Dr. Benjamin Vaughan
Maine Historical Society
Doctor Benjamin Vaughan came to Hallowell in 1796. He was born in Jamaica where his family owned extensive sugar plantations. The family resided in England and Vaughan, a true polymath, received a quality education at Warrington, a "dissenting academy." He pursued a medical degree at the University of Ediburgh, but was interested in all areas of human knowledge.
When Dr. Vaughan arrived in Hallowell he brought with him his personal library of 10,000 volumes, second in size at the time only to Harvard College. His library included many medical and other scientific texts. Vaughan was a member of the Royal Society of Science in England and corresponded with many of the leading scientists of the day.
Dr. Vaughan stayed abreast of developments in medical research and through his connections in London. He became aware of Dr. Edward Jenner's development of a cowpox vaccine, as a preventative against smallpox.
Just a pin prick!A close-up of Gilray's image of vaccination!
The Cow PockJames Gillray's 1802 depiction of the horrific results of administering cowpox vaccine. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division
The practice of vaccination was met with more than a little skepticism and concern in Britain. James Gillray, a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires, created a shocking view of the ultimate results of getting a vaccination.
Dr. Vaughan was able to obtain samples of the vaccine from Jenner and provided them to his colleague, local physician Dr. Benjamin Page, who administered the vaccine in Hallowell. Vaughan also forwarded samples of the vaccine to Jamaica to be administered there. This constituted one of the first field trials of a vaccine not only in the United States, but in the world, and the results Vaughan forwarded to Jenner helped him win Parliamentary approval of the vaccine.
Dr. Benjamin Page
Hubbard Free Library
Dr. Page's historic actions were recorded in The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Wednesday, October 1, 1845, Vol. XXXIII, No. 9, in an article titled "Memoir of Benjamin Page, M.D., 1770-1844: ...he was furnished with some vaccine matter by his most intimate and attached friend, Benjamin Vaughan, Esq., who had just received it directly from the hands of Dr. Jenner, of London. He immediately made use of it and was the first American physician, be it known, who applied the vaccine virus to the arm of a human subject in this country."