"Determined much higher to hoist up his name,
Than Nimrod the hunter, in annals of fame,
'Hark forward!' cried Charles, and gallantly whirled
His high-mettled steed o'er the gates of the world."
{94}
DEATH AND MR. PEACH.
A Short Dialogue. N. B.--Mr. P. died in April.
"P.--Awhile forbear thy horrid gripe,
Do pray, dread Sir! remember
Peaches are never fairly ripe
'Till August or September."
"D.--To gratify my longing taste,
And make thy flavour fine,
I had thee in a hot-house placed,
And moistened well with wine."
"Mr. Peach had shortened his life by the too free use of the bottle."
We have said that Dr. Jenner's supreme accomplishment in science was
the working out of the vaccination problem to a great humane
conclusion. His discovery was no mere accident, nor chance
confirmation of a medical tradition. He devoted himself for many years
to the study of cowpox, as he had the opportunity to see it, and it is
what we know of this investigation, his patience and care in
eliminating all the factors of error, that stamped Jenner as a medical
scientist worthy of honor. When he began practice in Berkeley, he made
many inquiries among his professional brethren, with regard to their
opinion of the protecting power of cowpox, but most of them had either
paid no attention to such reports, or shook their heads at once, and
said they were at most popular traditions, due merely to coincidences
and unsupported by any credible evidence. In the face of this, Jenner
began to follow John Hunter's advice to investigate. The first careful
investigation dates from about 1775, and it took him more than five
years to clear away the difficulties surrounding the solution of the
question, in which he was interested.
As Pasteur found in the next century, when investigating the silkworm
disease, Jenner soon learned that there was {95} more than one disease
called cowpox, and that the confusion consequent upon the existence of
at least two specific diseases and a number of skin affections of the
hands of various kinds, which existed among dairy workers, made the
recognition of the protective power of true cowpox extremely
difficult. After he had differentiated genuine cowpox, however, there
was no difficulty in tracing its apparent protective power. He soon
found, however, that the protection was not afforded unless the cowpox
had been communicated at a particular stage of the disease. In other
words, after the true vaccinia has run its course, secondary
affections of the skin of the cows usually take place, and if dairy
workers became infected from these lesions, then no protection against
smallpox is afforded them. Another important observation that Jenner
made at this time was that the disease known as grease in horses is
the same affection as cowpox, and that both of these diseases are
smallpox as modified by the organism in which they develop. It may be
said at once that this opinion so difficult to arrive at, more than a
century ago, when so little was known of comparative pathology, is
held at the present day, and was confirmed by the last series of
investigations made under the auspices of the Jenner Society, in
England.
One difficulty that confronted Jenner in his researches was the fact
that cowpox was scarce in his part of the country, and he had no
opportunity of making inoculations with the disease in a proper stage,
so as to put his suspicions to an absolute test. He collected much
information, however, and stimulated others to the making of
observations, so that when his discovery was announced the mind of the
medical profession was more ready to receive it. In 1788 he carried a
carefully made drawing of a case of cowpox as it occurred on the hands
of a Gloucester milkmaid to London, and {96} showed it to a number of
medical men, whose opinions he wished to obtain. Among these was Sir
Edward Holme, who agreed that there was a distinct similarity between
it and certain stages of smallpox and considered that the question of
a connection between the two diseases was an interesting and curious
subject. He did not share any of Jenner's views, however, with regard
to the practical importance of his discovery in this matter, and gave
little encouragement to the idea that a possible prophylactic for
smallpox might be discovered.
Something of Jenner's enthusiasm for experiment may be gathered from
the fact that he did not hesitate even to inject various materials
related to cowpox into the arm of his own children. We know Mrs.
Jenner to have been a very wonderful woman, quite as deeply interested
as the doctor himself in securing the great benefit to humanity that
would result from the demonstration that cowpox protected against
smallpox, but it is a little bit difficult for us in these days to
understand how her mother-heart could have permitted some of the
experiments which Dr. Jenner's biographer, Dr. Baron, describes.
[Footnote 1]
[Footnote 1: The life of Edward Jenner, M.D., F.R.S., Physician
Extraordinary to His Majesty Geo. IV, Foreign Associate of the
National Institute of France, &c. &c. &c. With illustrations of his
doctrines, and selections from his Correspondence by John Baron,
M.D., F.R.S., Late Senior Physician to the General Infirmary,
Consulting Physician to the Lunatic Asylum at Gloucester, and Fellow
of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London. In two
Volumes. London: Henry Colburn, 1838.]
The subject is indeed so surprising that I prefer to quote
the passage with regard to these experiments directly from
Dr. Baron:
"In November, 1789, he inoculated his eldest son Edward, who was
then about one year and a half old, with swine-pox matter. The
progress of the disease seemed similar to that which arises from the
insertion of true smallpox matter when {97} the disease is very
slight. He sickened on the eighth day: a few pustules appeared; they
were late and slow in their progress, and small. Variolous matter
(this would mean material from a smallpox patient calculated to give
that disease) was carefully inserted into his arms at five or six
different periods, subsequently without the slightest inflammation
being excited in the part.
"On Thursday, April 7th, 1791, variolous matter was again inserted
by two small incisions through the cutis, [beneath the skin]. Then
the following notes of observed conditions day after day are made:
9th, Evidently inflamed. 10th, An efflorescence of the size of a
shilling spread round the inferior wound. 11th, The incision assumed
a kind of erysipelatous elevation: the efflorescence much increased.
12th, These appearances much advanced. 13th, A vesicle, containing a
brownish fluid, and transparent, about the size of a large split-pea
on the superior incision, the inferior about twice as big; the
surrounding parts affected with erysipelas. The erysipelas extended
to the shoulder, and then pretty quickly went off. The child showed
no signs of indisposition the whole time."
"March, 1792. E. Jenner was again inoculated: the matter was taken
from a child that caught the disease in the natural way, and had it
pretty full. It was inserted fresh from the pustule. The same
evening an inflammation appeared round the incision, which, at the
end of twenty hours, increased to the diameter of a sixpence, and
some fluid had already been collected on the lips of the scratch,
which the child had rubbed off."
It was not for five years after this time, however, that Jenner was
able to make his crucial experiments in the matter. On the 14th of
May, 1796 (the date is still recalled as Vaccination Day in Germany,
especially in Berlin), vaccine {98} matter was taken from the hand of
a dairy maid, Sarah Nelmes, and inserted by two superficial incisions
in the arms of James Phipps, a healthy boy of about eight years of
age. The boy went through an attack of cowpox in a regularly
satisfactory manner. After this, however, it was necessary to
determine whether he was protected from smallpox. After waiting two
months Jenner inoculated him with variolous material. The result of
this experiment can best be learned from the following letter written
to his friend Gardner:
"Dear Gardner:
"As I promised to let you know how I proceeded in my inquiry into
the nature of that singular disease the Cow Pox, and being fully
satisfied how much you feel interested in its success, you will be
gratified in hearing that I have at length accomplished what I have
been so long waiting for, the passing of the Vaccine Virus from one
human being to another by the ordinary mode of inoculation.
"A boy of the name of Phipps was inoculated in the arm from a
pustule on the hand of a young woman who was infected by her
master's cows. Having never seen the disease but in its casual way
before; that is, when communicated from the cow to the hand of the
milker, I was astonished at the close resemblance of the pustules,
in some of their stages, to the variolous pustules. But now listen
to the most delightful part of my story. The boy has since been
inoculated for the smallpox which, as I ventured to predict,
produced no effect. I shall now pursue my experiments with redoubled
ardour.
"Believe me yours, very sincerely,
"Edward Jenner.
"Berkeley, July 19, 1796."
{99}
Notwithstanding the complete success of this experiment, Jenner did
not rush into print with it. Two years later, at the end of June,
1798, his "Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae
Vaccinae" was published. In the mean time Jenner had succeeded in
demonstrating the protective quality against smallpox of vaccination,
contracted either casually or by direct inoculation, in some
twenty-three cases. Sixteen of these had occurred accidentally in the
course of occupations connected with cows and horses; the rest were
done under Jenner's directions. Among the persons inoculated was
Jenner's own little second son, Robert Fitts Harding Jenner, an infant
eleven months old. Jenner demonstrated conclusively that the cowpox
protects the human constitution from the infection of smallpox.
After Dr. Jenner had made his tests he prepared a pamphlet for
publication. Before publishing, however, he thought it better to make
a visit to London, so that he might have the opportunity to introduce
the subject personally to friends, and demonstrate the truth of his
assertion to them. He remained in London for nearly three months
without being able to find any one who would submit to vaccination.
The medical profession generally took very little interest in the
subject and seemed to consider him sadly visionary. Under the
circumstances it is not surprising that Jenner went back to
Gloucestershire, and his country practice, rather disappointed. It
happened, however, that soon after his return home, a distinguished
London surgeon named Cline resolved to make a trial of the vaccine
material which Jenner had left with his friends. The surgeon's purpose
in using it, however, was not altogether to test its efficacy as a
prophylactic against smallpox, but with the notion that the
counterirritation thus obtained might be useful in a case which he had
under treatment. Those {100} were the days when the seton and the
issue were still in common use, and counterirritation was considered
one of the most important remedial measures at the command of the
surgeon.
The patient was a child suffering from a form of chronic hip-joint
disease that at this distance of time, and with rather incomplete
descriptions, seems to have been the ordinary tuberculosis of the hip.
The vaccine material was inoculated over the joint and, surprising
though it may appear now, the vaccine vesicle ran rather a normal
course and healed kindly. The little patient was afterward inoculated
with smallpox and found to be incapable of acquiring that disease.
This case attracted considerable attention. It is not, however, a
matter for congratulation as regards the openness of mind of the
medical men of the period to find that this was the only sort of a
case that was considered suitable for such an experiment. It is very
easy to understand that in a child in a run-down condition the vaccine
material might very well have provoked a rather serious local
reaction. In a way, the fate of vaccination hung in the balance and
good luck was in its favor. Mr. Cline, however, after this, became a
strong advocate of vaccination, and brought it very decidedly before
the London physicians. There was still a feeling of opposition, as
indeed there always is against any novelty in medicine, but this
gradually disappeared, to give place to a suspension of judgment,
until more accurate and detailed information could be obtained from
further observations and tests.
It was not long before the opposition to the practice of vaccination
took definite form. One of the best-known London physicians of the
time, Dr. Ingenhouz, became the leader of a strong faction of the
medical profession of London, who not only would have nothing to do
with vaccination, {101} but proclaimed openly that it was a dangerous
innovation, absolutely unjustifiable, and communicated a disease
without protecting against any other. On the other hand, there were
overzealous advocates of vaccination, who insisted on its value but
did not know how to recognize the true cowpox from other lesions
sometimes confounded with it, nor the exact stage of the disease in
which the vaccine material obtained would prove effectively
protective. A number of these used vaccine material so contaminated by
secondary infections of one kind or another that no wonder serious
sores were reported as a result.
Physicians who have for many years known how difficult it is to bring
certain people to a recognition of the benefits that have been
conferred on modern civilization by vaccination, will appreciate how
many difficulties and prejudices and misunderstandings Jenner himself
must have encountered during the original introduction of vaccination.
Some of the supposed objections to vaccination wear a very modern air,
and come from physicians whose only purpose apparently is to bring out
the truth, and yet who are evidently led to the drawing of conclusions
much wider than their premises by the fact that they know they will
have an attentive audience among the anti-vaccinationists at least.
A fair example of one of these old-time objections against vaccination
may be found in the following passage from a letter by Dr. Jenner
written to Mr. Moore. Corresponding objections have been made in much
more modern times, and the passage will arouse the sympathetic
amusement of present-day physicians:
"You probably may not have seen a pamphlet lately published by Dr.
Watt of Glasgow, as there is nothing in its title that develops its
purport or evil tendency: 'An Inquiry into the Relative Mortality of
the Principal Diseases of {102} Children,' &c. The measles, it
seems, have been extremely fatal in the city of Glasgow for the last
four or five years among children, and during this period
vaccination was practised almost universally. Previously to this,
the measles was considered as a mild disease. Hence Dr. Watt infers
that the smallpox is a kind of preparative for the measles,
rendering the disease more mild. In short, he says, or seems to say,
that we have gained nothing by the introduction of the cow-pox; for
that the measles and small-pox have now changed places with regard
to their fatal tendency. Is not this very shocking? Here is a new
and unexpected twig shot forth for the sinking anti-vaccinist to
cling to. But mark me--should this absurdity of Mr. Watt take
possession of the minds of the people, I am already prepared with
the means of destroying its effects, having instituted an inquiry
through this populous town and the circumjacent villages, where, on
the smallest computation, 20,000 children must have been vaccinated
in the course of the last twelve years by myself and others. Now it
appears that, during this period, there has been no such occurrence
as a fatal epidemic of measles. You would greatly oblige me in
making this communication to the Board, with my respectful
compliments."
Fortunately only a few colleagues were so illogical, and an excellent
idea of how much Jenner's discovery was appreciated by his
contemporaries may be obtained from the number of honors, diplomas,
addresses and communications from public bodies and distinguished
individuals which he received. A chronological list of these may be
found at the end of Dr. Baron's Life of Jenner. Among them may be
noted the diploma of LL.D. from the Senate of Harvard University,
Cambridge, Mass., under the presidency of Dr. Willard; also the
Diploma of Doctor in Medicine, honoris {103} causa, which Jenner
especially appreciated, as he says in one of his letters, because he
understood that the University conferred this degree in this way only
once or twice in a century. There is a diploma as Fellow of the
American Society of Arts and Sciences in Massachusetts, as well as a
Diploma as a member of the American Philosophical Society at
Philadelphia. The diploma from Boston bears the signature of John
Adams as president, that from Philadelphia the signature of Thomas
Jefferson. Most of the prominent medical and scientific societies of
Europe had elected him a member or had sent him some special token of
recognition.
One of these documents, expressive of the gratitude of the senders for
the great benefit his work had conferred upon the human race, which
Jenner valued the highest, was an address from the Five Indian Nations
which, with a Wampum Belt, was delivered to him on November 8, 1807.
In reply to this Dr. Jenner wrote to the American agent through whom
the insignia had been forwarded:
"Sir:
"Your kindness in delivering to the Five Nations of Indians my
Treatise on vaccination, and in transmitting to me their reply,
demands my warmest thanks.
"I beg you to make known to the Five Nations the sincere
gratification which I feel at finding that the practice of
vaccination has been so universally received among their tribes, and
proved so beneficial to them; at the same time, be pleased to assure
them of the great thankfulness with which I received the belt and
string of Wampum, with which they condescended to honour me, and of
the high estimation in which I shall for ever hold it. May the
active benevolence which their chiefs have displayed in preserving
the lives of {104} their people be crowned with the success it
deserves; and may that destructive pestilence, the smallpox, be no
more known among them.
"You also, Sir, are entitled to the most grateful acknowledgments,
not only from me, but from every friend of humanity, for the
philanthropic manner in which you originally introduced the vaccine
among these tribes of Indians.
"I have the honor to remain, &c,
"E. Jenner."
The general trend of American appreciation for Dr. Jenner's work, at
least among the intelligent classes, may be gathered from the
following letter sent to Dr. Jenner by Thomas Jefferson while he was
president, May 14, 1806:
"Monticello, Virginia, May 14, 1806.
"Sir:
"I have received the copy of the evidence at large respecting the
discovery of the vaccine inoculation, which you have been pleased to
send me, and for which I return you my thanks. Having been among the
early converts in this part of the globe to its efficacy, I took an
early part in recommending it to my countrymen. I avail myself of
this occasion to render you my portion of the tribute of gratitude
due to you from the whole human family. Medicine has never before
produced any single improvement of such utility. Harvey's discovery
of the circulation of the blood was a beautiful addition to our
knowledge of the human economy; but on a review of the practice of
medicine before and since that epoch, I do not see any great
amelioration which has been derived from that discovery. You have
erased from the calender of human afflictions one of its greatest.
Yours is the comfortable reflection that mankind can never forget
that you have lived; future nations will know by history only that
the {105} loathsome small-pox has existed, and by you has been
extirpated. Accept the most fervent wishes for your health and
happiness, and assurances of the greatest respect and consideration.
"Th. Jefferson."
Almost more interesting than the story of Jenner, the experimental
scientist, the true harbinger of modern experimental medicine, the
founder of experimental pathology, and the discoverer of the pregnant
idea which was to mean so much for nineteenth century medicine in the
hands of Pasteur and his successors, is the story of Jenner the man,
the husband, the friend, and the physician of the poor. In spite of
his intense preoccupation in his experimental work and the amount of
time it must have required to make his observations, he found
opportunities to care for the poor and to interest himself in all
their concerns as well as their health. He made many firm friends
among people of his own social status and generally was considered a
most amiable, as well as a liberal, and humanitarian man. He was
deeply religious, and, as we shall allow his earliest biographer Dr.
Baron to tell, was not ashamed to exhibit his religious feelings by
word and deed when the proper occasion presented itself. This part of
his life deserves to be studied as carefully and remembered as
faithfully as that in which he made his discoveries, since it is the
complement that shows the character of the man in its entirety.
Jenner's personal character may be very well understood from a
paragraph of his biographer, who had been his bosom friend for many
years. He says:
"But Dr. Jenner was not only humble in all that concerned this, the
greatest incident of his life (the successful discovery of
vaccination); he continued so after success had crowned {106} his
labors, and after applause greater than most men can bear had been
bestowed upon him. This most estimable quality was visible at all
times; but it was particularly conspicuous when he was living in
familiar intercourse with the inhabitants of his native village. If
the reader could in imagination accompany me with him to the
dwellings of the poor, and see him kindly and heartily inquiring
into their wants, and entering into all the little details of their
domestic economy; or if he could have witnessed him listening with
perfect patience and good humor to the history of their maladies, he
would have seen an engaging instance of untiring benevolence. He
never was unwilling to receive any one, however unseasonable the
time may have been. Such were his habits, even to the latest period
of his life. I scarcely know any part of his character that was more
worthy of imitation and unqualified respect than that to which I have
alluded. I have never seen any person in any station of life in whom
it was equally manifest; and when it is remembered that he was well
'stricken in years;' that he had been a most indefatigable and
successful laborer in the cause of humanity; and that he might have
sought for a season of repose, and the uncontrolled disposal of his
own time, the sacrifices which he made are the more to be valued. In
the active and unostentatious exercise of kindness and charity he
spent his days; and he seemed ever to feel that he was one of those
'qui se natos ad homines juvandos, tutandos, conservandos
arbitrantur,' who consider themselves born to help, protect, and
cherish their fellow men.
"His kindness and condescension to the poor was equalled by his most
considerate respect and regard to the feelings and character of the
humblest of his professional brethren. I have often been struck with
the total absence of everything that could bear the semblance of
loftiness of demeanor. {107} Few men were more entitled to deliver
their sentiments in a confident or authoritative tone; but his whole
deportment was opposed to everything of that description, and he did
not hesitate to seek knowledge from persons in all respects his
inferiors. All his younger brethren who have ever had the happiness
to meet him in practice, must have been deeply impressed with this
part of his character."
Many a member of the medical profession who is not a genius will find
an excuse for allowing disorder about his rooms from the example which
is said to have been set by Jenner. He was interested in nearly every
branch of science and specimens from many departments were constantly
around him. He himself, it is said, had the key to the apparent
confusion. Most of the others who allow themselves to drift into
careless habits in the same direction insist that they too have the
key. Some of their friends, however, are inclined to doubt it. It is
curiously interesting under these circumstances to have Jenner's
biographer tell of the confused state of affairs that existed in his
room and yet his defence of it. Perhaps in this matter it is well to
remember what Augustin Birrell says at the end of his essay on
Carlisle:
"Don't let us quarrel with genius; we have none of it ourselves and
the worst of it is we cannot get along without it."
"The objects of his studies generally lay scattered around him; and,
as he used often to say himself, seemingly in chaotic confusion.
Fossils, and other specimens of natural history, anatomical
preparations, books, papers, letters--all presented themselves in
strange disorder; but every article bore the impress of the genius
that presided there. The fossils were marked by small pieces of
paper pasted on them, having their names and the places where they
were found inscribed in his own plain and distinct handwriting.
{108} His materials for thought and conversation were thus
constantly before him; and a visitor, on entering his apartment,
would find in abundance traces of all his private occupations. He
seemed to have no secrets of any kind; and, notwithstanding a long
experience with the world, he acted to the last as if all mankind
were as trustworthy and free from selfishness as himself. He had a
working head, being never idle, and accumulated a great store of
original observations. These treasures he imparted most generously
and liberally. Indeed his chief pleasure seemed to be in pouring out
the ample riches of his mind to everyone who enjoyed his
acquaintance. He had often reason to lament this undoubted
confidence; but such ungrateful returns neither chilled his ardor
nor ruffled his temper."
It is interesting to note what was Jenner's opinion with regard to two
subjects that are very much discussed at the present time. These are
the questions of religious training in education, and the advisability
of making nature study a part of the course for children. Jenner
considered that no education could possibly be complete which did not
include both of these subjects. Religious training he deemed
absolutely indispensable. Nature study he advised for somewhat
different reasons from those for which it is now urged. He thought
there was a depth of interest in the study of the objects of nature
that could scarcely fail to lessen the burden of education for the
child, but the main reason for its study to his mind was that children
intent on the wonders of nature could scarcely help but realize the
power of the Creator and, learning to admire Him more and more, be
thus drawn to respect His laws, to acknowledge His supremacy and to
devote themselves to bringing about the fulfilment of His will in this
world to the fullest extent in their power.
{109}
Jenner's religious opinions and beliefs must be left to the expression
of the biographer already mentioned, who gives them very fully. He
says:
"One of the most remarkable features in Jenner's character, when
treating of questions of a moral or scientific nature, was a devout
expression of his consciousness of the omnipresence of the Deity. He
believed that this great truth was too much overlooked in our
systems of education; that it ought to be constantly impressed upon
the youthful heart, and that the obligations which it implied, as
well as the inward truth and purity which it required, should be
rendered more familiar to all. Mrs. Jenner was constantly occupied
in teaching these lessons to the poor around her, in schools which
she established for the purpose of affording a scriptural education.
He, building upon this foundation, wished to add instruction of a
more practical description, deduced from their daily experience, and
illustrated by a reference to those works of wisdom and beauty which
the universe supplies. He always contended that some aid of of this
kind was necessary to impress completely upon the character of the
lower ranks those maxims which they derived from their teachers. He
had other views, too, in recommending such a plan; he thought that
the lot of the poor might be ameliorated, and many sources of
amusement and information laid open to them which they are at
present deprived of; that the flowers of the field and the wonders
of the animal creation might supply them with subjects of useful
knowledge and pious meditation."
His wife, as is often, though unfortunately not always, the case,
seems to have had that precious uplifting influence over him which
served continually as an incentive to higher things and kept him from
the sterile materialism which an exclusive absorption in scientific
studies, with lack of the {110} exercise of faith and of association
with human suffering, seems to bring to many men. Dr. Baron says on
this point:
"I remember, when discussing with him certain questions touching the
conditions of man in this life, and dwelling upon his hopes, his
fears, his pains, and his joys, and coming to the conclusions which
merely human reason discloses to us; and when dwelling on the
deformity of the heart, our blindness, our ignorance, the evils
connected with our physical structures, our crimes, our calamities,
and our unfathomable capacity both for suffering and for
enjoyment; he observed, Mrs. Jenner can explain all these things:
they cause no difficulties to her."
Toward the end of his life Jenner's feelings with regard to the
importance of a confident other worldliness as the only fitting
explanation for the mysteries of this, became emphasized. To quote his
biographer once more:
"As he approached nearer to his own end, his conversations with
myself were generally more or less tinged with such views as occur
to the serious mind when contemplating the handiwork of the Creator.
In all the confusion and disorder which appears in the physical
world, and in all the anomalies and errors which deface the moral,
he saw convincing demonstration that He who formed all things out of
nothing still wields and guides the machinery of his mighty creation."
Jenner's feelings with regard to the relative importance of medical
and religious ministrations may be very well appreciated from an
expression of his on the occasion when he was being presented to a
distinguished nobleman by the famous missionary, Roland Hill. The
Reverend Mr. Hill said: "Allow me to present your Lordship my friend,
Dr. Jenner, who has been the means of saving more lives than any other
man." "Ah," responded Jenner, "were I like {111} you I could save
souls." In his sketch of Jenner's life in "The Disciples of
AEsculapius," Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson considers that this
incident shows a lack of appreciation of the dignity of the medical
profession and a humility rather difficult to understand. Anyone who
will place himself in Jenner's position of fervent belief that the one
thing necessary is the salvation of souls will not fail to recognize,
however, his sincerity or fail to appreciate its true significance.
After all, Jenner was so deeply impressed with the importance of other
worldly things and the comparative insignificance of this that he
found it even a little difficult to understand why men should not see
the direct action of the Creator and all His providence in even some
of the minutest details of life. Once he said, "I do not marvel that
men are grateful to me, but I am surprised that they do not feel
grateful to God for making me a medium of good."
Few men who have accomplished so much have felt so little vainglory
over it as Jenner. There was not a jot or tittle of what is so rightly
called conceit in him. He well deserves a place beside such beautiful
characters as Morgagni, Auenbrugger, Laennec and Pasteur, whose work
was done for others, not for themselves, and after all the most
striking definition of a saint is one who thinks first of others and
only second of himself.
{112}
{113}