Jenner and his two colleagues seeing off three anti-vaccinat

Jenner and his two colleagues seeing off three anti-vaccination opponents, the dead are littered at their feet. Coloured etching by I. Cruikshank, 1808.

The caption at the base of the picture reads "VACCINATION against SMALLPOX or Mercenary & Merciless spreaders of Death & Devastation driven out of society!"

Three sinister men carrying bloody knives skulk away in defeat from the heroic Jenner and his allies. The shortest agent of disease grumbles: "Curse on these Vaccinators / we shall all be starved, why Brother I have matter enough here to Kill 50." The tallest extrapolates: "And those would communicate it to 500 more." The third, whose knife reads "The curse of human kind", agrees: "Aye. Aye. I always order them to be constantly out in the air, in order to spread the contagion". Jenner, brandishing a knife reading "milk of human kindness", beseeches: "Oh Brothers Brothers, suffer the love of Gain to be Overcome by compassion for your fellow creatures, & do not delight to plunge whole Famileis [sic] in the deepest distress, by the untimely loss of their nearest and Dearest relatives." A cherub places a wreath on his head while declaring: "The preserver of the Human Race". A bystander quips "Surely the disorder of the Cow is preferable to that of the Ass."

Iconographic Collections
Keywords: cruikshank, isaac {1756?-1811?; Edward Jenner; Isaac Cruikshank; Thomas Dimsdale; George Rose; SATIRE