This glimpse into old Geneva is not only instructive as concerns inoculation, but it is another exposure of the monstrous fable that represents European cities as decimated with smallpox until Jenner’s advent as saviour--a fable that vanishes like smoke whenever brought into contact with matter-of-fact.
Inoculation was introduced to Rome and Florence during a severe epidemic in 1754; and attention being drawn to the remedy, it was discovered that the Italian peasantry had long practised voluntary smallpox just as did the peasantry of Wales and the Highlands of Scotland. In Spain, inoculation made little headway: in the words of Moore--
Some inoculations were effected in a few trading cities, which held communication with England; but these efforts were of short duration, and from the distinguished inaction of the Spaniards, inoculation was soon relinquished; and no other country in Europe has suffered so little from smallpox.[66]
In Holland and Denmark inoculation acquired a certain vogue among the upper classes, and in Germany the like was true to a less extent. In Sweden inoculation was encouraged by the Court, and Dr. Schultz was deputed to visit the London Hospital. His report was so favourable that in 1755 inoculation houses were opened in several parts of the kingdom, and the benefits of the practice were commemorated by a medal in 1757--a curious trophy of illusion under prepossession.
Perhaps the most notable event in the story of inoculation was its introduction into Russia: how it was brought about is thus described by Mr. Morley--
As soon as Catharine came into power (1762), she at once applied herself to make friends in this powerful region [French letters and philosophy]. It was a matter of course that she should begin with the omnipotent monarch at Ferney. Graceful verses from Voltaire were as indispensable an ornament to a crowned head as a diadem, and Catharine answered with compliments that were perhaps more sincere than his verses. She wonders how she can repay him for a bundle of books that he had sent to her, and at last bethinks herself that nothing will please the lover of mankind so much as the introduction of inoculation into the great Empire; so she sends for Dr. Dimsdale from England, and submits to the unfamiliar rite in her own sacred person.[67]