Georgian

Medicine

A doctor called Edward Jenner made innoculation popular in the late eighteenth century. The idea of innoculation had been around for a long time, but it was first brought to England by a keen woman traveller, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, in 1721.

Jenner used a small boy to test his theory that those who had contracted cowpox were immune from smallpox. The boy caught cowpox but, as Jenner hoped, did not contract smallpox when later exposed to this deadly disease.

This was an example of the far more scientific approach to medicine which led to great advances in Victorian times, and paved the way for experimentation in producing successful vaccines which is still on going.

How is Jenner innoculating the boy?

Click the picture for the answer.