Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/43

Rh continued to prosper, owing to the efficient measures of his predecessors. An important event during this period, which marked a new era in medical science, but in which Iturrigaray merely complied with the royal orders, was the introduction of vaccination into New Spain. In the course of this history the terrible ravages of small-pox at different periods have been dwelt upon. Tenner's discovery, after having met with long opposition on the part of the medical faculty, finally overcame the prejudices of the age. In 1801 its value was recognized by the government of Spain, and its introduction in America intrusted to Alejandro Arboleya, professor of medicine, who came over with Iturrigaray. His method of preserving vaccine matter, however, was defective, and its application was not successful till two years later, when the home government sent out a special commission of medical men under Francisco Javier de Balmis. They arrived at Vera Cruz in July 1804. Some months previously Iturrigaray had imported vaccine matter from Habana, but found the prejudice against it so strong that only ten soldiers could be induced to use it. After the arrival of Balmis, however, the remedy was soon introduced throughout the country, when of course the horrors of smallpox were greatly diminished.