Jenner Introduces Vaccination

This series has four easy 5 minute installments. This first installment: Jenner’s Early Years.

Introduction
Jenner’s work on vaccine against smallpox marked a milestone in medical science. Inoculation had been practiced in earlier centuries and other lands. As described by Dr. Pettigrew in this series the treatment of disease was put on a more enlightened, scientific basis.

Jenner’s discoveries and demonstrations as to the specific value of the vaccine virus of cowpox, which led to the modern methods of vaccination for prevention of smallpox, proved of such efficacy and importance that the whole credit for this service to medical science has been popularly given to him. But among the intelligent it detracts nothing from his just fame to make due acknowledgment of previous work along similar lines.

This selection is from Medical Portrait Gallery by Sir Thomas J. Pettigrew published in 1838. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Sir Thomas J. Pettigrew (1791-1865) was a physician and writer on medical topics.

Time: 1798
Place: Berkeley, Gloustershire

Edward Jenner was born on May 17, 1749. He was a native of Berkeley in Gloucestershire, England. His father was the vicar of this place, and his mother was descended from an ancient family in Berkshire. In early life Jenner was deprived of his father, and the direction of his education devolved upon an elder brother, the Rev. Stephen Jenner. He attained a respectable proficiency in the classics, and his taste for natural history manifested an early development; for, at the age of nine, he had made a collection of the nests of the dormouse, and he employed the hours usually devoted by boys to play, in searching for fossils in the neighborhood. “No childish play to him was pleasing.”

Intended for the medical profession, Jenner was apprenticed to Daniel Ludlow, of Sodbury, near Bristol, to acquire a knowledge of surgery and pharmacy; and, after the period of his apprenticeship had expired in 1770, he went to London to complete his professional studies, and was a student at St. George’s Hospital, and a resident, for two years, in the family of the celebrated John Hunter. The similarity of their tastes and spirit of research will render it a matter of no surprise that he should become a most favorite pupil. That this was the case in an eminent degree the correspondence which was maintained between the two great physiologists sufficiently proves. “There was in both a directness and plainness of conduct, an unquestionable desire of knowledge, and a congenial love of truth.”

Jenner was remarkable for the neatness and precision with which he made preparations of anatomy and natural history. His dissection of tender and delicate organs, his success in minute injections, and the taste he displayed in their arrangement are said to have been almost unrivalled. Hunter recommended him to Sir Joseph Banks, to prepare and arrange the various specimens brought home by the celebrated circumnavigator, Captain Cook, in his first voyage of discovery in 1771, and he was solicited to become the naturalist of the succeeding expedition in the year following; but Jenner’s partiality to his native soil, and his desire of settling in the place of his birth, were too strong to admit of his being allured into such an appointment. He preferred the seclusion of a country village; and to this selection do we owe one of the greatest blessings ever bestowed upon mankind. It is not unreasonable to suppose that the subject by which he should afterward be known to the whole world, dwelt upon his mind with considerable force even at this early period, for the prophylactic powers of the cowpox were known, or rather rumored of, in a few districts, and the subject had been mentioned by Jenner to Hunter and others, though he had not been successful in directing their attention sufficiently to the importance of it. Indeed, he pressed this subject so much upon his professional brethren, that, at a medical club at Redborough to which he belonged, he was threatened to be expelled if he persisted in harassing them with a proposition which they then conceived had no foundation but in popular and idle rumor, and which had become so entirely distasteful to them. It remained, therefore, to Jenner to pursue the inquiry and to place the whole matter upon a proper physiological basis, by which it might be rendered permanently beneficial. This inquiry was perfected amid the labors and anxious toils attendant on the life of “a country surgeon,” with few books to consult, and little leisure to devote to their perusal. Observation necessarily supplied the place of literary research; the book of nature was open to his view, and it was one he was well calculated to comprehend; it surpassed all others, and its contemplation amply repaid the student.

Of all classes of men with whom it has been the fortune of the writer of this sketch to associate, there is none, in his opinion, so generally and so truly amiable as the naturalists. The contemplation of nature seldom fails to produce an elevation of character; it also begets a sweetness of disposition flowing from a sense of what is beautiful in creation; and the evidences of beneficence, everywhere so abundant, soften the feelings and impart to the individual a sincere benevolence of heart. This disposition was strikingly manifested in Jenner, to whose affection, kindness, meekness, good-will, and benevolence so many have borne the most ample testimony. It was no uncommon thing for Jenner to be accompanied in his daily professional tour of many miles by friends, who have eagerly listened to the outpourings of his mind called forth by the beauties which in the vale of Gloucester surrounded him.

His observations on the structure and economy of the various objects of natural history were delivered with the most captivating simplicity and ingenuity. Full of information himself, he delighted to impart it, and was equally solicitous of obtaining a return from others. He was an enthusiast in his devotion to nature, and he anxiously desired that all should participate in the gratification which such a study never failed to afford. He united in an especial manner a talent for the most profound observations to a disposition most lively and ardent distinguished by mirth, playfulness, and wit. With these powers, it is not surprising that his society should have been much courted; and, fully engaged as he was by the duties of an extensive practice, he yet found time to cultivate an acquaintance with polite literature. Many little productions of his muse have appeared in print; they were addressed to some of his more favored correspondents, or occasionally read at convivial meetings, and display the turn of his mind, the benevolence of his disposition, and the liveliness of his imagination. His best poetical productions find their subjects in natural history. _The Signs of Rain_ unites the accuracy of the naturalist with the fancy of the poet.

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