solely upon the temple-worship of a deity to protect themselves from the disease.

The first
glimmer of hope in connexion with smallpox came great effort to from the knowledge that
by receiving this loathsome disease of inoculation, our own accord but by a special method
—called smallpox could, as it was said, " buy it cheaply," that is, we could contract our
inevitable attack of the disease in so mild a form that life was hardly endangered. In Eastern
countries, and among them India, this wonderful endeavour in Preventive Medicine was in
vogue for many years before it was introduced into Europe. The second chapter of this essay
is concerned with the practice as it was carried out until comparatively recent times in India.
Its aim was, by inducing smallpox purposely by inserting under the skin some smallpox
matter of non-virulent type, to produce the disease in a mild form, and so to impart
artificially the same security that one attack of the disease in its natural form is known to
give against future attacks. The measure was a great advance, but there were two very strong
objections to it, namely, that, however carefully it was carried out, a certain number of
deaths resulted from the operation, and that, since smallpox set up by inoculation was as
contagious as the disease contracted in the natural way, an inoculated person was dangerous
to everyone with whom he came in contact. The second was almost an insuperable objection
to the practice, because it implied that inoculation, unless it could be made universal, would
tend to increase rather than diminish the prevalence of the pestilence ; the practice, despite its
advantages to the individual, was a serious evil to the community. The hopes of the great
benefits which this measure would confer upon mankind were doomed to disappointment,
but fortunately for the human race it was to be supplanted by a method of protection, namely,
vaccination, which has been described by Sir John Simon as " the greatest physical good
ever given by science to the world." The general employment of this method was due to the
genius of an English surgeon