The Cow Pock—or the Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation

This hand-colored etching mocks Edward Jenner's newly introduced cowpox vaccination against smallpox. The crowded scene shows patients displaying grotesque symptoms—horns, udders, and bovine features sprouting from their bodies—as a physician administers the vaccine. The print reflects public anxiety about the novel medical procedure, employing exaggerated physical transformation as satire's weapon. The work exemplifies the tradition of political and social caricature inherited from Hogarth and Gillray, where etching allowed artists to distribute pointed commentary to wide audiences. Contemporary fears about contamination and the "unnatural" mixing of animal and human biology fueled both resistance and visual mockery. This print survives as evidence of how popular graphics shaped medical debates centuries before comic strips emerged from the same tradition of visual satire and social critique.