To the honour of the Puritan clergy of New England, it
should be said that many of them were Boylston's strongest
supporters. Increase and Cotton Mather had been among the first
to move in favour of inoculation, the latter having called
Boylston's attention to it; and at the very crisis of affairs six
of the leading clergymen of Boston threw their influence on
Boylston's side and shared the obloquy brought upon him. Although
the gainsayers were not slow to fling into the faces of the
Mathers their action regarding witchcraft, urging that their
credulity in that matter argued credulity in this, they
persevered, and among the many services rendered by the clergymen
of New England to their country this ought certainly to be
remembered; for these men had to withstand, shoulder to shoulder
with Boylston and Benjamin Franklin, the same weapons which were
hurled at the supporters of inoculation in Europe--charges of
"unfaithfulness to the revealed law of God."
The facts were soon very strong against the gainsayers:
within a year or two after the first experiment nearly three
hundred persons had been inoculated by Boylston in Boston and
neighbouring towns, and out of these only six had died; whereas,
during the same period, out of nearly six thousand persons who
had taken smallpox naturally, and had received only the usual
medical treatment, nearly one thousand had died.
Pages:
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837