"to one that lies ill of the fmall-pox, at the time "when the puftules are come to full maturity. "Then the father makes an incifion on the "back of the hand, between the thumb and "fore-finger, and puts a little of the matter, "fqueezed out of the largest and fullest puftules, "into the wound. This done, the child's hand "is wrapped up in a handkerchief, to keep it "from the air, and he is left to his liberty, till "the fever arifing confines him to his bed, which "commonly happens at the end of a few days. "This practice is fo innocent, and so sure, that "out of 100 perfons inoculated not two die; "whereas, on the contrary, out of 100 perfons "that are infected with the natural fmall-pox, "there die commonly about thirty. Inoculation "is fo ancient in the kingdoms of Tripoli, Tunis, "and Algier, that nobody remembers its first rise; " and it is not only practifed by the inhabitants "of the towns, but alfo by the wild Arabs."

That this practice is very common with the Arabs, and is by them alfo called buying the smallpox, fully appears from Dr. Ruffell's communication to the Royal Society *. About the year 1758, while this ingenious physician was on a vifit at a Turkish Harem, a lady happened to express much anxiety for an only child who had not had the fmall-pox; the diftemper at that

* An Account of Inoculation in Arabia, in a letter from Dr. Patrick Ruffell. Phil. Trans. vol. 56. p. 140.

time being frequent in the city. None of the ladies in the company had ever heard of inoculation, fo that the Doctor having once mentioned it, was obliged to enter into a detail of the operation, and the peculiar advantages attending it. Among the female fervants in the chamber, was an old Bedouin Arab, who having heard the Doctor with great attention, affüred the ladies, "that the account given by the Doctor was upon the whole a juft one; only that he did "not feem well to underftand the way of performing the operation, which the afferted "fhould not be done with a lancet but with a "needle *:" he added, "that the herfelf had "received the difeafe in that manner when a

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child, and had inoculated maný; that the whole "art was well known to the Arabs, and that

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they termed it buying the fmall-pox." In confequence of this hint, Dr. Ruffell made further inquiries, by which he discovered, "that inocu"lation had been of long ftanding among them. "They, indeed, did not pretend to affign any

period to its origin; but perfons feventy years "old and upwards, remembered to have heard "it spoken of as a common cuftom of their ancef

tors, and they believed it to be of as ancient a "date as the disease itself."

* Niebuhr has fince told us, that the Bedouin women inoculate their children, 66 avec une epine, faute de meilleur inftrument."Defer, dé L'Arabie. p. 123.

Dr. Ruffell was likewife affured, "that inocu"lation was equally common among the eastern Arabs, being practifed not only at Bagdad and

Moful, but alfo at Baffora; and that at Moful particularly, when the small-pox first appeared "in any district of the city, it was a custom fome"times to give notice by a public cryer, in order "that those who were fo inclined might take the opportunity to have their children inoculated." "In Armenia," Dr. Ruffell fays, "the Turkoman tribes, as well as the Armenian Chriftians, "have practifed inoculation fince the memory of

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man; but, like the Arabs, are able to give no account of its first introduction among them. "At Damafcus, and all along the coaft of Syria "and Palestine, inoculation has been long known. "In the Caftravan mountains it is adopted by the "Drufi as well as the Chriftians. Whether the "Arabs of the defert to the fouth of Damafcus,

are acquainted with this manner of commu"nicating the fmall-pox, I have not," fays this physician, "hitherto been able to learn; but a "native of Mecca, whom I had occafion to con"verse with, affured me that he himself had been "inoculated in that city.”

From the various accounts of inoculation here related, it is highly curious that in fo many diftant nations, differing widely in manners, cuftoms, laws, habits, and religion, this art should be generally known by the name of '" BUYING THE

66 SMALL

SMALL-POX." It is alfo to be confidered as a remarkable proof of its great antiquity, that the lefs civilized part of mankind, or people of the moft fimple and uniform habits, have retained this cuftom the longest.

Having before related Caffim Aga's account of inoculation in Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers, I think it proper to add, that there are likewife proofs of its long ufage in Senegal; and that the negroes in the interior parts of Africa, whenever the small-pox threatens to invade them, have recourse to inoculation, performing the operation in the arm, and obliging the patients to abstain from animal food, and fuffering them to drink nothing but water, ACIDULATED with the JUICE OF LIMES *.

In Hindoftan this practice fhould feem to be a more ancient cuftom than in China; for D'Entrecolles, by obtaining accefs to feveral medical books at Pekin, difcovered that one of them gave fome account of the introduction of inoculation into China, and stated that in this empire it had first to encounter ftrong oppofition. The author of the book here alluded to, lived in the latter part of the dynafty of Ming; hence it may be concluded, that inoculation in China has not yet

* See the Letter of C. Colden, Efq. to Dr. J. Fothergill in Med. Obf. and Inq. vol. i. p. 227. Alfo the "Narrative of "the Method of Succefs of Inoculation in New England," by D. Neal, p. 24.

been

been practifed two hundred years*; whereas, in Hindoftan, from tradition, it feems to have been an immemorial cuftom; and the methods of practifing this art by the Chinese and Hindoos are fo widely different as clearly to fhew that they could, not be derived from the fame origin.

The Chinese, in order to inoculate, take from two to four dried variolous puftules or fcales (according to their fize), between which they place a fmall portion of mufk; the whole is then wrapped up in cotton, and inferted within the noftril of the patient. If the child undergoing the operation be a male, this infectious tent is introduced into the left, but if a girl, into the right noftril. The fcales, thus ufed, are to be kept in a close jar for feveral years. When the Chinese are obliged to ufe recent puftules, they think it neceffary to correct the acrimony of the matter, by expofing it to the fteam of an infufion of the roots of fcorzonera and liquorice. They fometimes reduce the dried fcales into powder, and form them into a paste, for the purpose of inoculation. On the contrary, inoculation, as practifed in. Hindoftan by the Bramins, very rarely fails of producing the diftemper in the most favourable way: I fhall therefore circumftantially relate the whole procefs in the words of Mr. Holwell†. "Inocu

* D'Entrecolles, l. c. p. 10.

+ See An Account of the Manner of inoculating the Small-pox in the Eaft Indies.

"lation