To the Author of the New-England Courant
Dec. 8. 1721.
Sir,
Since in your last Cou-
rant you was pleased to
say, That both Anti-Ino-
culators and Incoulators
should be welcome to speak
their Minds in your Pa-
per, I send the follow-
ing Reasons against ino-
culating the Small Pox,
which I hope in pursu-
ance of your Promise,
you will insert in your
next, if you have Room.
The First Reason then is, That this Operation be-
ing perform'd upon none but such as are
in perfect
Health, and who, for any thing the Doctor or Pati-
ents know, may be such who may never have that
Distemper in their Lives, or if they have, not to that
Degree as to make it moral to them : and then sure-
ly it must be needless to the last Degree, for any Man
to have himself made sick in order to prevent that
which for any thing he knows, he is in no Danger of.
But in the Second Place, much more so, when the
Persons that are for that Operation, cannot answer
this Small Question to the Satisfaction of any rational
Creature, viz. Whether this Operation is Infallible, so
that hitherto there is not any Body has perished, that has
had the Small Pox produced by it. I say, this is a Point
the World will find them for ever tender upon : And
altho' they would fain insinuate that it is
infallible,
yet they will never give you a direct Answer, but will
put you off with this, That there is nothing infallible
in Physick ; for that they have known Persons
dye [die] by a
Vomit, and others by Bleeding, &c. But allowing what
they say to be true, for once ; these Gentlemen never
distinguish betwixt making a well Man
sick, and en-
deavouring to make a sick Man well ; for certainly,
there is not any thing will defend any Man's bringing
a Sickness on himself, unless he is sure that he cannot
die of that Illness he does so bring upon him ; for we
are obliged to preserve the Health we have, as much
as we are olbiged to preserve our Lives: Whereas on
the other Hand, in giving of Vomits, &c. it is never
done by wise Physicians, but to Persons who have
really lost their Healths, and of Course it is allowable
to run a little Risque to recover that Health which
it has pleased God to take from him. But let these
Gentlemen talk as they will about such things, I dare
say that every reasonable Man will think it very
ridiculous, to compare Inoculating the Small Pox to
Bleeding or Vomiting, &c. when the one is done to
none but such as are in perfect Health, and the other
to Persons that are sick. Besides, I have seen Physick
practised by some of the ablest Physicians that ever
the World saw, and have been practising of it my self
this twenty Years past. But I must say, I never saw
and Man die by Bleeding or Blistering, or by
Vomiting
or Purging, provided they were given in proper Doses.
But if ignorant People, who neither understand Phy-
they should not do, no Wonder if we see Instances of
thse innocent Things proving Mortal : But then the
Fault is to be put to the Account of the Persons who
gave the things ignorantly, and not to the things
themselves. But it is quite otherwise with Inoculati-
on ; for there is not any Body that I know that can
tell the Dose of that Juice so as to make it infallible.
But he must be a very poor & heedless Physician in-
deed, that cannot prevent the aforesaid Bleeding, &c.
from being hurtful to any Body.
And the third Reason is, that if they should say,
Inoculating the Small Pox is an infallible way to pre-
serve Life. I say, if they should say so, yet it is
false in Fact ; For Dr. Emanuel Timonius in his
Let-
ter to the Royal Society, owns, that he saw Two die
that were Inoculated ; but at the same Time would
fain insinuate, that they died of some other Distem-
per, which is the very Error his Disciples on this
side the Great Atlantick fall into ;
for when they are
ask'd, If it be Infallible, how came Mrs. D--l
and
several others to die of it ? They answer, she and they
did not die of the Small Pox, but of some other
Di-
stemper, or else had received the Infection the
Com-
mon Way first ; which is certainly very ridiculous
if one considers the following things.
Every Body knows that it's the Nature of Hellebore
to purge ; and of Course too great a Dose of it taken
will kill any Man : And for any Body to say, that had
given an excessive Dose of it to a Patient, and that Pa-
tient had purged to Death by it ; I say, to say that
that that Patient died of some other Distemper, would
certainly be very ridiculous; and so is it every whit
as ridiculous to say, that a Person that is in perfect
Health, and is inoculated, and has the Effects of that
Operation the same way as others have that have ta-
ken the utmost Precaution, viz. the same
Fever, the
same Pustules, only the Fever more violent, and a
greater Quantity of Pustules, and at last Death. I
say,
It would be very ridiculous for any to say, that such
Persons did not dy of the Inoculated Small Pox ;
when, as I said before, they had the Small Pox after
that Operation, and were in perfect Health before it
was performed upon them ; which is the very Case
of Mrs. D--l, and the rest of them that have dyed by
it, so far as I can learn. As to Mrs. D--l, this I
know, that they boasted much of having made such
a Convert, and owned publickly that she had got the
Small Pox by Inoculation. But when it pleased God
to shew them that she must depart this Life, not-
withstanding their Infallible Remedy ; Oh! then
they turn their Tones, and say truly, she dyed of Hy-
sterick ; which by the way, are the worst Fits they
could have pitch'd upon ; for of all Fits they
prove
the seldomest Mortal : And it it is as certain as the
Sun shines at Noon in a clear Day, that she died of
the Small Pox, which she received by Inoculation ;
and Mr. B--n himself must have thought so too,
otherwise he was a very silly Man, to inoculate her,
when he had reason to suspect she had received the
Infection the Common Way first, which probably
might spoil the Reputation of his infallible Remedy.
My fourth Reason is, that altho' we see sundry
Persons have the Small Pox favourably that are ino-
culated, and so escape; yet we see, ( and these Gen-
tlemen own it themselves ) that they are capable of
infecting their Neighbours to as great a Degree as
those that are smitten the Common Way : And if so,
I am sure it was far from being a laudable Practice in
this Town ( or in any other Town ) in the Condition
it was in Ten Months ago, for this Reason, because
they could not have inoculated Twenty Persons in
the Heart of the Town, as Mr. B--n did, but that
they must infect many of their Neighbours, how ma-
ny, God Knows. And whether it is lawful or just for
me to preserve my own Life by killing an Hundred of
my Neighbours, who perhaps never injured me in
their Lives ; I say, how lawful or commendable it
may be for any Person so to act, must be left to those
Gentlemen, who have wrote in Favour of Inoculati-
on, who are certainly excellent Commentators on the
Sixth Commandment.
And now, Sir, if this may find a Place in your Pa-
per, I will take leave to subscribe my self,
Your well Wisher,
ABSINTHIUM
N.B. Tho' the Gentleman who wrote the above
Letter, has intimated, that by Mr. B--n's Confessi-
on to Mr. S--n K--d, Fourteen Persons have
dy'd by the inoculated Small Pox, yet since Mr.
K--d refuses to give it under his Hand, we hope
he will excuse our not putting the Names at Length,
as in the Manuscript.