not as faithful a report as could be made of the matter. The truth is, he sent his Abstract to all the no­ted Practitioners in Town, but not to the owner of the Philosophical Transactions. Proh. fides!

Their second Voucher is an Army of half a Dozen or half a Score Africans, by others call'd Negroe Slaves, [Page 7] who tell us now (tho' never before) that it is practised in their own Country. The more blundering and Ne­groish they tell their Story, it is the more credible says C. M; a paradox in Nature; for all they say true or false is after the same manner. There is not a Race of Men on Earth more False Lyars, &c. Their Accounts of what was done in their Country was never depended up­on till now for Arguments sake. Many Negroes to my knowledge have assured their Masters that they had the Small Pox in their own Country or elsewhere, and have now had it in Boston. Some of Dr. M's Inoculated Ar­my have had the same Fate, which might serve as an Argument that the Inoculated may have the Small Pox afterwards in the common way; but such weak Argu­ments our cause does not require. To confirm this you have at length in two of their little Books a silly Story or familiar Interview and Conversation between two black (Negroe) Gentlemen, and a couple of the Reverend Promoters, concerning Inoculation. O Rare [...]a [...]ce!

Their third Allegation in favour of it is, If it had been unsuccessful or attended with bad consequences (since it has been practised many Years in Turky) it must needs have been out of countenance and have ceased long ago. An indifferent Person would more naturally reason thus▪ If it had not been attended with bad consequences (since it has been known to several Physicicians all over Europe for many Years) and being so safe for the time and of such a [...] unparrallel'd usefulness, it must have been prac­tised all the World over long ago, not so many Princes and great Statesmen have died of the Small Po [...], and all the Christian world continue so long in an obstinate breach of the sixth Commandment.

The fourth sort of Motives comprehends all the wide and wild Comparisons they have made in favour of it; few of them will bear repeating.

The comparison of their Neighbour's House being on fire, and the securing their own without delay. They should have added, the saving their own, not by an in­fal [...]ible method, and with the certain consequences o [...] [Page 8] putting the Town in Flames (infection spreading) in all corners▪ thus the conflagration being universal, the few hands which might in a great measure keep the ac­cidental Fire under, or save much Substance, cannot be so serviceable in a calamity so universal; besides the greater intensness of the Fire. This was the true state of the case in September, October, and some part of No­vember last. If my Neighbour's House be on Fire, I mu [...] endeavour to stop its Progress, and order Affairs so at home that my damage may be small by removal or otherways, but not set fire to the Shell of my House ( Mr. Coleman 's Fever in the Flesh) that I may get off my Effects by the light of it, tho' endangering the whole Town.

In an In [...]ndation a Man will naturally take to the first Plank, &c. that comes in his way: where the dan­ger of being drowned is certain, an anceps remedium any thing may be embraced; but our Case is, Supposing a a neighbouring Country is inundate, and the Tide with the Storm in Course are likely in a few hours to over­flow the Country where I live, and perhaps one in ten perish. I with some others ( PUBLICK SPIRITS) ra­ther than secure the Banks, or fly up into the inland Country, chuse to put to Sea from a Lee Shore (where there is no looking back after Inoculation it is too late to repent) in a Boat or uncertain craft with provisions for some Days or Months, having no certainty how to steer my Course to a Terra-firma ( or present state of Health:) By this Method, I am sure of surviving a few Days or Months, Dangers of the Seas excepted, ( the Hazard of Inoculation whereof several perish,) tho' lyable to all the Inconveniencys of being at Sea, ( chro­nical A [...]s perhaps,) whereof at length I dye, if in due time I do not get ashore. Or as it relates to Infection, take it as follows. When an Inundation threatens us, as before, I with some others, ( ENDEAVOURING THE GOOD OF THE PEOPLE,) take the first favourable Opportunity ( v. g. of a Lull) break down some Part of the Dike, float off our Vessels, and put to [Page 9] Sea for our own Safety: Thus the Waters, instead of coming on gradually, as they would in Course of Na­ture, do with a sudden Impetuosity lay all under in a short Time.

Their indistinct, confused, superficial Notions of Things, makes their Physical Comparisons so wild. They compare the taking of preventing Physick [...]o the Pro­curing a Contagious Distemper. They do not know how to distinguish between a Disease simply Epidemick, and a Contagious Epidemical Distemper; many Methods may be allowed of in the First, which are Dangerous and Destructive in the other. Preventive Physick I think, is generally given to prevent Relapses, but not the first onset of Diseases. I never heard of a Salivation given to prevent a Pox, nor of Vesicatorys to one who never had the Head-ake to secure him from it. If any Patient thought that one in Thirty, or Forty, or an Hun­dred, died of a Vomit, or any other preventive Physick, it could not be expected they would undergo it, especi­ally if the Consequence must certainly be some dubious Distemper.

The Comparison of the Cortex Peru, or Jesuits Powder, favours this Practice most, being a true Specifick in in­termitting Fevers or Agues. We learnt it from the Spa­nish Indians in the Southern Parts of America. It was found to prevent totally, or for some considerable time the return of [...]g [...]ish Fits. At its first Entrance into Eu­rope not having by Experience ( and to the Cost of the fi [...]st Tryers) learnt the dosing and timing of it, and what Constitutions would bear it, instead of the intermitting Fever which it prevented, it left many chronical and fatal Ails, which did not appear but in Process of time; So that People were very shy of it, and chose rather the Ague should take its natural Course, or usual Method of Cure, tho' a few did die of it; than be liable to these After-claps, of which in Process of Time many died. I ask our Conscience Directors, whether at that time, they who would not use the Cortex (for then the salutary use o [...] it was not known) were Breakers of the Sixth Com­mandment? [Page 10] Even at this time, tho' the Use of the Cor­tex has been improved upon by the most polite Nations some Scores of Years, some eminent Physicians, and a great [...] Patients, chuse rather to omit the Use of it, be­cause of its suspected Consequences; are they Breakers of the Sixth Commandment?

The Fifth Motive to induce People to come into this Method of Inoculation, is the late Accounts from En­gland, o [...] its being last Summer practis'd and approv'd of there. The KING (says one of the Inoculators) Prince, and most eminent Physicians in London and Dublin, have declared their Approbation of it, and it is a successful Practice there. This is either a Dream, second Sight, or a contrived Story, for the latest News from thence only tell us that after [...]uch Intercession of some Surgeons who were in the H [...]our of making Experiments, and the KING's advising with the learned at Law, the KING did condescend [...] allow this to be tryed on a few con­demned Criminals. Some News-Writers, according to Custom, without any good Authority, say it was likely to get into private Familys, but mention no Particulars, and consequently wants Confirmation; what the par­tial Accounts of the Success of this Practice in Boston sent home, may do in the influencing some to give into it, I shall not foretell. From this we may learn▪ that in En­gland they did not venture on it without Permission of the Government; our Inoculating Parsons do it in Spite of the Government, or Select Men of the Town

Their Sixth Allegation in favour of it is, Altho' pro­curing Illness to a Man's own Person without any further View, be certainly a Sin; yet if it be to prevent a greater, (tho' uncertain) it becomes a Duty. From this Princi­ple, the greatest Abominations are allowable. v. g. The curing or preventing a Chlorosis, (whereof many die) where in some Cases the best Authors advise Matrimony, and Matrimony cannot be conveniently obtain'd. I have heard some Rakes say, that a Gonorrhaea well managed, has made them more healthy than before, and prevented the Return of some periodical Ails; with several other [Page 11] such vile Cases (which I blush to mention) deducible from the same Principle which is made here convertible with the Sixth Commandment, Thou shalt not kill.

Their Seventh Reason, (which is the only Argument they ought to use and rely on,) is its Success. I need not tell them that there is successful Wickedness for a time; or as Iohn Williams says, GOD permitted Pha­raoh 's Magicians, to imitate his own Iudgments, even to the hardening of the People's Hearts.

Their History of its Success is shortly this. At first they gave out, That it was a Method not infecting, pro­curing only a small quantity of Eruptions, but never Death, nor any bad consequence, and was an infallible Security against ever after having the Small Pox. This was attes­ted ex verbo Sacerdotum; and who would not have com­ply'd with it, if Prudence and Reason founded partly on the Testimony of some who had been in the Levant, had not been stronger than our Faith in these Parsons grati [...]dictum; and in process of Time our own Experience con­cur'd with these Testimonies: We soon found it infect­ing; many have dy'd of the Infection received from the Inoculated, whose Deaths in a great measure lies at the Inoculators Doors. Then the Parsons gave up this Point, but continued to maintain the rest, till they found some of the Inoculated wlth immense Number of Pustules. This they attribute to the difference of Clmate; and be­ing but Learners, we hope in a little Time to be more Ex­pert (says D [...]. M.) but none ever dy'd of it these forty Years, (vide Some Account P. 10. &c.) then dyes the I­noculated Mrs. D—l, (besides several others who dye in the crowd when the Distemper was universal and at the height; for they acknowledge ( P. 11. of some Account) that many more were inoculated than they judged proper to mention, because of the clamour of the People: (some of the Inoculators said she receiv'd the Infection in the com­mon Way, tho' the most cautious of Women, and every thing wrought as is usual in Inoculation; Others of them say she dy'd of Hysterick Fits, not considering that Hysterick Fits are no mortal Distemper; and it be [...]ays [Page 12] not so much their Ignorance as their WICKEDNESS, thus to impose on the World; for they certainly must know that most Persons agonizing, have Convulsions and Tremors, call'd the Agonies or Pangs of Death. Their DARING PRACTICE on Women with Child who miscarry'd while under Inoculation, they do not menti­on, as if procuring Abortion were a very innocent Prac­tice, I forbear the Names of some who are instances of this Wickedness. Now at length the Distemper in its na­tural Course abating, several who dye under Inoculation, can no longer be concealed; Some of them now say the Winter Season will not do, tho' it be the only Season prescrib'd by their Authors; And in the name of others, one of the Inoculators, a young Conscience keeper, says, I am not at all shy to say, that some may miscarry under it, because God keeps us in a dependance on himself in the use of means; and if a man dyes under Inoculation he dyes in the use of means. O IMPIETY! If a Man may make free with his own Body Natural, because in Conscience he thinks he ought to do so, this not only countenances the old Roman Doctrine of Felo de se, but is also a con­siderable Step towards the making free with the Body Politick. v. g. He foresees something like to be amiss in the State, which in Conscience he is obliged to prevent by a lesser Illness or Commotion; as has happened in several Places in Europe in former times by the Instigati­on of some who call themselves R [...]ligious. As for the Consequences, Time must clear up; some we know, whose Inoculation Sores have been for a long Time, and still continue troublesome.

What has been said in favour of it by way of Cant, &c. does not deserve mentioning; as the calling of it a dis­criminating Mark of the Good from the Ungodly, the Saints from the Wicked; their throwing the Odium of Party on the Anti-Inoculator [...]. They who continue in an even steedy Course, as before, are said to form a Party; not they who are active, and endeavour to introduce new and dubious Practices and Customs. O BRASS! If it be a Party Business, it is of their own making; for we [Page 13] may generally observe, the Inoculated are generally the Devotees of some Inoculating Parson: At first it was Con­gregational, being almost confined to Mr. W—b's Hear­ers; then it spread among the Devotees of Dr. M. and Mr. C.; and lately many being buzz'd in the Ea [...] with the great Losses sustain'd in the Natural Way, have as it were in Despair come into it.

III. Reasons against the Use of Inoculation at present, and until further Light.

My humble Opinion of Inoculation is as of all bold Experiments of Consequence in the Practice of Physick ▪ That whatever the Success or Consequences may be, (and the more Tryals the more Light) they may be of a pub­lick Advantage, tho' at the Risque of the first Patients. If it answer, after Generations will reap the Benefit of it; if otherways, the miserable Sufferers will be record­ed as bold, rash, infatuated Fools, the Practice for ever after abhor'd, and the Promoters thereof stigmatized as Murtherers.

All solid and sound Phylosophy, that is Natural History, is founded on Observations made, and Experiments taken of the various Actions and Influences of Natural Bodys on one another. I was always fond of this kind of Know­ledge, especially as it related to Humane Bodies in a Heal­thy or Morbid State; and if these two dear Characters of a Good Citizen and Good Christian could be dispensed with, I should have been pleased to see some Thousands inoculated with several other Distempers as well as the Small Pox; but for the following Reasons I could not at present comply with this novel, rash, and dubious Practice.

1. Poysoning and spreading infection, are by the penal Laws of England Felony. Inoculation falls in with the first withou [...] any Contradiction; and if a Person of so weak a Constitution, that any the least Illness may prove fatal to him, should be inoculated, and suffer but the tenth Part of what several of the Inoculated have done, he must unavoidably perish, and his Inoculator deem'd [Page 14] guilty of wilful Poysoning. This is the Reason I sup­pose, why the Practitioners of Boston thought themselves not safe to venture on a Thing of such Consequence. Supposing only One in a Thousand should die of this Method, it cannot with Safety to the Inoculator be practis'd, without an Act of Parliam [...] ▪ exempting Ino­culation by a sworn Practitioner from the Penaltys of poy­soning and spreading Infection. I think B—n's Friends should advise him to take his Tryal, while so many ju­dicious Magistrates and Ministers are in the Humour of Inoculation, lest any time hereafter, during his Natural Life, he be brought on his Tryal either on the KING's Account, or by the Relations.

2. The Personal Testimonies of several Gentlemen who have been in the Levant (whereof some have been pub­lished in the Weekly News Letters) importing, that some Inoculated have dy'd under it (as we have lately seen several amongst ourselves) others have thereafter been miserable by its dismal Effects and Consequences; and some have had the Small Pox in the natural Way notwith­standing, But their Testimonies says Dr. C. M. are not worth a Straw; tho' in Case of any felonious Action a­gainst himself, they would be wor [...]h his Neck in any Court of Justice.

3. It seems agreeable to Reason, and the Experience we have of Distempers received by Contact, That by Inoculation, not only the Small Pox, but many other chro­nical Distempers (hereditary or acquired) of the person from whom the pocky Matter is received, are communicated to the person inoculated; for all Constitution D [...]stempers have some Tincture or Idea in every Drop of our Juices. The acute Distemper as such, from its Nature soon shows it self; but the chronical Ails, according to their Na­ture, act slowly and imperceptibly on our Bodys, and re­quire some Time before they become manifest All the Town knows, how little nice the Inoculator has been in procuring good wholsome Juice; not having many Pa­tients in the common Way, he was frequently obliged to have recourse to the Pus of the Inoculated; thus com­plicating [Page 15] the Constitution Distempers of Two or more Persons to be ingrafted on his Patients. I shall not en­quire, what becomes of the first Foeculency of several who have been inoculated more than once.

As in all Contagious Distempers, so in this the Fomes or Levain of the Disease, is something very fine and Sub­tile; What then becomes of the other gross foeculent part of this foreign Pus or Corruption ingrafted? In Reason one would be apt to think, that it may prove the Ferment or first Speck of some chronical putria A [...]l; the case being much different from that of the Pus of Impostumations and Ulcers proper, not malignant but accidental, which by daily experience we know may safely be received back into the same Mass of Blood from whence it did proceed, and afterwards thrown o [...] by some Emunctory.

Some of their Incisions (even in those who can scarce be said to have had the Small Pox, the number of the Pusti [...]les or Eruptions were so few and without Pus) run profusely, one, two, three or more Months after they go abroad; not in the manner of Suppuration, Digestion or wasting of the Substance in the Part; but by way [...]ll Discharge, Evacua [...]n, or Artificial Secretion from the habit of the Body, and that without the Interposition of any extraneous Body, as L [...]nt, Tent, or Pea, to keep the Lips of the Incision from agglutinating, as in com­mon Issues is absolutely requisite, but meerly by the Vi­ciousness or Malignity of the Humour discharg'd, these Inoculated Issues are continued. Suppose by any In [...]m­pe [...]es of Body (which the most healthy are liable to from the change of Weather, Diet, or other Accidents) the Juices are put into a hurry; this vicious S [...]retion (as much as all other natural Secretions) is d [...]sturb'd for a Time, and the Malignant Humour either retain'd in the Blood, to the spoiling of the Habit; or in Vale­tudinary [...]bjects (as do all other Fluxions) takes its course to [...]ome weak Pa [...]t, v. g. to the Lungs of those whose Lungs are tender, to the Kidneys of the Gravelly or Diabetical, to the Head of those afflicted with Distem­pers [Page 16] of the Head, &c. and consequently by its Malignity produce in those weak Parts either insensible Wastings or in due [...]ime Exulcerations. This seems to account for the Subsequent Ails of the Inoculated publickly declared by some Gentlemen as above. As in some the Veneral Lues does not discover it self till afte [...] some Months or Years, so it may be with this LUES▪ I am apt to think, that if this Practice be ever approved of, it may be advisable, to convert these Incisions into the Form of common Issues, to continue for some considerable Time. N. B. The Sores remaining after the worst Sore of natural Small Pox, heal as kindly as any other acci­dental Sore or Exulceration not malignant.

Moreover, whatever Ails and Diseases, especially chro­nical, the Inoculated in the after Course of their Life may be subject to; many of their Neighbours, and per­haps some of themselves, will be apt to lay the Blame on their former Inoculation; and so live in continual Anxie­ty and Disquietude of Mind, being for ever rendred inca­pable of enjoying that Perfection of Happiness in this Life, Mens sana in corpore sano. This I say may be the Case of some.

4. The rash and mischievous Methods used in propagating this practice. Instead of contriving Methods to secure the Inoculated from taking the Infection the common Way, and their Neighbours from being infected by them, they inoculate indifferently in all Corners, and set the Town all in a Flame in one Moment as it were; ma­ny perish who had the Infection from the Inoculated, whose Deaths perhaps in foro divino they may be found guilty of. Their Authors Timonius and Pylarinus [...]ell them, The Person who collects the Matter, ought not to apply it, least a double Infection ensue; and that the Advantage of this Practice is, that a suitable Season [...]nd a well prepared Body may be had to rencounter the In­fection; but these things, as trivial, they neglect, and run headlong as if push'd on by some Fury.

How conscientiously do they tell us, that tho' it spread Infection, there may be Methods easily taken to prevent [Page 17] its hazarding others that do not yet come into it▪ at the same Time before these Methods are taken or in the least endeavoured after, they lay all down they can proselyte. They do all they can to perswade the Country Towns to come into it, tho' they generally have escaped in former Small Pox Times, and the Winter coming on with the hard continued Frosts may stop its Progress. Suppose they compass their WICKED DESIRES, and One in Ten, which is more than can be expected to give into it (not above one in Fifty in Boston have been inoculated) in different Corners of the Town (for in their Scribles they lay down no Method of separating those from others) are inoculated, in a short time those infect all the Town, so as to have it the natural Way; with­out any Spirit of Prophecy by what we have seen of Small Pox Patients in the Country Towns one Third, per­haps one Half of the People will perish to the depopu­lating of His Majesty's good Province. The Reasons Au­thority may have to connive at this, I do not pretend to meddle with; but desire to be thankful to GOD, who in his wise Providence, seems to put a Stop to their Career, by the late Deaths of several Inoculated.

For Six Months past the Infection in Town has much kept off the Country from supplying us: The Town is now almost clear, and in a few Weeks those who fled might have return'd in Safety; but by the Inoculators Machinations, Inoculation or Infection is continued▪ and we are kept in Statu quo: Nay further, to add to our Calamities, Roxbury the Thorough Fare to Boston, which hitherto had escaped, is now under Inoculation, and the Town's Supply more hindred than before.

One of the Mischiefs atending this Practice, is, Fa­mily Divisions and Heats. When GOD is pleased to take to himself some Relation, Servant or Slave in the natural Way, v. g. a Child; the Wife with Bitterness reflects on the Husbaad, telling him, Parson — says, Inoculation would have sav'd our dear Child. And how many afflict themselves, since wrought upon by the Inoculating Ministers, because of the Deaths of their near Relations? The late inoculated Deaths make these People more easy in their Minds. If Contentions arise [Page 18] say they in their Cases of Conscience, ( p. 9.) is no mat­ter to them, because it was so in our [...] time, Mat. 10.35. For I am come to set a [...] [...]r [...]ance a­gainst his Father, and the Daughter against her M [...]her, &c. Thus they excuse their spreading Contention. O vile abuse of the Scriptures!

IV. A few Remarks on the Practice, and the manner of promoting it.

In a little vain Book, call'd Some Observations, &c. the Author says, The Incisions moderate the first Fever (or Fever preceding the Eruption) tho' in most the Incisio [...]s or Issues do not run till the Pock appear, and then but inconsiderably; and they themselves during this Fever use Blisters more than we do in the common Way: And prevents the second Fever at the Turning, not considering that they whose Eruptions are few and favourable either way, can have no putrid Fever; those who are fuller have this putrid or second Fever from a return of so [...]e of the Pocky Matter into the Blood; it must then [...]irst return into the Blood, before it can come to vent it self at those Issues; so that at most it may moderate, but no [...] prevent this second Fever; we find Vesicatorys or Blist [...]s answer the In [...]ention better, by reason of the Stimulus, inclining the noxious Humours to the Places of Vent.

The same Inoculator in another Place says, certainly the Issues (Incisions) smell, more or less, according to the Degree of the Distemper, and in the confluent Kind this Discharge is more noisome, like the running of [...]he fluxy Kind, which he all along represents as the most putrid corrupted thing imaginable. A little before this he says, When the Patient is fullest under the Inoculation, I affirm I could never smell their issues, no not when I have lean'd over their Beds on purpose to do it. His Lucubra­tions or Night Labours in favour of Inoculation occasion'd his great Cold, or we must put a worse Costruction on such Contradictions asserted almost with the same Breath.

It is commonly said, that the Inoculated smell stronger than those in the natural Way and same degree; this I do not insist upon, tho' the additional stench of their running Sores or Incisi­ons and putrify'd Cabbage Leaf, one would think, should [...] the Senses more.

[Page 19]To say, we understand no more of the Small Pox now than we did Forty Three Years ago, is a saucy Imputation on the many noble and useful Improvements in Physick since that time. Have Dr. Sydenham, Morton, and other late ingenious practical Writers on the Small Pox, whose Writings we daily peruse, done noth­ing to the Satisfa [...]tion of this learned and pious Gentleman▪ His many physical Blunders are forgive [...] ▪ because he matter [...] not if he has b [...]tray'd his Ignorance therein; he writes with another Design, viz. Per [...]us et nefos, at any Rate to perswade to Inoculation.

In the beginning of the Small Pox, they pray God may put a stop to its spreading, and at the same time do all they can to propagate it by Inoculation, which is equally infectious as in the natural Way; some say more contagious, because after the Eruptions are dry'd up, the Inoculated walk about with their Issues running a kind of variolus Matter. ( N. B. If any of them are found in mixt Assemblies or in Country Towns, while in this Condition, the Law of Nature and Self Preservation seems to require the Discipline for mad Dogs.) In one part of Pray­er to thank God for the Discovery, and a little after to pray con­ditionally, that if it be not of God he may put a stop to it; with many other such Expressions in their Prayers, which in my humble Opinion, seem to be a mocking of God, and an Abuse on their Hearers, whereof the greatest Part are against procuring of Self-Illness. What shall a Man do in such Cases? go to wor­ship where he cannot join in Prayer with the Minister? This has been a stumbling Block to some, and is much to the dis­credit of extemporary Prayers, where all is left to the Parson' [...] Discr [...]tion.

If the Inoculators had designed a publick Good, why did they run headlong unto it, without observing the Circumstances and Cautions which might have made it useful; to b [...]gin in the Heart of the Town, where was no Infection; to inoculate all Ages and Constitutions from the very Beginning, without being first assur'd of it's Success on the Young and Healthy. Why did [...]hey not petition the Government, that none should be inoculated [...]ll his Name was recorded, that for the publick Good in times to come, it might be known who dy'd, and what state of Health they afterwards enjoy'd who surviv'd; as also have contriv'd some Method, that none might take the Infection from the Inocu­lated: This Neglect has occasioned the Death of many.

I am sorry the World cannot reap that Benefit from this rash and [...]old Experiment that might have been expected; The chief Promoter, who sends Accounts Home not always to be depended upon, is credulous and whimsical; the Operator is rash and un­thinking: Who knows but they who have dyed or suffered much under Inoculation, if they had had better Management, might have had better Fate.

We have learnt from our 5 or 6 Mo. Experience of Inoculation. [Page 20] 1. Th [...] the Small Pox may sometimes be communicated by Ino­culation. I cannot say always, because some have been Inoculated more than once before it wrought; and many have from thence had only a sort of eruptive Fever, but no genuine Small Pox, so far as I am able to judge. 2. That the Small Pox so acquired, is frequently more favourable than in the common way of Infecti­on, and not altogether so mortal: What the dismal Consequen­ces may be, I shall not pretend to determine; but Reason and the Testimonies of some Gentlemen from the Levant, give us ground to suspect. 3. 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; for the Inoculators in every thing that makes against them, by LYES and EQUIVOCATIONS endea­vour to keep us in the dark. It is then a palliative Prevention of the Small Pox for some time, and not very mortal; and con­sequently may be of great Use to the Guinea Traders, when the Small Pox gets among their Slaves aboard to inoculate the whole Cargo, and patch them up for a Market; as is already the Practice with them in the other Pox or Yaws, by some slight, palliative Cure to fit them up for a quick Market, tho' to the great Damage of the next Purchasers.

If the Dismal Consequences do not discourage us, by a vitiated Constitution of the Inoculated and their Progeny; who knows but this may be so improved upon, as to become a Specifick Pre­ventive of the Small Pox, but it must first be allowed of by Act of the Legislature (the spreading of infection I am afraid will notwithstanding render it odious) & prosecuted by abler hands, than Greek old Women, Madmen and Fools. And further, sup­posing the Consequences be such as our Declarants say, we may proceed to try, if a Salivation or Antomonial, or Sulph [...]rine Course, &c. may not totally carry off the remnant Foeculency: That is, Whether Inoculation, with a subsequent Salivation, &c. may not be an adaequate Succedaneum to the genuine Small Pox.

As a Caution to a certain Gentleman, (who you know in times past has been troublesome to the R. S. with his trivial credulous Stories) least by his Communications home, he may Impose on our Mother Country, he is to be advertised, That a true and faithful Account of this Experiment, so far as can be learnt, shall in due Time be sent home, well vouched & signed by some, whose proper Business is to make such Observations.

I impatiently wait for some further Account of its Progress in London, their Cautions and Rules in the Procedure, I hope may be of Use to us. For my own Part till after a few Years, I shall pass no positive Iudgment of this bold Practice.

P. S. If I have been too rough with any Persons Character, & it afterwards appear that he acted in meer Zeal (tho' mistaken Zeal) for the Good of his Neighbours, I heartily ask his Pardon.