Caleb Parry of Bath

Nobody, so far as I know, has collated and set down the achievements of physicians from the West Country, though they form a galaxy as bright as any. Our only claim to some of these great men is that they were born in this part of England; but it was in the West Country that others, and not the least distinguished, practised, pioneered and made their names. The best known is surely Edward Jenner (1749-1823),* of vaccination fame, who was born and later practised in Gloucester. Believing what a milkmaid told him, he transmuted a local bucolic tradition into a universal scientific principle. Less known, and perhaps more of a Pandora's box, is his early description and discussion of allergy. Jenner's An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccina