She immediately rips open that you offer her with a large
needle, and puts into the vein as much matter as can lie upon the
head of her needle, and after that binds up the little wound with
a hollow shell, and in this manner opens four or five veins."
Soon after this letter Lady Montagu had her son inoculated in
Turkey, and four years later her daughter was to be the first
subject inoculated in England. She made rapid progress
notwithstanding the opposition of the medical profession, and the
ignorance and credulity of the public. The clergy vituperated her
for the impiety of seeking to control the designs of Providence.
Preaching in 1722, the Rev. Edward Massey, for example, affirmed
that Job's distemper was confluent small-pox, and that he had
been inoculated by the Devil. Lady Montagu, however, gained many
supporters among the higher classes. In 1721 Mead was requested
by the Prince of Wales to superintend the inoculation of some
condemned criminals, the Prince intending afterward to continue
the practice in his own family; the experiment was entirely
successful, and the individuals on whom it was made afterward
received their liberty (Adams).
According to Rohe, inoculation was introduced into this country
in 1721 by Dr.
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