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CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL
OF
POPULAR
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART
CONTENTS
VACCINATION.
BY MEAD AND STREAM.
OLD PROVINCIAL FAIRS.
THE LAST OF THE STUARTS.
INDIAN JUGGLERS.
A WORD ON WOMAN’S WORK.
THE STENO-TELEGRAPH.
MAN AND NATURE.
MICHAELMAS.
No. 38.—Vol. I.
Price 1½d.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1884.
VACCINATION.
On the western side of Trafalgar Square, beneaththe shadow of the great sea-lion Admiral LordNelson, might have been seen, until recently, thestatue of a pensive-looking almost beardless manseated in a chair. But a new location inKensington Gardens has been selected for thisstatue, which is that of Dr Jenner, the discovererof vaccination.
Edward Jenner was born at Berkeley, inGloucestershire, in 1749, his father being vicarof that place. He was apprenticed to a doctorat Sudbury, and afterwards came to London,where for a time he served under John Hunter.After taking his diploma, he returned to hisnative place, and it was here that he practisedhis profession, and also made that greatdiscovery which has proved such an inestimablebenefit to mankind. When he had becomefamous, and universal appreciation bespoke hima great man, he received many tempting offersand solicitations to take up his abode in themetropolis; but nothing succeeded in enticinghim from the rural scenes amidst which hismedical triumphs had been conceived. His lifesped tranquilly on amidst the rustics he loved sowell until the year 1823, when death somewhatsuddenly terminated his earthly career.
As the village and neighbourhood in whichJenner served his apprenticeship was mostlya grazing country, he was thrown much amongstfarmers and their servants. At a time whensmallpox was raging among them, his attentionwas attracted by hearing a milkmaid say thatshe had once caught cowpox from the cows,and therefore smallpox wouldn’t hurt her. Hewas much struck with this remark; and onmaking inquiries, he found it was a commonbelief about there, that whoever caught thisdisease from the cows was not liable to takesmallpox. It is rather curious that just aboutthe time that Jenner was making these inquiries,the same fact had been noted in Sweden, andsome inquiries were also set on foot there toinvestigate the matter.
With that talent for close observation andinvestigation which distinguished him, he ponderedmuch over this remark of t