Can anyone tell me when and where this cartoon was published?
Looks too good to be true.
njtt
February 4, 2010, 2:46am
2
It says right on it (bottom right): “Pub. June 12th 1802 by H. Hmphrey, St James’s Street” (London, presumably).
It is also signed “Gillray” (just above the word “New” in the caption). This is the famous 18th century caricaturist James Gillray (and Wikipedia uses this picture as an illustration to its entry on him).
Presumably the proper title is “The Cow-Pock,” since that is what it says.
In what sense “too good to be true”?
yabob
February 4, 2010, 2:46am
3
James Gillray, 1802, satirical cartoonist of the era:
Typical of his work - follow the link on his name to a gallery.
DrCube
February 4, 2010, 2:47am
4
From Wiki :
The Cow-Pock—or—the Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation!—vide. the Publications of ye 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 vaccination scene at the Smallpox and Inoculation Hospital at St. Pancras, showing Edward Jenner vaccinating 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. The inoculation agent, cowpox vaccine, was rumored to have the ability to sprout cow-like appendages. A serene Edward Jenner stands amid the crowd. A boy next to Jenner holds a container labeled “VACCINE POCK hot from ye COW”; papers in the boy’s pocket are labeled “Benefits of the Vaccine”. The tub on the desk next to Jenner is labeled “OPENING MIXTURE”. A bottle next to the tub is labeled “VOMIT”. The painting on the wall depicts worshippers of the Golden Calf.
Edward Jenner, an English physician, used folk knowledge to find an alternative to variolation. Recognizing that dairymaids infected with cowpox were immune to small-pox, Jenner deliberately infected James Phipps, an eight year old boy, with cowpox in 1796. He then exposed Phipps to smallpox–which Phipps failed to contract. After repeating the experiment on other children, including his own son, Jenner concluded that vaccination provided immunity to smallpox without the risks of variolation. Jenner’s findings were published in 1798.
So, 1802. This was the first round of anti-vax nuts, when vaccination was first invented, prior to the current crazy autism anti movement.
James Gillray created the cartoon. He was a British caricaturist active in the late eighteenth century. The cartoon’s title is The Cow-Pock .
James Gillray (13 August 1756 – 1 June 1815) was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires, mainly published between 1792 and 1810. Many of his works are held at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Gillray has been called "the father of the political cartoon", with his works satirizing George III, Napoleon, prime ministers and generals. Regarded as being one of the two most influential cartoonists, the other being William Hogarth, Gillray's ...
njtt
February 4, 2010, 2:53am
6
Missed edit window to correct “Humphrey.” :mad:
Thanks guys.
Was Gillray pro-vaccination or anti-vaccination?
njtt
February 4, 2010, 2:57am
8
DrCube:
So, 1802. This was the first round of anti-vax nuts, when vaccination was first invented, prior to the current crazy autism anti movement.
Yes, but back then the fears, though they proved unfounded, were fairly rational.
(And actually, you can get fairly sick, and get nasty pustules, from smallpox vaccination. I know. I did.)
The cartoon is by James Gillray.
It’s called The Cow-Pock.
njtt
February 4, 2010, 3:01am
10
He might not have been either. Maybe he just thought the whole business was funny.
I think he’s pretty clearly anti- unless you think humans being mutated into partial barn animals is a positive take on the procedure.
Really excellent book on the history of smallpox innoculation/vaccination, The Speckled Monster .
Derleth
February 4, 2010, 6:37am
12
He was alive 200 years ago. What could it possibly matter?
I mean, if you’re interested in the mindset back then, he also believed men had never walked on the Moon and he’d have had no blessed idea who John F. Kennedy was or who killed him.
njtt:
Yes, but back then the fears, though they proved unfounded, were fairly rational.
(And actually, you can get fairly sick, and get nasty pustules, from smallpox vaccination. I know. I did.)
I dunno, sprouting cow parts off your innoculation site isn’t really rational.
I think it’s by a cartoonist called James Gillray.
And — don’t quote me on this — I believe the title was something like The Cow-pock .
Now, can anyone identify this 1980s music video?
I wonder if this was the inspiration for Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoon “I’m afraid you have cows, Mr. Farnsworth.".
njtt
February 4, 2010, 9:24pm
17
It’s a cartoon. You know . . . Joke. :rolleyes:
