Armstrong – Table of Contents

persuaded to try giving smallpox to the same patient, and the patient remained well. As a
result of these events, Mr. Cline became an enthusiastic advocate of vaccination, and he
urged Jenner to move to London to join him in a lucrative practice.
Jenner preferred to stay in the country environment. Friends, who believed in
Jenner’s incredible discovery and contribution urged him to apply to Parliament for
compensation for the lost remuneration from practice and the extra expense entailed by
extensive travel associated with his investigations. Parliament appointed a committee that
examined carefully Jenner’s files and records, agreed with the conclusions and awarded
him the sum of L10, 000. It is amazing that a political, non-scientific body was the one to
recognize Jenner’s accomplishments rather than the established medical “authorities”.
However, in 1813 the University of Oxford conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of
Physic. On the other hand, the College of Physicians of London refused to admit him to
its ranks without the usual examination. Finally, vaccination became accepted widely in
England after appreciation of Jenner’s studies.
In contrast to the early abuse heaped upon Jenner, the introduction of the
innovative concept of vaccination into the United States was greeted with enthusiasm. Dr.
Benjamin Waterhouse (1754 – 1846), Professor of Physic at Harvard Medical School,
(11) performed the first vaccinations in America using his own children as subjects. His
“History of the Kinepox, Commonly called the Cowpox” (1800) is one of the great
American medical classics. This was from “A Prospect of Exterminating the Smallpox –
Being the History of Variolae Vaccinae or Kine-pox commonly called the Cowpox as it
appeared in England: With an account of a series of inoculations performed for the Kine-
pox in Massachusetts Boston 1800)”.