April 19, 2003
The Famous Edward
Jenner
1749-1823
Jenner was born May 17, 1749 in the small village of
Berkeley in Gloucestershire, England during the historical period known as the
Age of Enlightenment. At an early age Jenner was a focused observer of nature,
and after nine years as a surgeon’s apprentice, he went to St. George’s
Hospital in London to study anatomy and surgery under the prominent surgeon,
John Hunter. After his training in London he worked as an army surgeon.
He loved his career as a family doctor in his native
county of Gloucestershire, west of England. In 1789 Jenner started his very
first experiment on his own son (aged one- and a- half), with the swinepox.
After some time he followed by inoculating his son with conventional smallpox
and his son stayed well.
On May 14, 1796
Sarah Nelmes, a young milkmaid, came to visit him with sores and
blisters on her hands. Jenner realized she caught cowpox from the cows she
worked with every day. He did an experiment by scraping pus from a cowpox sore
from Sarah, and inserting it into two cuts on the arm of James Phipps. In July
he did the same test with pus from a smallpox sore; James did not get smallpox.
Jenner repeated this experiment many, many times, and
every time with success. Jenner showed that
after a person recovers from cowpox, they are immune to smallpox. This was an
amazing experiment. Thank God that it was a great success for saving people's
lives. If any of the patients had died, Jenner would have been charged with
murder.
In 1798 Jenner published his discoveries. Soon vaccinations were being given in many
European countries and in the United States. In 1802 the British Government awarded
him10,000 pounds, and in 1806 they gave him another 20,000 pounds. Due to his work he saved the worldwide
population in what could have been a devastating epidemic.