Copy of a LETTER from the President of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. SIR, February 20th 1813. In reply to your Letter of the 5th January, I am directed by the Royal College of Physicians to inform you, that during the year 1812 Vaccination has continued to be practised in this City as formerly, with uninterrupted success; that there have been very few instances where Inoculation for the small Pox has been insisted on; and that the mortality from Natural Small Pox has, in as far as the Royal College can judge, been very inconsiderable in this part of Scotland. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient Servant, JAS. HAMILTON jun. M.A. President. To Dr Hervey, Register of the National Vaccine Institution. Communication from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. THE Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, in reply to the request of the National Vaccine Board, have only to announce, as on former occasions, their unanimous and undimi nished confidence in the security which Vaccination affords against the Small Pox. They have also every reason to believe that the Public confidence remains undiminished. Among the higher ranks, Vaccination continues to be universally practised, and though among the lower orders it has rather diminished for the last two or three years, the College attribute this entirely to the absence of any alarm from Small Pox, and in no degree to a want of confidence in Vaccination; for want of such confi dence would naturally have led to applications for varielous Inoculation,and this has not occurred within the knowledge of any Member of the College. The College regret that from the want of regular public Registers they are unable to give any account of the mortality from Small Pox in Scotland, or the proportion of the Population that has been secured against They Small Pox by Vaccination. beg leave to suggest the propriety and importance of adopting some plan by which this knowledge may be obtained; for there is every reason to believe, that as Small Pox becomes more rare, Vaccination will, among the lower orders, be still more neg lected. that city amounted to 24; whereas the average number of deaths from 1801 to 1804 exceeded 100, and the deaths for the seven years previous to the introduction of Vaccination exceed 200 yearly, though the population has of late years greatly increased; that eleven hundred and sixty-two have been gratuitously vaccinated at the Faculty Hall this year, besides the private patients of all the Medical Practitioners in town; and that the practice of Inoculation for Small Pox is totally discontinued and the confidence in the preventive power of Vaccination continues unabated." Translation of a Statement on the Vaccine Disorder, by Dr Servando de Mary Noriega, an Ecclesiastic. Dated London 10th Jan. 1813. The Small Pox, as well as the Measles, were unknown in New Spain before the conquest. They were brought there, says Torquemada, by a Negro from Pamfilo of Narvaez, and they occasioned such destruction, that he does not hesitate to affirm, that the greatest part of the Indians died, among whom was the Emperor Cuitlahuatzin, who succeeded Montezume. It is stated, that according to the reports, which Cortes ordered to be made to him, there died in the Empire of Mexico alone three millions and a half. It was not long A Spanish historian. before fresh variolous infection was brought over, and according to Torquemada eight hundred thousand Indians perished. Europe has continued to communicate this scourge at intervals of thirty, twenty, or a less number of years, and the infection extending itself from Vera Cruz to the most remote parts, has, like a destructive plague, spread terror, death, and desolation, over that continent. The longer it is retarded, the more fatal it becomes, because the danger increases with the age of the sufferers. Thirty-three years ago there were carried off more than ten thousand persons in the towns of Mexico and Puebla alone by this contagion, which was the last but one that has visited that kingdom, and was brought there after an interval of nineteen years. It was from this last attack that I was a sufferer in my native country, Monterry, the capital of the new kingdom of Leon: and there was not a family who did not put on mourning. Some of these families disappeared altogether, because they were all adult persons, had been seized by the Epidemic in the City. Those who lived in the country were preserved from its influence by banking the dunghills of the large and small cattle around their dwellings. and The Small Pox acts with the greatest virulence upon those parts of the body most exposed to the sun, such as the face and hands; and as the Indians are more exposed by their habit of life and manner of clothing, the havoc which it makes among them is more horrible. Torquemada says, speaking of the first introduction of the infection, that the reason why it killed so many, was, because the Indians were igno. rant of the nature of the disease, and bathed and scratched themselves. In the new kingdom of Leon there were several wandering nations, so warlike that the Spaniards could not with arms in their hands resist their attacks upon their towns; the Small Pox, however, extirpated almost all of them; and fifty years ago heaps of bones, like so many trophies of the disease, were to be seen under the old tufted oaks in the fields. At this present time, when a savage sees one of his companions attacked with the infection, he leaves him, his horse, and his provisions, and flies to a great distance in the woods. It has never happened that the Spaniards have secured themselves against infection by stopping their communications with the Indians. As soon as the Inoculation for the natural Small Pox was introduced into Europe, the Archbishop of Mexico, Haro, ordered the Curates and Ecclesiastics to perform it through their several Towns with their own hands; and although the prejudices and scruples of some hindered the practice becoming general, it is certain that to this Inoculation is to be attributed the diminished evil which the Small Pox occasioned fourteen years ago. The King of Spain having sent the art of Vaccination with Dr Balmis, it was received with such pompous ceremonies, both civil and military, that the people caught the enthusiasm. I believe that not a person remained at that time unvaccinated. The Viceroy's lady herself, Dona Jues de Toregui, employed herself in vaccinating the Indian children.And as the Vaccine is found in the Cows of the provinces of Puebla and Michauacan, every body having it at hand, all the children are notv vaccinated, and the Small Pox has not appeared for fourteen years. They already believe their country to be free from such a scourge, and should its contagion appear again in Vera Cruz, it would be easy to counteract it in the beginning by employing the Vaccine, although its use might have been for some time laid aside. The celebrated Dr Unamie also writes at Lima, that in the two towns of the Sierra of Peru there had been no Small Pox, because the inhabitants inoculated themselves by milking the cows who actually had the Vaccine. Upon being asked, whether they had ever. the Small Pox, they answered, they only had a few pimples on their hands. (Signed) Dr Servando de Mar y Noriega. Translation from the Spanish. Having been Secretary to the Junta, established in Caraccas, for extending the use of the Variolous Vaccine, I am enabled to authenticate the following facts: In the year 1803, the Spanish Government fitted out an expedition for the purpose of transmitting to the Spanish Establishments in America and Asia, this inestimable antidote against one of the most fatal scourges that has afflicted mankind, and which in the Spanish Colonies of America has been particularly destructive. Dr A. Francisco Xavier Balmis, private Physician to the King, was appointed chief of the expedition, and to his care, and that of others of the Faculty, were intrusted a number of children, sufficient to preserve the invaluable germ, communicated from arm to arm. One of the first places at which the expedition touched was the Caraccas, where the Small Pox was reviving every spring, and committing no small ravages during that and the summer season. Inoculation had been long known in the Caraccas; however this practice, indisputably beneficial to these individuals who employed it, was most fatal to the people at large; the majority of whom, either from superstition, or want of the means, could not enjoy its benefits; so that the higher classes, recurring constantly to Inoculation, contributed to perpetuate and extend the con contagion, of which the people were the victims. The nature of the Colonial Government of America afforded the Spanish Government particular advantages towards the establishment, and the universal propagation of the Variolous Vaccine. Thus it was, that at the expiration of a few months after the arrival of the expedition, the Small Pox was entirely exterminated in the department of Penezuela.The authority of the Government, the influence of the Clergy, and especially the experience of its salutary effects, together with the mildness of the operation, concurring, it was soon made general, and the children of State of Scotland during the Seventeenth every class were brought to the House established for the purpose, under the inspection of the Junta, to which I was some time Secretary. As the institution of this Junta was to watch over the effects of Vaccination, for which purpose they commmunicated with the Faculty of Physic, and the Curates of all the Parishes in the department, I was enabled to ascertain, with the greatest certainty, that the success of this establishment has been in the Caracca's the most complete that can be imagined; and that only on some parts of the coast, where the population was so thin that they could not keep up yearly the Vaccine fluid, the common Small Pox has appeared twice. It however only attacked those who had not received its antidote. Equally good effects have been attested in the other parts of Spanish America, and thanks to the illustrious Jenner, the population of this part of the world yearly receives an augmentation of 1,000,000 of lives, which but for his glorious discovery had fallen a prey to the Small Pox. One of the objects to which the Juntas employed in this branch have devoted their attention, was to promote investigation of the Cow Pox in those Districts in their respective Century. (Continued from page 494.) THE port of Dundee comes next in view, which is a pretty considerable place, lyeing by the mouth of the river Tay, which springing out of the mountaynes of Albany, and running through their fields, at length spreads itselfe into a lough full of islands; and afterward contracting itselfe, taketh in Amund (a river of Athol,) passeth on to Dunkell, and thence by Scoone maketh its way in to the German Ocean. The towne of Dundee was some time a towne of riches and trade, but the many rencounters it hath met with, all in the time of domestick comotions, and her obstinacy and pride of late yeares rendering her a prey to the soldier, have much shaken and abated her former grandeur, and, notwithstanding all, shee remayns still, though not glorious, yett not contemptible. The trade from this place inwards, is from Norway, the East countrey, Holland, and France; and outwards, with salmon and pladding. Here is a collector, a cheque, and five wayters, established, three of which wayters constantly reside here, and the rest are bestowed in the member ports,-which are, 1st, St Johnston's an handsome walled walled towne, with a cittadel added thereunto of late yeares, lyeing a good way up the river Tay, where there is a wayter always attending; not soe much because of any greate tradeing there, as to prevent the carrying out wools, skyns, and hides, of which comodityes greater plenty is brought thither out of the Highlands, and there bought up and engrossed by the lowlandmen. 2d, Arbroth, a small towne without any trade but for theyr owne expence, which is but little. 3d, Montrosse, seated betwixt the North and South Eskes-a pretty towne, with a safe harbour, risen by the fall and ruine of another towne, of the same name not farre off. Here likewise is a wayter, because there hath usually been salt brought in, and salmon, pladding, and corne, usually sent forth. The vessells belonging to this port and members are, The port of Aberdeen lyes next Northward, being a very handsome burgh, seated at the mouth of the river Dee, and is commonly called the New Towne, for distinguishing it from another towne hard by of the same name, but more antiquity, lyeing at the mouth of the river Donne, about a mile distant, and is the chiefe academie of Scotland. This being This being now a place more for study than trade, hath willingly resigned her interest that way unto the New Towne, Aug. 1813. which is noe despisable burgh, either for building or largeness, having a very stately mercat place, sundry houses well built, with a safe harbour before it for vessels to ride in.-But the wideness of the place, from the inlet of the sea coming in with a narrow winding gut, and beateing store of sand with its waves, hath rendred it somewhat shallowe in a greate part of it, and soe less useful of late than formerly. But the inhabitants are remedyeing this inconveniency by lengthening theyr key, or bringing it up close to a necke of land, which jetting out Eastward towards an headland lyeing before it, makes the comeing in soe straight. At the end of which formost neck of land there is a little village called Footie, and on the other headland another called Torye, and both nigh the harbour's mouth, and lyeing very neere unto the place where the ships usually ride, (being forced to keep some distance from the key because of the shallowness of the water) have given opportunity of much fraude in landing goods privatly, but prevented of late by appointing the wayters by turnes to watching those two places narrowly when there are any shipping in harbour. The trade of this place (as generally all over Scotland) is inwards, from Norway, Eastland, Holland, and France; and outwards, with salmon and pladding, comodityes caught, and made hereabout in a greater plenty than any other place of the nation whatsoever. In this port there is a collector, a cheque, and three wayters, some of which are still sent into the member Ports as often (which is but seldome) as any opportunity is offered or occasion requires. Those are in number five. Stonehive, a little fisher towne, where formerly goodes have been brought in, but not of late, because hindred from doeing so by the neighbourhood and privileges of the burgh of Montrose. Newbrugh, where some |