The Anti-Cholera Inoculations of Dr. Ferran

Abstract

IN the spring and summer of the present year the public in Europe—lay and medical—have been greatly agitated by the exploits of a Spanish medical gentleman, who, during the cholera epidemic then raging in Spain, claimed to have discovered a means of preventing cholera. He was hailed as a great benefactor, and if his deeds had been equal to his professions, he would no doubt fully deserve to rank with Jenner, the greatest benefactor to mankind. But fortunately the medical world, at any rate the scientific medical world outside Spain, is not guided by the allegations of enthusiasts nor by wonder-doctors either. A Don Quixote, who discerns in a windmill giants, in a flock of sheep a squadron of the enemy's soldiers, may present points of interest to the psychologist: to the disciple of physiology and pathology he demonstrates an aberration of the visual nerve centres. I shall show that Dr. Ferran comes very near in rank, not to Jenner, but to his own illustrious countryman, the Knight of La Mancha.