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Edward Jenner

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   Portrait of Edward Jenner
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   Portrait of Edward Jenner

   Edward Jenner, FRS, ( May 17, 1749 – January 26, 1823) was an English
   country doctor who studied nature and his natural surroundings from
   childhood and practiced medicine in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England.
   He is famous as the first doctor to introduce and study the smallpox
   vaccine.

   Jenner trained in Sodbury, Gloucestershire as an apprentice to Dr.
   Ludlow for 8 years from the age of 13, then went up to London in 1770
   to study under the surgeon John Hunter (a noted experimentalist, and
   later a fellow of the Royal Society ) and others at St George's
   Hospital. William Osler records that Jenner was a student to whom
   Hunter repeated William Harvey's advice, very famous in medical
   circles, "Don't think, try". Jenner therefore was early noticed by men
   famous for advancing the practice and institutions of medicine, and
   Hunter remained in correspondence with him over natural history and
   proposed him for the Royal Society. Returning to his native
   countryside, by 1773 he became a successful general practitioner and
   surgeon, practicing in purpose-built premises at Berkeley.

   Jenner and others formed a medical society in Rodborough,
   Gloucestershire, meeting to read papers on medical subjects and dine
   together. Jenner contributed papers on angina pectoris, ophthalmia and
   valvular disease of the heart and commented on cowpox. He also belonged
   to a similar society which met in Alveston, near Bristol.

   He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1788, following a careful
   study combining observation, experiment and dissection into a
   description of the previously misunderstood life of the cuckoo in the
   nest.
   Common Cuckoo
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   Common Cuckoo

   His description of the newly-hatched cuckoo pushing its host's eggs and
   fledglings from the nest (contrary to the existing belief that the
   adult cuckoo did it) was only confirmed in the 20th century when
   photography became feasible. Having observed the behaviour, he
   demonstrated an anatomical adaptation for it—the baby cuckoo has a
   depression in its back which is not present after 12 days of life, in
   which it cups eggs and other chicks to push them out of the nest. It
   had been assumed that the adult bird did this, but the adult does not
   remain in the area for sufficiently long. His findings were published
   in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1787. Some
   discrepancies in the paper are ascribed to his nephew who is said to
   have made up some observations.

   He married Catherine Kingscote (died 1815 from tuberculosis) in March
   1788 having met her when balloons were hot science, and he and other
   Fellows were experimenting with them. His trial balloon descended into
   Kingscote Park, owned by Anthony Kingscote, Catherine being one of his
   three daughters.

   In 1792, he obtained his MD from the University of St Andrews.

   Smallpox Around this time smallpox was greatly feared, as one in three
   of those who contracted the disease died, and those who survived were
   commonly badly disfigured. Voltaire, a few years later, recorded that
   60% of people caught smallpox, with 20% of the population dying of it.
   A Dorset farmer, Benjamin Jesty, had successfully induced immunity in
   his wife and two children with cowpox during a smallpox epidemic in
   1774, but it was not until Jenner's work some twenty years later that
   the procedure became widely understood. Indeed it is generally believed
   that Jenner was unaware of Jesty's success and arrived at his
   conclusions independently. Jenner's Initial Theory In fact he thought
   the initial source of infection was a disease of horses, called "the
   grease", and that this was transferred to cows by farmworkers,
   transformed, and then manifested as cowpox. From that point on he was
   correct, the complication probably arose from coincidence. Noting the
   common observation that milkmaids did not generally get smallpox,
   Jenner theorized that the pus in the blisters which milkmaids received
   from cowpox (a disease similar to smallpox, but much less virulent)
   protected the milkmaids from smallpox. He may have had the advantage of
   hearing stories of Benjamin Jesty and perhaps others deliberately
   arranging cowpox infection of their families and of a reduced risk in
   those families. In May 1796, Jenner tested his theory by inoculating
   James Phipps, a young boy, with material from the cowpox blisters of
   the hand of Sarah Nelmes, a milkmaid who had caught cowpox from a cow
   called Blossom. Phipps was the 17th case described in Jenners first
   paper on vaccination. Jenner inoculated Phipps with cowpox pus in both
   arms on one day. This produced a fever and some uneasiness but no great
   illness. Later, he injected Phipps with variolous material, which would
   have been the routine attempt to produce immunity at that time. No
   disease followed. Jenner reported that later the boy was again
   challenged with variolacious material and again showed no sign of
   infection. Known: that smallpox was more dangerous than variolation and
   cowpox less dangerous than variolation. The hypothesis tested: That
   infection with cowpox would give immunity to smallpox. The test: If
   variolation failed to produce an infection, Phipps was shown to be
   immune to smallpox. The consequence: Immunity to smallpox could be
   induced much more safely. He continued his research and reported it to
   the Royal Society who did not publish the initial report. After
   improvement and further work he published a report of 23 cases. Some of
   his conclusions were correct, and some erroneous - modern
   microbiological and microscopic methods would make this easier to
   repeat. The medical establishment, then as now, considered his findings
   for some time before accepting them. Eventually vaccination was
   accepted and in 1840 the British government banned variolation and
   provided vaccination free of charge. (See Vaccination acts) Jenner's
   continuing work on vaccination prevented his continuing his ordinary
   medical practice. He was supported by his colleagues and the King in
   petitioning Parliament and was granted £10,000 for his work on
   vaccination. In 1806 he was granted another £20 000 for his continuing
   work. In 1803 in London he became involved with the Jennerian
   Institution, a society concerned with promoting vaccination to
   eradicate smallpox. In 1808, with government aid, this society became
   the National Vaccine Establishment. Jenner became a member of the
   Medical and Chirurgical Society on its foundation in 1805, and
   subsequently presented to them a number of papers. This is now the
   Royal Society of Medicine. Returning to London in 1811 he observed a
   significant number of cases of smallpox after vaccination occurring. He
   found that in these cases the severity of the illness was notably
   diminished by the previous vaccination. In 1813 the University of
   Oxford awarded him the degree of MD. In 1821 he was appointed Physician
   Extraordinary to King George IV, a considerable national honour, and
   was made Mayor of Berkeley and Justice of the Peace. He continued his
   interests in natural history and 1823 he presented "Observations on the
   Migration of Birds" to the Royal Society.

   Bronze in Kensington Gardens He died of his second stroke on 26 January
   1823, having fully recovered from the first, and was survived by one
   son and one daughter, the eldest son having died of tuberculosis aged
   21. In 1980, the World Health Organization declared smallpox an
   eradicated disease. This was the result of coordinated public health
   efforts by many people, but vaccination was an essential component.

   Document saved by: DE Stripez

Publications

     * 1798 An Inquiry Into the Causes and Effects of the Variolæ Vaccinæ
     * 1799 Further Observations on the Variolœ Vaccinœ
     * 1800 A Continuation of Facts and Observations relative to the
       Variolœ Vaccinœ 40pgs
     * 1801 The Origin of the Vaccine Inoculation 12pgs

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