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A review by nimbella
The Great Inoculator: The Untold Story of Daniel Sutton and His Medical Revolution by Gavin Weightman
4.0
*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book*
An interesting history of the precursor to vaccination - inoculation of smallpox. Starts with the discovery of inoculation in Istanbul by a British noblewoman who then championed the practice back in England in the 1720s, which was then picked up by Sutton. Loads of parallels with ~current times~ especially how it took decades for the public to accept that inoculation and then vaccination was a good thing, how the success of inoculation and the ability to follow quarantining rules was ultimately a class issue, and the importance of religious leaders in promoting the practice to the public.
This was super well written and researched, easy to read and didn't get too bogged down in minute details. Sutton was a super interesting character in and of himself, especially when compared with Jenner in the latter chapters. He wasn't a medic or very high up in society and he seemed to battle against an inferiority complex throughout his life. He made the very anti-science choice to keep his methods a secret and charge others for the knowledge. Despite this, it is terrible that his contribution to modern medicine has been overlooked.
"What was needed was a large-scale comparative study of different approaches to inoculation to discover which, in practical terms, was likely to be successful. But how to design such an experiment in the eighteenth century? There was only one answer: orphans."
An interesting history of the precursor to vaccination - inoculation of smallpox. Starts with the discovery of inoculation in Istanbul by a British noblewoman who then championed the practice back in England in the 1720s, which was then picked up by Sutton. Loads of parallels with ~current times~ especially how it took decades for the public to accept that inoculation and then vaccination was a good thing, how the success of inoculation and the ability to follow quarantining rules was ultimately a class issue, and the importance of religious leaders in promoting the practice to the public.
This was super well written and researched, easy to read and didn't get too bogged down in minute details. Sutton was a super interesting character in and of himself, especially when compared with Jenner in the latter chapters. He wasn't a medic or very high up in society and he seemed to battle against an inferiority complex throughout his life. He made the very anti-science choice to keep his methods a secret and charge others for the knowledge. Despite this, it is terrible that his contribution to modern medicine has been overlooked.