May 14– From Vaccination Against Smallpox by Edward Jenner (1798)
Summary: People who get cowpox don't get smallpox (but not entirely vice versa).
Commentary: I've said it before, but I enjoy both the science selections, and the first hand ones. It makes me wonder how many other writings by scientists, explorers, etc. are there out there for me to read that I just know about. Much better to read a first hand account than some textbook summary, Wikipedia article, etc.
Reading his accounts of inoculating people definitely have some mad science/questionable ethics vibes.
In the year 1792, conceiving herself, from this circumstance, secure from the infection of the smallpox, she nursed one of her own children who had accidentally caught the disease, but no indisposition ensued. During the time she remained in the infected room, variolous matter was inserted into both her arms, but without any further effect than in the preceding case.
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