The title-page of this copy of An Inquiry bears a presentation inscription by Edward Jenner to the Reverend John Clinch.
This copy is inscribed to Dr. John Jeffries from Benjamin Waterhouse.
In this letter, addressed to Massachusetts Congressman Edward Everett (1794-1865), Waterhouse outlines his experience with vaccination and concludes with this: "Whereas you have a very expensive dept. for destroying human life, would it not be for the honour of the New World to have a little national establishment for the preservation of human life; more especially as the devouring monster, small pox, has a lready destroyed many millions (some say 40) more lives than there are people now on the face of the earth."
In the footnote on page 16, Waterhouse describes the procedure he has developed for vaccination.
Benjamin Waterhouse contributed this statement on his work to the publication.
The Providence register along with the Royal Jennerian Society broadside, are some of the recent additions to the extensive collection of books and manuscripts related to smallpox vaccination in the library collections.
]]>A colleague and friend of Harvard's Benjamin Waterhouse, Sylvanus Fansher (1770-1846) successfully vaccinated over 35,000 individuals in New England, New York, and New Jersey before 1816. This register, maintained by the town council of Providence, Rhode Island, records the names and dates of over 5,300 smallpox vaccinations by Fansher, along with physician John Mackie (1780-1833), between 1810 and 1816.
The Providence register along with the Royal Jennerian Society broadside, are some of the recent additions to the extensive collection of books and manuscripts related to smallpox vaccination in the library collections.