Controversy About Blossom's Horns (Cow Providing Jenner's 1st Vaccine)

[Justin_Anstey]

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co...layContent&sourceNode=73927&contentPK=8017704

LOCKING HORNS OVER LEGACY OF BLOSSOM

09:30 - 04 December 2003

Two medical museums are both claiming to have the horns of the world's most important cow on display, it was revealed yesterday. But at least one of the exhibits must be a fake - because cattle only ever have one pair of horns.

The Edward Jenner Museum in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, and the George Marshall Medical Museum in Worcester, both believe they have the genuine headgear from Blossom - an 18th century cow that played a vital role in ridding the world of smallpox.

Doctor Edward Jenner, of Berkeley, is acclaimed by many as the most significant figure in medical history because he discovered the principle of vaccination.

Using fluid taken from Blossom when she was suffering from cowpox, he immunised a local boy against the human version of the illness - smallpox.

The debate over which of the pairs of horns is genuinely Blossom's has been prompted by the Worcester museum recently acquiring a pair from a local man whose great grandfather used to display them in his chemist's shop.

Dr Frank Crompton of the George Marshall museum said: "We have the provenance that shows these horns belonged to Blossom. I have communicated with the Jenner Museum at his birthplace in Berkeley and we have come to the conclusion that we cannot be absolutely certain which ones are genuine - or if either of them are, for that matter."

But the Jenner Museum also has a full set of horns, and a single horn, which may (or may not) be the genuine article.

They are proudly displayed on a silver mounting, over a plaque bearing Blossom's name.

Dr Crompton said: "Obviously we like to think our horns are genuine and we do appear to have the better verification. But the Jenner Museum is obviously arguing that geographically it is far more likely to have the genuine horns because it is in the very house where Jenner did his work."

Dr David Mullin, director of the Jenner Museum, has now accepted that the horns he has may not be genuine - but he says the ones in Worcester may not be either.

In May last year he spoke with a woman in Dorset about a pair she had in her possession - along with a note of authentication by Jenner's grandson Stephen Jenner. Like the horns at Worcester, Stephen Jenner's signature was authenticated by a graphologist.

Smallpox, which killed 30 per cent of its millions of victims around the world, and left the rest scarred and often blind, was eradicated in the 1970s after a global vaccination programme.

Dr Mullin believes Jenner's importance in world history cannot be over-estimated - and his discovery even helped Admiral Nelson to win the Battle of Trafalgar.

"Our army and navy were innoculated within two years of Jenner's discovery and it enabled Admiral Nelson to win the Battle of Trafalgar because his men were able to fight while the French navy was still racked by smallpox," said Dr Mullin.

Jenner's vaccination discovery came after he noticed that a dairymaids near his home often caught cowpox from the animals they milked - but rarely fell victim to smallpox.

Jenner used Blossom's cowpox blisters to vaccinate a boy named James Phipps and tested his theory by injecting the boy with smallpox and proving his new methods were a lifesaver.

 

[Anonymous]

Call me a cynic, but the fact that at least one pair of horns must be "fake" suggests that the other pair probably is as well. Perhaps, like splinters of the one true cross, there are many pairs of horns out there.

 

[Anonymous]

Since both sets appear to have an authenticated signature from Stephen Jenner, it could be that he made a bit of money from doing so.

Money for old cows horns........

 

[Pete Younger]

Jenner used Blossom's cowpox blisters to vaccinate a boy named James Phipps and tested his theory by injecting the boy with smallpox and proving his new methods were a lifesaver.

You have to wonder, had his experiment failed and resulted in the boy's death, would he have been charged with murder?

 

[escargot]

Jenner is one of my heroes. I keep a photo of the bronze of him as featured on this site on the shelf over my pooter.
How ridiculous to argue about a set of horns. Jenner's true memorial is the eradication of smallpox.

Yup, I know he wasn't the only person or the first to come up with the idea by a long chalk. His contribution was make sense of the link between cowpox and immunity against smallpox. Why were milkmaids traditionally believed to be beautiful? Because they never caught smallpox. Why not? Could it be because they always caught cowpox?

Before Jenner there had been inoculation of a kind, which mainly involved putting ground-up smallpox scabs up the patient's nose. This worked, but it meant that there had to be contact with smallpox patients somewhere along the line. Jenner's method was revolutionary because it kept smallpox out of the treatment.

You have to wonder, had his experiment failed and resulted in the boy's death, would he have been charged with murder?

Yes, he most certainly would have.

 

[Anonymous]

Before Jenner there had been inoculation of a kind, which mainly involved putting ground-up smallpox scabs up the patient's nose. This worked, but it meant that there had to be contact with smallpox patients somewhere along the line. Jenner's method was revolutionary because it kept smallpox out of the treatment.

From memory, he'd learned about innoculation in the Middle East somewhere, but don't quote me on that.

Always been a bit interested in Edward Jenner because it's possible that he's a (distant) relative. Has my surname anyway.