] The system they invented was as follows:the patient to be inncoulated was purged,bled and stavred for days, sometimes weeks,before thr inncoluation was administered. . . .the success of the vaccination depended upoon the virus being transmitted through the skin which gave the patients immune system time to combat the disease...

When I read reports of the regimen of bleeding, purging, no fresh air, etc., I sometimes wonder if the cure wasn't worse than the disease! With no clear understanding of the causes of disease, I guess they had to use their imagination (which were sometimes vivid). It's interesting to follow the waxing and waning of theories throughout the centuries.