Inoculation

Inoculation. It was at one time a common practice to inoculate small-pox, with a view to producing the disease in a mild form, and protect the system against a subsequent attack of a severer form of the malady. Such inoculation was introduced into England early in the last century by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who was made familiar with the practice in Constantinople, to which place it was introduced from the East. The discovery of vaccination led to the gradual extinction of inoculation, and in 1840 the latter proceeding was prohibited by law.