- At age 19, after receiving a general education, he served an apprenticeship with a
country physician at Sodbury near Bristol. In 1768 a young, countrywoman sought his
medical advice. When he asked her about smallpox, she replied: “I cannot take that
disease for I have had the cowpox”. Though this concept was accepted commonly among
the rural inhabitants, the practicing physicians placed no credence in this concept. Jenner
in 1768, for the first time, considered the scientific possibilities of this theory that he did
not fully realize until many years later after skillful observations and experiments. In
1770, after his apprenticeship, he went to London to complete his medical studies at St.
George’s Hospital. He lived in the house of the famed anatomist and naturalist, Dr. John
Hunter, who encouraged his scientific interest and pursuit of the cowpox question. Jenner
maintained the friendship until Hunter’s death during “an attack of angina pectoris”.
Through his association with Hunter, he had entered into the study of anatomy and
“natural history”, and, in consequence of his proficiency in these studies, was offered the
position of naturalist on one of the expeditions of the famed explorer and navigator
Captain James Cook. Despite this tempting offer, Jenner in 1773 chose to return to his
native village in Gloucestershire to resume his career as a country practitioner. It is not
known how much this career choice was influenced by his interest in the relationship
between cowpox infection and subsequent immunity to smallpox. Jenner immediately
began to observe systematically and to record cases of cowpox as represented by the
hands of milkers and whether or not the patients were attacked or were immune to
smallpox. He discussed his interests and presented his views to the county medical
society on a variety of subjects, some of which the society accepted politely; however,
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