With the world's attention on vaccines, now it feels like a good moment to sing the praises of an often forgotten contributor to their development. Three hundred years ago this month, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu got her daughter inoculated (接种) against smallpox, making her child the first person in the West to be protected in this way. Without Montagu's willingness to adopt a practice she had learned from other cultures, the introduction of vaccines around 80 years later would never have taken place.
Montagu first witnessed inoculation when she accompanied her husband to Turkey. Inoculation had started in Asia, probably in China, as early as the 10th century CE. Montagu observed how older women in Turkey took a tiny amount of pus ( 脓 ) from a person with smallpox. They then used needles to make cuts on people's wrists and ankles and added the pus to their bloodstream. This helped people gain immunity from future infection.
Like other visitors to the country, Montagu took steps to ensure that her son was inoculated. This worked well, but she knew that trying it in England would be far more challenging. Inoculation performed by unlicensed amateurs would threaten doctors' professional standing and potentially rob them of valuable income. Some people also disagree with the practice, as they saw it as going against nature.
Back in England, Montagu observed that smallpox infections became increasingly severe. Eventually, in April 1721, she decided to use the Turkish practice to have her daughter inoculated, because she believed that the rewards would outweigh the risks. After a safe time had passed following the inoculation, Montagu allowed doctors to examine her daughter.
Doctors in Britain gradually accepted the practice. About 80 years later, a pioneering physician found smallpox vaccines to destroy smallpox completely. As early as last century, academics argued that Montagu was no more than an enthusiastic amateur. In truth, she made a vital scientific contribution towards finding the cure for smallpox.
