Antall József szerk.: Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 5. (Budapest, 1972)

Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts (Guide for the Exhibition)

VIII. JENNER AND SMALLPOX VACCINATION The most dangerous of all plagues which terrorized human race was smallpox. The statistical data which inform us about its spreading are shocking. Instead of them let us, however, refer to the warrant of apprehension dating from London 1776, according to which the recognition mark of the wanted criminal was "not pock-marked". Apart from bitter tears no efficacious remedy has been known in Europe against it" - Samuel Várađi remarks in 1802. It is said that certain forms of variolation was known in China already in the nth century, e. g. pulverized smallpox crust blown into the healthy child's nose. African slave merchants preserved the health of their "goods", especially the beauty of the women in similar ways. The method of direct infection was discovered in Europe at the beginning of the 13 th century. Though it was rather dangerous it enabled the patient to get the disease in a mild form. In the years 1713-16 two papers describing the practice at Constantinople were read before the Royal Society in London by Emmanuel Timoni and Giacomo Pylarini but it attracted little attention. The first data on variolation in Hungary dates back to 1717 when János Ádám Raymann (1690-1771), physician of the town of Eperjes (Presov, Czechoslovakia) "inoculated [the patients] in a method learned from Greek-Armenian merchants". This method became recognized in England in 1722 when the English princes were inoculated at the advice of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) the wife of the English ambassador in Constantinople. Variolation proved to be a practice not without any risk. It did not give complete protection and at the same time the persons who had been inoculated were exposed to other infections, e. g. syphilis, transferred by it. It was Edward Jenner (1749-1823), the pupil of John Hunter who succeeded in developing a final and satisfactory solution to this question. As a result of his observations and experiments conducted for several years, he proved those vaccinated with cow-pox vaccine (Variolae Vaccina) taken from infected cows gained complete protection against smallpox. He wrote a paper on his discovery to the Royal Society but it was met with opposition. Despite it he proceeded his experiments with persistance and achieved batter and better results. In 1798 he published his results in his famous book where he described 23 cases in 75 pages. He wrote two more books on the results of his experiments (published in 1799 and 1800) trying to convince the opponents of vaccination. His genius and persistence triumphed and vaccination was introduced all over the world. Vaccination was introduced in Hungary by Ferenc Bene (1775-1858) university professor, who in his work written in 1802 mentions 43 physicians having previously experimented with smallpox vaccination. Another excellent Hungarian physician of the age, Mihály Lenhossék (1773-