The_cow_pock.jpg


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Summary

Description
English: The Cow-Pock—or—the Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation!— vide. the Publications of y e Anti-Vaccine Society

Print (color engraving) published June 12, 1802 by H. Humphrey, St. James's Street.

In this cartoon, the British satirist James Gillray caricatured a scene at the Smallpox and Inoculation Hospital at St. Pancras, showing cowpox vaccine being administered to frightened young women, and cows emerging from different parts of people's bodies. The cartoon was inspired by the controversy over inoculating against the dreaded disease, smallpox. Opponents of vaccination had depicted cases of vaccinees developing bovine features and this is picked up and exaggerated by Gillray. Although the central figure is often assumed to be Edward Jenner circumstantial evidence suggests this may not be so. Although the director of the Smallpox Hospital William Woodville had originally supported Jenner, he and his colleague George Pearson , were in dispute with Jenner by the time the caricature was published. It is unlikely they would have met Jenner and it has been suggested that the central figure represents Pearson. Gillray often included clues to identify individuals who were not easily recognizable, but the only clue here is the badge on the arm of the boy which identifies his connection with Woodville's hospital. The boy holds a container labeled "VACCINE POCK hot from y e COW" and papers in the boy's pocket are labeled "Benefits of the Vaccine". The tub on the desk is labeled "OPENING MIXTURE". A bottle next to the tub is labeled "VOMIT". The painting on the wall depicts worshippers of the Golden Calf .
Date
Source Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USZC4-3147 (color film copy transparency), archival TIFF version (4 MB) , converted to JPEG with the GIMP 2.4.5, image quality 88.
Author
James Gillray (1756–1815) wikidata:Q520806 s:en:Author:James Gillray q:en:James Gillray
James Gillray
Alternative names
James Gilray; Gillay; Gillray
Description British caricaturist and engraver
Date of birth/death 13 August 1756 Edit this at Wikidata 1 June 1815 Edit this at Wikidata
Location of birth/death London London
Work location
Authority file
creator QS:P170,Q520806
Permission
( Reusing this file )
No known restriction on publication.


This image is available from the United States Library of Congress 's Prints and Photographs division
under the digital ID cph.3g03147 .
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing .

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Licensing

Public domain

This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer .


This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office ) before January 1, 1929.

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