Reports of a Series of Inoculations for the Varolae Vaccinae, or Cow-Pox; with Remarks and Observations on This Disease, Considered as a Substitute for the Small-Pox.

WOODVILLE, William

Published by London: Printed and sold by James Phillips and Son, 1799.

About this Item

2 leaves, 156 pp. Recent 1/4-leather and marbled boards. Small ink stamp of "Liverpool Library" on title page. Bookplate of former (twentieth century) owner on front pastedown. Very Good. First Edition. "1799" in larger type--and the second "9" raised above the first "9"--beneath the publisher's imprint on the title page. I have seen copies with "1799" on the title page as well as copies without a date. "Woodville, who was physician to the Smallpox Hospital in London and who had a vast experience in smallpox inoculation, was naturally interested in Jenner's work. This report begins with experiments in which he inoculated the nipples of cows 'with matter of the grease of horses' without any effect. Cowpox later broke out in a dairy and was clinically identified by a panel of expert physicians whom Woodville took there to see the lesions. Sarah Rice, a milk-maid, was also affected with a vesicle on her hand similar to those described by Jenner. Woodville inoculated two hundred people with cowpox lymph obtained, fortunately, early in the disease. Many of these inoculations were from person to person. There are detailed notes on the cases and a long table giving the patients' names and the number of pustules produced; a good many had a large number of pustules, several as many as six to seven hundred. There may have been some confusion with smallpox, but, at any rate, Woodville did the first major operation of vaccinating a large number of people, and he supplied lymph to many physicians, including Jenner" (Bloomfield, A Bibliography of Internal Medicine, Communicable Diseases, p.457). Woodville's book is discussed at length in Derrick Baxby, Jenner's Smallpox Vaccine, pp. 91-96. Seller Inventory # 16389

Bibliographic Details

Title: Reports of a Series of Inoculations for the ...

Publisher: London: Printed and sold by James Phillips and Son, 1799.

Binding: Hardcover

Edition: 1st Edition