WATERHOUSE
483
WATERHOUSE
read a paper on the new inoculation be-
fore a meeting of the American Acad-
emy of Arts and Sciences, held in Cam-
bridge. The academy was presided over
by his old friend, John Adams, then
president, and was composed of many
eminent literary men. The communica-
tion was received with great acclaim by
the Academy and especially by the
president. Very soon Waterhouse re-
ceived the third publication on vac-
cination, namely, William Woodville's
"Reports of a Series of Inoculatioias for
the Variolse Vaccinae, or Cow-pox, etc."
published in 1799. He spared no pains
to receive the fullest and most reliable
information on the subject. In June,
1800, he succeeded, after many futile
attempts, in procuring some vaccine virus
on threads, from Dr. Haygarth, of Bath,
England, all of the previous shipments
having been spoiled during the long
journey over the ocean. With this virus,
on July 8, 1800, he vaccinated success-
fully his httle five year old son, Daniel
Oliver Waterhouse, the first person to be
so treated in America. The result being
satisfactory he vaccinated two others of
his children, and in addition a nurse maid
and a servant boy. The phenomena
were carefully described by him. He
refused to vaccinate others until he had
ascertained whether vaccination was
really protective. To determine this
he made application to Dr. William
Aspinwall, physician to a private small-
pox hospital in Brookline, Massachusetts,
to submit his children to the disease.
This Dr. Aspinwall did gladly and the
children were not only exposed to small-
pox, but inoculated with the variolous
matter. The results were entirely satis-
factory and put Waterhouse in a position
to advance the crusade. As he truly
remarked — "One fact in such cases is
worth a thousand arguments."
W^aterhouse was a proHfic writer and something of a controversialist. In his early work with vaccine he made the same mistake as Woodville; he not only vaccinated with cow-pox, but within a few days, inoculated with small-pox as
well, consequently many of the patients
had variola as well as vaccinia. Later
he recognized the mistake, also the reason
that much of the virus was without
virtue was because Jenner's golden rule
was broken, namely, " Never to take the
virus from a vaccine pustule, for the
purpose of inoculation, after the efflor-
escence is formed around it." In 1801
Waterhouse sent Pres. Thomas Jefferson
some infected threads and such books
and drawings as would enable a physician
to perform vaccination properly. This
was in answer to a letter from Jefferson
showing interest as a result of reading
Waterhouse's publications. This virus
proved to be inert, but later some fresh
virus was sent him with which Dr.
Wardlaw, of Monticello, vaccinated the
president's family, August 6, 1801.
Thus was vaccination popularized in
Monticello, and before long in Washing-
ton through virus sent there to Dr.
Gant. In like fashion virus was sent to
New York and Philadelphia. Finally,
at Waterhouse's request, the Boston
Board of Health, after many refusals to
act, appointed a committee of seven of
the most reputable physicians in the
town to investigate the subject. They
vaccinated nineteen children in August,
1802. In November of the same year
these same children were inoculated two
different times with variolous matter and
exposed for twenty days to the contagion
of small-pox at the small-pox hospital
on Noddle's Island (East Boston). The
experiment proved conclusively "that
cow-pox is a complete security against
the small-pox," as not one of the children
took the disease. Thus was the practice
of vaccination fixed forever in Boston
and its vicinity. Waterhouse kept in
touch with practitioners throughout the
county and furnished them with fresh
virus from England while supporting
vaccination with his pen, his friendships
formed in England putting him in pos-
session of the latest and best information
on the subject.
He was peculiarly well fitted to fight for a worthy cause and he fought long and
