Benjamin Franklin wrote about the incident in his autobiography nearly a half-century later: >> In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by

Benjamin Franklin wrote about the incident in his autobiography nearly a half-century later: >> In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the small-pox, taken in the common way. >> I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. >> This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.