Edward Jenner:An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae

Edward Jenner (1749-1823)

All we know that Edward Jenner who discovered vaccination was a greatest scientist in the branch of Immunology. In 1796, Jenner’s discovery that inoculation with cowpox gave immunity to smallpox was an immense medical breakthrough and this discovery has saved countless lives.

Edward Jenner was born on May 17, 1749 in the small village of Barkeley in Gloucestershire. Jenner was a keen observer of nature from his early age. After nine years as a surgeon’s apprentice, he went to St. George Hospital, London to study Anatomy and surgery under the John Hunter, a prominent surgeon. He returned to Barkeley after completing his studies, to set up a medical practice where he stayed until his death in 1823.

Jenner’s Discovery of Vaccination:

During Jenner’s medical practice at Barkeley, he worked in a rural community, where most of the people were farmers or worked on farms with cattle. Smallpox was a very common disease in the 18^th century and was a major cause of death. The main treatment was by a method known as Variolation had brought success to a Dutch physiologist Jan Ingenhaus; and Lady Mary Montagu, an Englishman’s wife brought it to England in 1721 from Turkey. The technique Variolation involved inoculating healthy people with substances from the pustules of those who had mild cases of smallpox.

Edward Jenner needed a way of showing that his theory actually worked and this opportunity was given on the 14^th May 1796, when a young milkmaid named Sarah Nelmes came to see him with sores on her hands. These sores were like blisters and Jenner idenfied that she was affected by cowpox from the cows that she handled every day.

Jenner now had the opportunity to try out his theories. He extracted liquid from her sores carefully and then he took some liquid from the sores of a patient affected by smallpox.

Edward Jenner believed that if he able to inject someone with cowpox, the germs from the cowpox would be able to defend against the germs of dangerous smallpox which he would inject later.

A local farmer named Phipps, to whom Jenner approached and ask him if he could inoculate his son James Phipps, an 8 years old boy against smallpox. He explained to the farmer, if his theory was correct, his boy (James Phipps) would never contract with smallpox. The farmer agreed, surprisingly.

On James left arm, Jenner made two small cuts and he then poured the liquid from Sarah’s cowpox sores into the open wounds which he bandaged.

Cow pox sores

Jenner found that James went down with cowpox but not very ill. After six weeks, James had recovered. Then Jenner vaccinated him again, but this time with smallpox virus.

This was really a dangerous experiment. Jenner would have found a way of preventing smallpox, if James alive. But if James died, Jenner would be a murderer.

But surprisingly, James did not catch smallpox to Jenner’s relief. His experiment had worked.  

An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae:

Jenner wrote up his experiment and in 1797 submitted his study for publication in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. This Society found the work preliminary and returned the paper with no comment.

Edward Jenner added additional cases in his paper and paid a printer to publish his study-Inquiry. His study Inquiry has three addenda; two addenda entitled Further Observations followed in 1798 and 1799. And third addenda, The Origin of the Vaccine Inoculation followed in 1801.

Jenner’s publication-Inquiry was a landmark contribution in the science of immunology and medicine and biology. This study was established the foundations of immunology and medicine. This study was a precursor of the Pasteur’s work on treatment against Anthrax and Rabies, Koch’s work on Tuberculosis more than three quarters of a century later.

Pasteur, in 1881, following the highly publicized and widely successful protection of sheep with attenuated anthrax virus at Pouilly-le-Forte, adapted the terms Vaccine and Vaccination for his research “to the honor and immense services rendered one of the greatest Englishmen, ...Jenner”.

A facsimile version of Inquiry are given here..

1. Inquiry-Part A

2. Inquiry-Part B

3. Inquiry-Part C

Edward Jenner was found a great deal of skepticism and was subjected to much ridicule. A portrait was drawn, showing cows coming out from different parts of the people’s bodies after they had been vaccinated with cowpox.

Portrait 

However, Edward Jenner was persevered and eventually, doctors found that this technique really works and by 1800 most were using it. Jenner was awarded £30,000 by the parliament to continue carrying out his study. Vaccination spread throughout Europe and North America and deaths from smallpox plummeted.

This greatest scientist died in Barkeley on January 26, 1823 aged 74.