greatest benefits that modern medical science has conferred on the
race, in the practice of vaccination. The youngest son of a
Gloucestershire clergyman, Edward Jenner was placed, about 1763, as
apprentice to a surgeon at Sodbury; and it was there, it is stated,
that first the possibility of arresting the then dreaded and dreadful
ravages of small-pox entered his mind. He accidentally learned, from
the conversation of a young serving woman--who boasted that she was
safe from that disease because she had had "cow-pox"--that among
servants in the country there prevailed a belief that the small-pox
could not attack any one into whose system had been absorbed the virus
from a diseased cow. From that time Jenner never lost sight of the
idea. He spent some time in London finishing his studies, under the
prelections of John Hunter; and then he settled, for life as it proved,
at Berkeley, in Gloucestershire. Pursuing inquiries and experiments on
the subject of vaccination, he established the efficacy of the rural
system of inducing "cow-pox" as a preventive against small-pox; which
had originated by inoculation, accidental or designed, with some of the
matter afforded by a peculiar disease of the udder of a cow, and which
could be communicated by inoculation from one human being to another
with the same preventive efficacy. In 1796, a friend of Jenner's, to
whom he had communicated the results of his inquiry--Mr. Cline, surgeon
to St. Thomas's Hospital--first employed vaccination in London; and the
practice was speedily adopted in the army and navy, the Government
bestowing on Jenner honours and rewards, and the University of Oxford
conferring on him the diploma of Doctor of Medicine. Just, however, as
Blackmore and Tanner had vehemently opposed inoculation, so did many
members of the Faculty, foremost among them Moseley, Birch, and
Woodville, oppose the new system of vaccination. The London mob were
asked and induced to believe that if they submitted to vaccination they
were in jeopardy of being converted into members of the canine species,
and that the operation would infallibly be followed by the development
of horns, and tail, and "thick natural fell" of hair. A child was said
to have never ceased, since he received the matter into his system, to
run about on all fours and imitate the lowing of a bull! In a
caricature Jenner was mounted on a cow. Moseley indited verses, of
which this is a sample:--
"O Jenner! thy book, nightly phantasies rousing,
Full oft makes me quake for my heart's dearest treasure;
For fancy, in dreams, oft presents them all browsing
On commons, just like little Nebuchadnezzar.
_There_, nibbling at thistle, stand Jem, Joe, and Mary,
On their foreheads, oh, horrible! crumpled horns bud;
There Tom with his tail, and poor William all hairy,
Reclined in a corner, are chewing the cud."
Even in Berkeley, Jenner was pursued with ridicule and suspicion; but
he went quietly on his rounds, waiting confidently till the storm was
laid, plashing through the Gloucestershire lanes in the garb that an
acquaintance has thus described:--"He was dressed in a blue coat and
yellow buttons, buckskins, well-polished jockey-boots, with handsome
silver spurs, and he carried a smart whip with a silver handle. His
hair, after the fashion, was done up in a club, and he wore a
broad-brimmed hat." But Jenner, says Mr. Jeaffreson, found also
compensation for all the ridicule and opposition "in the enthusiastic
support of Rowland Hill, who not only advocated vaccination in his
ordinary conversation, but from the pulpit used to say, after his
sermon to his congregation, wherever he preached, 'I am ready to
vaccinate to-morrow morning as many children as you choose; and if you
wish them to escape that horrid disease, the small-pox, you will bring
them.' A Vaccine Board was also established at the Surrey
Chapel--_i.e._ the Octagon Chapel, in Blackfriars Road. 'My Lord,' said
Rowland Hill once to a nobleman, 'allow me to present to your Lordship
my friend, Dr. Jenner, who has been the means of saving more lives than
any other man.' 'Ah!' observed Jenner, 'would that I, like you, could
say--souls.' There was no cant in this. Jenner was a simple,
unaffected, and devout man. His last words were, 'I do not marvel that
men are grateful to me; but I am surprised that they do not feel
gratitude to God for making me a medium of good.'"
ANGEL-WORSHIP.
A now obsolete ecclesiastical custom in Scotland was, Dean Ramsay says,
that the minister should bow in succession to the heritors or
proprietors in the parish, who occupied the front gallery seats; a
custom, when the position of the heritors was tolerably well matched,
that led to an unpleasant contest at times as to who was entitled to
the precedence of getting the first bow. A clever and complimentary
reply was made by Dr. Wightman of Kirkmahoe, when rallied on one
occasion for neglecting this usual act of courtesy one Sunday. The
heritor who was entitled to, and always received, this token of
respect, was Miller of Dalswinton. One Sunday, the Dalswinton pew was
filled by a bevy of ladies, but no gentleman was present; and the
Doctor--perhaps because he was a bachelor, and felt a delicacy in the
circumstances--omitted the usual salaam in that direction. A few days
after, meeting Miss Miller (who was widely famed for her beauty, and
afterwards became Countess of Mar), she rallied him, in presence of her
companions, for not bowing to her on the Sunday. The Doctor immediately
replied, "I beg your pardon, Miss Miller; but you know, surely, that
angel-worship is not allowed by the Church of Scotland;" and, lifting
his hat, he bowed low and passed on.
BUNYAN'S SUCCESSFUL AND PRESISTENT PREACHING.
A student of Cambridge observing a multitude flock to a village church
on a working day, inquired what was the cause. On being informed that
"one Bunyan, a tinker," was to preach there, he gave a boy a few
halfpence to hold his horse, resolved, as he said, "to hear the tinker
prate." The tinker _prated_ to such effect, that for some time the
scholar wished to hear no other preacher; and, through his future life,
gave proofs of the advantages he had received from the humble ministry
of the author of the _Pilgrim's Progress_. Bunyan, with rude but
irresistible zeal, preached throughout the country, and formed the
greater part of the Baptist churches in Bedfordshire; until, at the
Restoration, he was thrown into prison, where he remained twelve years.
During his confinement he preached to all to whom he could gain access;
and when liberty was offered to him on condition of promising to
abstain from preaching, he constantly replied, "If you let me out
to-day, I shall preach again to-morrow." Bunyan, on being liberated,
became pastor of the Baptist Church at Bedford; and when the kingdom
enjoyed more religious liberty, he enlarged the sphere of his
usefulness by preaching every year in London, where he excited great
attention. On one day's notice, such multitudes would assemble, that
the places of worship could not hold them. "At a lecture at seven
o'clock in the dark mornings of winter," says one of his
contemporaries, "I have seen about twelve hundred; and I computed about
three thousand that came to hear him on a Lord's day, so that one-half
of them were obliged to return for want of room."
LETTSOM'S LIBERATION OF HIS SLAVES.
Dr. Lettsom, the founder of the Sea-Bathing Infirmary at Margate, and
of the General Dispensary, was left by his father a property, which
happened to consist almost entirely of a number of slaves on an estate
in Jamaica. When the benevolent doctor went out to the West Indies to
take possession of his inheritance, he is said to have emancipated
every one of the slaves on his arrival; so that, in the words of his
biographer, "he became a voluntary beggar at the age of twenty-three."
The doctor went afterwards to Tortola, where, by his practice as a
physician, he amassed a considerable sum of money, with which he
returned to England in 1768, and attained a distinguished position
among the Metropolitan practitioners.
CIVIL TO THE PRINCE OF EVIL.
The devil, in his malignant wrestlings with the spirits of the
righteous, has not always been so energetically and uncivilly received
as by Luther and his ink-bottle. It is related in all seriousness, that
a minister who "used often to preach for Mr. Huntington, was talking
one Lord's day morning, at Providence Chapel, about a trial he
underwent in his own parlour, wherein the devil had 'set in' with his
unbelief to dispute him out of some truth that was essential to
salvation. He said he was determined that the devil should not have his
way, and he therefore 'drew a chair for him, and desired him to sit
down that they might have it out together.' According to his own
account, he gained a great victory over the empty chair." He did better
in his confidence than Barcena the Jesuit did in the opposite spirit;
who told another of his order that when the devil appeared to him one
night, out of his profound humility he rose up to meet him, and prayed
him to sit down in his chair, for he was more worthy to sit there than
he!
"PERKINS' TRACTORS" EXPOSED.
Faith in the medicinal potency of the properties of the loadstone was,
for centuries after its discovery, a regular part of many physicians'
mental stock-in-trade; and pulverized magnet was administered in the
form of pills, and potions, and salves, even after Dr. Gilbert, of
Colchester, had in 1660 scientifically ascertained and published the
fact, that when reduced to powder the loadstone ceases totally to
possess its magnetic properties. The belief in the efficacy of magnets
held its ground much later. Even in 1779 and 1780, the Royal Society of
Medicine at Paris made experiments with the view of precisely
ascertaining the influence of magnets on the human system; and the
conclusion reached was, that they exerted a healing potency of no
contemptible character. It was about this time that the instruments
called "Perkins' Tractors," which were supposed to be endowed with
magnetic power, came into vogue. Perkins was an American citizen, from
the shrewd State of Connecticut; and only he could make, and only he
sell, the painted nails, composed of an alloy of various metals, that
were in great demand among the credulous and the wealthy. For a
considerable time the wonderful tractors attracted and perplexed
everybody; until Dr. Haygarth of Bath, in the following manner, made it
apparent that the efficacy of the tractors lay not in themselves, but
in the mental condition of the person upon whom they were
used:--"Robert Thomas, aged forty-three, who had been for some time
under the care of Dr. Lovell, in the Bristol Infirmary, with a
rheumatic affection of the shoulder, which rendered his arm perfectly
useless, was pointed out as a proper object of trial by Mr. J. W. Dyer,
apothecary to the house. Tuesday, April 19th, having everything in
readiness, I passed through the ward, and, in a way that he might
suspect nothing, questioned him respecting his complaint. I then told
him that I had an instrument in my pocket which had been very
serviceable to many in his state; and when I had explained to him how
simple it was, he consented to undergo the operation. In six minutes no
other effect was produced than a warmth upon the skin, and I feared
that this _coup d'essai_ had failed. The next day, however, he told me
that 'he had received so much benefit that it had enabled him to lift
his hand from his knee, which he had in vain several times attempted on
Monday evening, as the whole ward witnessed.' The tractors I used being
made of lead, I thought it advisable to lay them aside, lest, being
metallic points, the proof against the fraud might be less complete.
Thus much, however, was proved, that the patent tractors possessed no
specific power independent of simple metals. Two pieces of wood,
properly shaped and painted, were next made use of; and in order to add
solemnity to the farce, Mr. Barton held in his hand a stop-watch,
whilst Mr. Lax minuted the effects produced. In four minutes the man
raised his hand several inches, and he had lost also the pain in his
shoulder, usually experienced when attempting to lift anything. He
continued to undergo the operation daily, and with progressive good
effect; for, on the twenty-fifth, he could touch the mantelpiece. On
the twenty-seventh, in the presence of Dr. Lovell and Mr. J. P. Noble,
two common iron nails, disguised with sealing-wax, were substituted for
the pieces of mahogany before used. In three minutes he felt something
moving from his arm to his hand, and soon after he touched the board of
rules which hung a foot above the fire-place. This patient at length so
far recovered that he could carry coals and use his arm sufficiently to
help the nurse; yet, previous to the use of the spurious tractors, he
could no more lift his hand from his knee than if a hundredweight were
upon it, or a nail driven through it, as he declared in the presence of
several gentlemen. The fame of this case brought applications in
abundance; indeed, it must be confessed, that it was more than
sufficient to act upon weak minds, and induce a belief that these
pieces of wood and iron were endowed with some peculiar virtues."
The prosecution and publication of the result of Haygarth's
experiments, led to the downfall of Perkins and the discredit of the
tractors; but it was not very long before Mesmerism had established a
yet stronger hold on the public credulity, which seems never to be
content, if it is not fooled to the top of its bent.
WHITFIELD "IMPROVING" AN EXECUTION IN EDINBURGH.
When Whitfield first went to Scotland, he was received in Edinburgh
with a kind of frantic joy by many of the citizens. The day after his
arrival, an unhappy man, who had forfeited his life to the offended
laws of his country, was to be executed. Mr. Whitfield mingled in the
crowd on the occasion, and seemed highly pleased with the solemnity and
decorum with which the awful scene was conducted. His appearance,
however, drew the eyes of all around him, and raised a variety of
opinions as to his motives. The next day being Sunday, he preached to a
very large congregation in a field near the city. In the course of his
sermon, he adverted to the execution which had taken place on the
preceding day. "I know," said he, "that many of you will find it
difficult to reconcile my appearance yesterday with my character. Many
of you, I know, will say that my moments would have been better
employed in praying for the unhappy man than in attending him to the
fatal tree, and that perhaps curiosity was the only cause that
converted me into a spectator on that occasion. But those who ascribe
that uncharitable motive to me, are under a mistake. I went as an
observer of human nature, and to see the effect that such an example
would have on those who witnessed it. I watched the conduct of almost
every one present on that awful occasion, and I was highly pleased with
their demeanour, which has given me a very favourable opinion of the
Scottish nation. Your sympathy was visible on your countenances, and
reflected the goodness of your hearts, particularly when the moment
arrived that your unhappy fellow-creature was to close his eyes on this
world for ever; then you all, as if moved by one impulse, turned your
heads aside, and wept. Those tears were precious, and will be held in
remembrance. How different was it when the Saviour of mankind was
extended on the cross! The Jews, instead of sympathizing in His
sorrows, triumphed in them. They reviled Him with bitter expressions,
with words even more bitter than the gall and vinegar which they handed
Him to drink. Not one of all that witnessed His pains turned His head
aside, even in the last pang. Yes, my friends, there was one; that
glorious luminary (pointing to the sun) veiled his brightness, and
travelled on his course in tenfold night."
DR. JOHNSON'S OPINION OF WHITFIELD.
Boswell informs us that Dr. Johnson would not allow much merit to
Whitfield's oratory. "His popularity, Sir," said he, "is chiefly owing
to the peculiarity of his manner. He would be followed by crowds were
he to wear a nightcap in the pulpit, or were he to preach from a tree."
And again: "Whitfield never drew as much attention as a mountebank
does; he did not draw attention by doing better than others, but by
doing what was strange. Were Astley to preach a sermon standing upon
his head on a horse's back, he would collect a multitude to hear him;
but no wise man would say he had made a better sermon for that. I never
treated Whitfield's ministry with contempt; I believe he did good. He
had devoted himself to the lower classes of mankind, and among them he
was of use. But when familiarity and noise claim the praise due to
knowledge, art, and elegance, we must beat down such pretensions."
DR. WOLCOT ("PETER PINDAR") IN JAMAICA.
Dr. Wolcot, the patron of Opie, and better known to fame as "Peter
Pindar," practised medicine--descending from a family, members of which
in several generations had followed the same profession in Devon and
Cornwall. Sir William Trelawny, when he went as Governor to Jamaica,
took Wolcot out as surgeon to his household; and there he figured in
several characters--as grand master of the ceremonies, private
secretary, and chaplain. Whether or not he ever received regular
ordination, it is certain that Wolcot acted as rector in the colony for
some time; and odd stories of his behaviour as a parish priest were
current among his friends as well as his enemies. He read prayers and
preached when a congregation presented itself; but that was not oftener
than about every fourth Sunday. He was a capital shot, and, with his
clerk, used to amuse himself with shooting pigeons. Having shot their
way to the church, the pair were wont to wait ten minutes in the porch
for the arrival of the congregation; at the end of which time, if
nobody appeared, the reverend sportsmen returned to their amusement. If
a few negroes only presented themselves at the church, the rector
bought them off with a little money; and one old negro, finding out
Wolcot's weakness, after a time attended every Sunday, when the rector
would address him: "What do you come here for, blackee?" "Why, Massa,
for to hear your good sermon and all the prayer ob de church." "Would
not a _bit_ or two do you more good?" "Yes, massa doctor; me lub prayer
much, but me lub money too." The little transaction would then take
place, and the darky retire grinning; and it is said that this man drew
thus an income from Wolcot for a whole year. When he returned to
England, Wolcot did not succeed in obtaining a practice, and abandoned
both physic and divinity for satire--which yielded him a good income
while he lived, and won him fame both with his own generation and with
posterity.
CHARITY OF ARCHBISHOP TILLOTSON.
In 1685, Archbishop Tillotson avowed himself a warm advocate for
affording charitable relief to the French refugees, on the recall of
the Edict of Nantes. Dr. Beveridge, the prebendary of Canterbury,
having objected to reading a brief for this purpose, as contrary to the
rubric, the Archbishop observed to him roughly, "Doctor, Doctor,
charity is above all rubrics." While Tillotson was in a private
station, he always laid aside two-tenths of his income for charitable
uses; and after his elevation to the mitre, he so constantly expended
all that he could spare of his annual revenues in acts of beneficence,
that the only legacy which he was able to leave to his family consisted
of two volumes of sermons, the value of which, however, was such, that
the copyright brought not less than £2500. Of Tillotson it is told that
once, when King William III. complained of the shortness of his sermon,
he replied, "Sire, could I have bestowed more time upon it, it would
not have been so long."
DRUBBING-IN RELIGIOUS FEELING.
Pietro della Valle, "who," says Southey, "could be amused at the
superstition of others," reports that when the _Ecce Homo_ was
displayed during a sermon in the Jesuit church at Goa, the women used
to beat their servants if they did not cry enough to please them.
BON-MOTS OF SYDNEY SMITH.
Sydney Smith was once dining in company with a French gentleman, who
had before dinner indulged in a number of free-thinking speculations,
and ended by avowing himself a materialist. "Very good soup, this,"
said Mr. Smith. "Yes, Sir, it is excellent," was the reply. "Pray, Sir,
do you _believe_ in a _cook_?" inquired Mr. Smith.--"Do you believe in
the apostolical succession?" inquired one of Smith. "I do," he replied;
"and my faith in that dogma dates from the moment I became acquainted
with the Bishop of ----, _who is so like Judas!_"--In preaching a
charity sermon, Sydney Smith frequently repeated the assertion that, of
all nations, Englishmen were most distinguished for their generosity,
and the love of their _species_. The collection happening to be
inferior to his expectation, provoked him to say, that he had evidently
made a great mistake; for that his expression should have been, that
they were distinguished for the love of their _specie_.--On the
departure of Bishop Selwyn for his diocese, New Zealand, Smith, when
taking his leave of him, said: "Good-bye, my dear Selwyn; I hope you
will not _disagree_ with the man who eats you!"--A friend of Smith
inquired, "What is Puseyism?" To which the witty canon replied:
"Puseyism, Sir, is inflexion and genuflexion; posture and imposture;
bowing to the east, and curtseying to the west."
THE ORIGIN OF OUR INDIAN COMMERCE.
It is perhaps not generally known, says Wadd, in his _Memoirs_, that it
was an English surgeon of the name of Broughton whose good fortune it
was to open the commerce of India to his countrymen, by the following
accident. Having been sent from Surat to Agra in the year 1636, to
treat one of the daughters of the Emperor Shah Jehan, he had the good
fortune to cure the Princess. By way of recompense, the Emperor, among
other favours, gave him the privilege of a free commerce throughout the
whole extent of his dominions. Broughton immediately returned to
Bengal, to purchase goods, and transmit them by sea to Surat. Scarcely
had he returned when he was requested to attend the favourite of the
Nabob of the province, labouring under a very dangerous disease. Having
fortunately restored his patient to health, the Nabob settled a pension
upon him, confirmed the privilege of the Emperor, and promised to allow
the same to all the English who should come to Bengal. Broughton
communicated all this to the English Governor at Surat, and it was by
the advice of the latter that the company sent from England, in 1640,
two ships to Bengal. Such was the origin of a commerce that has since
been carried to so great an extent--and made the foundation of a vast
empire.
CHARLES II. AND BISHOP STILLINGFLEET.
Charles the Second once demanded of Dr. Stillingfleet, who was a
preacher to the Court, "Why he read his sermons before him, when on
every other occasion his sermons were delivered extempore?" The Bishop
answered, that, overawed by so many great and noble personages, and in
the presence of his Sovereign, he dared not to trust his powers. "And
now," said the divine, "will your Majesty permit me to ask a question?"
"Certainly," said the condescending monarch. "Why, then, does your
Majesty read your speeches, when it may be presumed that _you_ can have
no such reason?" "Why, truly," said the King, "I have asked my subjects
so often for money, that I am ashamed to look them in the face."
A TOO PERSONAL APPLICATION.
When Dr. Beadon was rector of Eltham, in Kent, his text one day was,
"Who art thou?" After reading the text, he made a pause, for the
congregation to reflect upon the words; when a gentleman, in a military
dress, who at the instant was marching very sedately up the middle
aisle of the church, supposing it a question addressed to him, to the
surprise of all present replied, "I am, Sir, an officer of the
sixteenth regiment of foot, on a recruiting party here; and having
brought my wife and family with me, I wish to be acquainted with the
neighbouring clergy and gentry." This so deranged the divine, and
astonished the congregation, that though they attempted to listen with
decorum, the service was not continued without considerable difficulty.
PREACHING TO PURPOSE.