Dr. Jenner’s Experiment

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  “March 28th, 1797, I inoculated this girl and carefully rubbed the variolous matter into two slight incisions made upon the left arm. A little inflammation appeared in the usual manner around the parts where the matter was inserted, but so early as the fifth day it vanished entirely without producing any effect on the system.” —Edward Jenner (1749–1823). “The Three Original Publications on Vaccination Against Smallpox.” Portrait of Edward Jenner, painted by James Northcote in either 1803 or 1823

"The Words" by Gene Fowler (1965)

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I carry boulders across the day
From the field to the ridge,
and my back grows tired …
I take a drop of sweat
Onto my thumb
Watch the wind furrow its surface,
Dream of a morning
When my furrows will shape this field,
When these rocks will form my house.
Alone, with heavy arms,
I listen through the night to older farms.

(an allegory on working through "writer's block")

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