duties, he still kept up a constant and regular correspondence with
his friend John Hunter on different scientific subjects. He managed
also to find leisure to institute many experiments and observations
in natural history, one of the results of which was his account of
the Cuckoo, a most carefully elaborated essay, and which has always
been considered as a model of accurate observation. This paper was
read to the Royal Society on the 10th of March, 1788, and printed in
their 'Transactions.' It explained the habits of this curious bird
very satisfactorily, and its publication at once secured the author a
considerable reputation as a Naturalist. As this paper appears not to
be very generally known, the following account taken from it may be
interesting:--
"The cuckoo furtively deposits her egg in the nest of another bird;
it is done not that her offspring may be a sharer of the care of
the foster-parent, but that it may engross it entirely to the total
destruction of its own natural offspring. A perversion of all the
maternal instincts is a most remarkable result of this vicarious
incubation. The hedge-sparrow, or other birds whose nests have been
visited by the cuckoo, actually sometimes eject their own eggs to
make room for the new guest; but it occasionally happens that this
is not done; the eggs are not disturbed, and the process of hatching
is allowed to go on regularly, and the young sparrows and the cuckoo
emerge from the shell about the same time. This event, when it is
permitted to happen, does not at all improve the condition of the
former; on the contrary, it only exposes them to greater sufferings.
The size of the egg of the cuckoo does not vary much from that of the
bird in whose nest it is deposited. When the young sparrow, therefore,
and the intruder first come into life, they are pretty much on an
equality; but unhappily for the foster-brethren, this equality does
not last long: the cuckoo's growth rapidly outstrips that of his
companions, and he immediately exercises his new powers with abundant
selfishness and cruelty. By a singular configuration of his own body he
contrives to lodge his companions, one by one, upon his back, and then
scrambling up the sides of the nest, he suddenly throws them from their
seat, and completely ejects them from their own home to become food
for worms. There is reason to believe that the unnatural parent is
often an unmoved witness of this atrocity. Her whole care and affection
are absorbed by the intruder, and her own flesh and blood literally
turned out to perish. It sometimes, though very rarely, happens that
two cuckoo's eggs are deposited in the same nest. When this occurs, and
they are both hatched together, a bitter feud arises, which is only
terminated by the ejection of one or other from the nest."
All naturalists previous to Jenner were inclined to ascribe the
peculiarity in the economy of the cuckoo to its structure; the
largeness of the stomach, which is only protected by a thin covering,
they asserted, rendered the pressure attendant upon incubation
incompatible with health. This theory is incorrect, and was adopted
without due examination.
Jenner observes, "May they not, be owing to the following
circumstances?--namely, the short residence this bird is allowed to
make in this country, where it is destined to propagate its species,
and the call that nature has upon it, during that short residence, to
produce a numerous progeny. The cuckoo's first appearance here is about
the middle of April. Its egg is not ready for incubation till some
weeks after its arrival. A fortnight is taken up by the sitting bird
in hatching the egg. The young bird generally continues three weeks in
the nest before it flies, and the foster-parents feed it more than five
weeks after this period: so that even if a cuckoo should be ready with
an egg much sooner than the time pointed out, not a single nestling,
would be fit to provide for itself, before its parent would be
instinctively directed to seek a new residence, and be thus compelled
to abandon its young; for the old cuckoos take their final leave of
this country the first week in July."
The domestic incidents of Jenner's life during this period, although
important to himself and his future career, were not otherwise
remarkable. Having experienced a disappointment in his affections early
in life, he continued for many years unmarried. Ultimately, however,
on the 6th of March, 1788, he was married to Catherine Kingscote, a
descendant of an ancient Gloucestershire family.
In 1793 John Hunter died, and Jenner was deeply affected by the loss of
his esteemed friend. Many years previous to this sad event, Jenner's
anxious and affectionate attention to the symptoms of the disease,
which as early as 1777 had begun to attack Hunter, had enabled him to
detect the true nature of his illness (Angina pectoris), and the result
of the examination after death fully established the correctness of
Jenner's views.
In 1792, having determined to give up the general practice of his
profession, and practice as a physician only, Jenner obtained the
degree of Doctor of Medicine from St. Andrews; and three years
afterwards, on finding that Berkeley by itself could never support
a physician, commenced making professional visits to Cheltenham, a
practice which he continued for many years.
We now come to the important epoch in the life of this eminent man. On
the 14th of May, 1796 (commemorated in Berlin as an annual festival),
he made his first successful vaccination on a boy of the name of
Phipps, eight years old, and announced the event in a letter to a
friend named Gardner, in the following words: "But listen to the most
delightful part of my story. The boy has since been inoculated for
the small-pox, which, as I ventured to predict, produced no effect.
I shall now pursue my experiments with redoubled ardour." In the
year 1798 he made public the result of his continued observations
and experiments, published during this year his work entitled an
'Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolæ Vaccinæ,' and
henceforth the imperishable name of Jenner was to be identified with
vaccination. Although Jenner announced his discovery thus late in life,
his attention had been drawn forcibly towards the subject when quite
a youth, while pursuing his professional education in the house of
his master at Sudbury. During that time, a young countrywoman having
come to seek advice, the subject of small-pox was mentioned in her
presence; she immediately observed, "I cannot take that, for I have had
the cow-pox." This incident rivetted the attention of Jenner, and he
resolved to let no opportunity escape of procuring knowledge upon so
interesting a subject. When, in 1770, he was prosecuting his studies in
London, he mentioned the matter to Hunter, who told him not to _think_
but _try_, and above all to be patient and accurate. Hunter, however,
from the great number of original and important pursuits, which fully
engrossed his attention, was never so greatly impressed, as Jenner,
with the probable consequences of the successful elucidation of the
subject of cow-pox; while other surgeons and scientific men, to whom
the subject was mentioned, ridiculed the idea; and even when Jenner
had drawn up his 'Inquiry,' he was recommended not to send it to the
Royal Society, lest it should injure the scientific reputation which
he had formerly acquired with that body by his paper on the 'Natural
History of the Cuckoo.' Undeterred by this want of sympathy, Jenner,
during the time of his practice at Berkeley, patiently continued
his investigations as to the nature of cow-pox, and, gradually
struggling through the difficulties which he had to encounter on his
way, eliminated the following facts: that there were certain people
to whom it was impossible to give the small-pox by inoculation, and
that these had all had the cow-pox; but that there were also others
who had had cow-pox, and who yet received small-pox. This, after
much labour, led him to the discovery that the cow was subject to a
variety of eruptions, of which one only had the power of guarding from
small-pox, and that this, the true cow-pox, as he called it, could,
at only one period of its course, produce, by inoculation, such an
influence upon the constitution as to render the individual safe from
further contagion. This was the basis upon which the fundamental rules
for the practice of vaccination were founded. The publication of his
'Inquiry' excited the greatest interest, for the evidence in it seemed
conclusive; yet the practice of vaccination met with opposition, as
severe as it was unfair, and its success seemed uncertain until a year
had passed, when upwards of seventy of the principal physicians and
surgeons in London signed a declaration of their entire confidence in
it. An attempt was then made to deprive Jenner of the merit of his
discovery, but it signally failed, and scientific honours began to
be bestowed on him from all quarters. Nothing could, however, induce
Jenner to leave his native village, and all his correspondence shows
that the purest benevolence, rather than ambition, had been the motive
which actuated his labours. In a letter to Mr. Clive, who instituted
the first successful case of vaccination in London, he says: "Shall I,
who, even in the morning of my life, sought the lowly and sequestered
paths of life, the valley and not the mountain; shall I, now my evening
is fast approaching, hold myself up as an object for fortune and for
fame? Admitting it as a certainty that I obtain both, what stock
should I add to my little fund of happiness? And as for fame, what is
it?--a gilded butt for ever pierced with the arrows of malignancy."
On the Continent Jenner's claims on the gratitude of mankind were
quickly recognised, and the influence of his name and character was
very great. On one occasion during the war he addressed a letter to
Napoleon, requesting permission for two men of science and literature
to return to England; and it is related that Napoleon, being about to
reject the petition, heard Josephine utter the name of Jenner; on which
the Emperor paused for an instant, and exclaimed, "Jenner! ah, we can
refuse nothing to that man." He subsequently made other applications
both to the French and other governments, which were uniformly attended
with similar success. In fact his name became at length so potent,
and his influence so well known, that persons left England with
certificates signed by him, which had all the force and value of real
passports. England, however, was more tardy in recognizing the claims
of this great man. He once or twice applied to the British government
on behalf of some French prisoners, but unhappily without success. Nor
was he permitted to share in the least degree in the vast patronage
at the disposal of the government, and all his attempts to obtain a
living for one of his nephews failed, although he applied where he was
quite justified in thinking he would meet with attention and success.
On the occasion of the first parliamentary grant to Jenner in the
year 1802, the Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that he thought
the "approbation" of the House was the highest reward that could be
given him, inasmuch as it would lead to an extended and very lucrative
practice; and although it was proved in evidence that 40,000 men were
annually preserved to the State, even at that time, by Dr. Jenner's
discovery, the proposition of a grant for 10,000_l._ was carried
only by a majority of three. Jenner's feelings were deeply wounded
by the manner in which this grant was made, and he would gladly have
repudiated the whole affair. It remained unpaid for two years, and when
at length the money was paid to him, it was so loaded with taxes and
other expenses, as to be of little pecuniary benefit. Happily, however,
both for Jenner and the credit of Great Britain, the Marquis of
Lansdowne (then Lord Henry Petty) was a principal mover in his second
parliamentary grant, and through the able advocacy of this enlightened
nobleman, together with Mr. Whitbread, Mr. Windham, and Mr. Edward
Morris and others, a more fitting recompense of 20,000_l._, free of all
charges, was awarded him in July 1807.
Jenner had several attacks of severe illness during his life, but
he notwithstanding attained to a good old age. Till the last day
of his life he was occupied in the most anxious labours to diffuse
the advantages of his discovery both at home and abroad; and he had
the satisfaction of knowing that vaccination had even then shed its
blessing over every civilised nation of the world, prolonging life, and
preventing the ravages of one of the most terrible scourges to which
the human race was ever subject. He died suddenly from an attack of
paralysis in July 1823, having attained the seventy-fifth year of his
age.
Shortly after Jenner's death a statue was erected to his memory in
Gloucester Cathedral, chiefly through the exertions of his friend
and biographer, Dr. Baron; still more recently the statue in bronze,
by William Calder Marshall, R.A., was erected in Trafalgar Square,
and afterwards removed to Kensington Gardens, as a 'TRIBUTE FROM ALL
NATIONS' to the memory of this distinguished philanthropist.--_Life of
Edward Jenner, by John Baron, M.D., &c._ London, 1827.--_Memoir by Dr.
Thos. Laycock, Encyclopædia Britannica._
WILLIAM JESSOP.
Born 1745. Died 1814.
This engineer forms the connecting link between the first and second
generations of civil engineers in this country. To the former belong
Smeaton and Brindley, while the latter are headed by the great names of
Telford and Rennie.
The father of Mr. Jessop was engaged under Smeaton in superintending
the erection of the Eddystone Lighthouse, and his son William, the
subject of this memoir, was born at Plymouth. When he had attained the
age of sixteen his father died, leaving the guardianship of his family
to Smeaton, who thenceforth adopted William as his pupil, determining
to bring him up to his own profession. Young Jessop remained with
Smeaton for a period of ten years, enjoying, during this the busiest
part of Smeaton's active career, many opportunities of acquiring an
extensive knowledge of the business of civil engineering. After leaving
the service of Smeaton, Mr. Jessop was engaged for several years in
improving the navigation of the rivers Aire and Calder, and of the
Calder and Hebble in Yorkshire. He was also employed on the river Trent
in Nottinghamshire, and he appears to have been principally occupied on
these works for some time subsequent to his leaving Smeaton.
A few years before the retirement of the latter, which took place in
1791, his pupil began to obtain active employment, and we find him
about the years 1788 and 1789, reporting on the navigation of the
Sussex Ouse, and the drainage of Laughton Level in the same country,
being called on, at the same time, by the Commissioners of the Thames
and Isis, to advise on the works they had undertaken, and were about to
execute, for the improvement of this important navigation.
In the three following years (1790-2) his professional employment
greatly increased. He was now actively engaged in prosecuting various
important canals in connection with the great central navigation of
the Trent. Amongst these were the Cromford Canal, penetrating amongst
the mountains of Derbyshire into the rich mineral districts of that
wild and romantic country; the Nottingham Canal, which connects the
Cromford with the Trent at Nottingham; the Loughborough and Leicester
navigation, connecting the Ashby Coalfield with the navigable part of
the Soar and with Nottingham, thus opening an important communication
with the Trent on the one hand, and with Nottingham and the whole south
of England on the other. In addition to this system in connection with
the Trent, he projected and commenced at this time the Horncastle
navigation, which, besides acting as a valuable drainage for this part
of the fens, was productive of great benefit to a large district,
by bringing it into communication with the river Witham, which is
navigable to the sea in one direction, and in the other through Lincoln
to the Trent.
But a larger and more important work than these last named, which Mr.
Jessop was at this period engaged on, was the Grand Junction Canal,
which, joining the Oxford Canal at Braunston, in Northamptonshire,
connects the whole inland navigation with the metropolis, by means of a
comparatively direct line ninety miles in length, traced in a diagonal
direction across the two formidable ranges of hills peculiar to the
secondary formations of England.
This canal communicates with the Thames by its main line at Brentford,
and by a branch starting five miles above at Bullbridge, stretching
to Paddington, from whence the Regent's Canal proceeds round the
north side of London to the Thames at Limehouse, thus completing the
connection between the main line and the lower part of the river. The
execution of this canal necessitated the construction of many heavy
works, consisting of tunnels, deep cuttings, embankments, aqueducts,
reservoirs, and weirs. Of these works one of the most famous is the
Blisworth Tunnel, 3080 yards in length, cut through the inferior oolite
and the shales of the lias. Its internal width is 16½ feet, the
depth below the water-line to the inverted arch being 7 feet, while the
soffit or crown of the arch is 11 feet above the same line. The cost
of this great undertaking, with all its branches and attendant works,
amounted to about two millions sterling.
During the execution of this work, Mr. Jessop was also called into
Ireland, and was taking an active part in carrying on the public works
which had been undertaken by the authority of Parliament in that
country.
The year 1793 originated several great projects, in furtherance of
which Mr. Jessop's aid was secured. Amongst these were the Grantham
Canal, supplied by vast artificial reservoirs, and extending from the
river Trent, through a rich pasture district of the new red sandstone,
winding for many miles through the broad and fertile vale of Belvoir,
up to Grantham at the base of the Lincolnshire hills, the furthest
point to which it is possible to penetrate in this direction.
The Barnsley Canal, which opens up an immense amount of mineral wealth
in the Yorkshire coalfield, and brings it into communication with the
river Calder, and the Dearn and Dove Canal; and finally, the Great
Ellesmere Canal, which completes a communication between the Severn
and the Mersey, and ramifies in numerous directions amongst the rugged
hills and valleys of North Wales.
In the carrying on of this last named undertaking, Mr. Telford was
likewise engaged under Mr. Jessop. Two of its most important works are
the great aqueducts of Chirk and Pont-y-cysylte, the former of which
carries the canal over the river Ceriog, at an elevation of 70 feet,
while the latter carries it across the Dee at an elevation of 127 feet.
The grand peculiarity in these aqueducts consisted in constructing
a water-tight trough of cast iron for carrying the canal across the
arches, instead of an immense puddled clay trough, as was the practice
until that time in use. The execution and management of the numerous
works here mentioned occupied the greater part of Mr. Jessop's time
during the next few years. But the commencement of the present century
was the signal for another torrent of speculation, which, in addition
to canals, began now to be directed towards docks and railroads. The
promoters of the first great public dock establishment employed Mr.
Jessop to conduct their works, and he had the honour of completing the
great project of the West India Docks, with their numerous accompanying
details, in a manner which alone entitles him to rank among our most
eminent engineers.
On the completion of these docks his professional services were engaged
by the citizens of Bristol, to effect a great and comprehensive measure
of harbour improvement, designed to place the port of Bristol at once
in the foremost position with respect to commercial advantages. This
was the conversion of part of the river Avon into an immense floating
dock, capable of accommodating 1400 vessels. Mr. Jessop was also at
this time occupied in constructing the Surrey iron railways, which
consisted of a double tramroad, from the Thames at Wandsworth to
the town of Croydon, with an extension from Croydon to Godstone and
Merstham; they are principally remarkable as being the first public
railroads constructed in the south of England. The whole of these
tramroads were afterwards bought and taken up by the Brighton Railway
Company. Mr. Jessop was likewise connected with the Caledonian Canal,
which he was specially called upon to survey before its commencement,
and of which he continued to be the consulting engineer for many years.
In concluding this brief notice of Mr. Jessop's life, it remains only
to be said that with him exclusively originated the idea of taking
advantage of the immense floods to which certain districts are subject,
by storing these waters up for the gradual and regular supply of his
canals. In addition to this he shares with Mr. Telford the honour of
first using iron in the construction of the troughs of aqueducts, and
for the heads, heel-posts and ribs of lock-gates, as adopted on the
Caledonian and Ellesmere canals.--_Memoir of William Jessop, by Samuel
Hughes, C.E._
CAPTAIN HENRY KATER, F.R.S., &c.
Born April 16, 1777. Died April 26, 1835.
Captain Henry Kater, distinguished by his mathematical and physical
researches during the space of nearly half a century, was born at
Bristol; his father was of a German family, and his mother was the
daughter of an eminent architect; both were distinguished for their
scientific attainments, and united in imbuing their son with a similar
taste. Henry was, however, destined by his father for the law, and had
with great reluctance to give up for a time his hitherto exclusive
devotion to abstract science. Mr. Kater continued for two years
to remain in a pleader's office, during which time he acquired a
considerable portion of legal knowledge, on which he valued himself
through life; but the death of his father, in 1794, permitted him to
resume his favourite studies; and bidding adieu to the law, he obtained
a commission in the 12th Regiment of Foot, at that time stationed in
India.
During the following year, Mr. Kater was engaged in the trigonometrical
survey of India under Colonel Lambton, contributing greatly, by his
untiring labours, to the success of that vast undertaking. About
the same period, he was also occupied in constructing a peculiarly
sensible hygrometer, of which he published a description in the
'Asiatic Researches.' Mr. Kater remained in India seven years, during
which time his unremitting study in a hot climate greatly injured his
constitution, and was the cause of his falling into a state of ill
health, from which he suffered more or less until the end of his life.