1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910794282403321

Autore

Weightman Gavin

Titolo

The great inoculator : the untold story of Daniel Sutton and his medical revolution / / Gavin Weightman [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven : , : Yale University Press, , 2021

ISBN

9780300256314

0-300-25631-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xv, 188 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations

Collana

Yale scholarship online

Disciplina

617.0924

Soggetti

Surgeons - Great Britain

Vaccination - History

Smallpox vaccine - History

Biography

Biographies.

History

United Kingdom

Great Britain

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Previously issued in print: 2020.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Plates -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- 1. Lady Mary’s Revelation -- 2. Saving the Quality -- 3. Is It Worth the Risk? -- 4. A Rural Revolution -- 5. A Most Surprising Fellow -- 6. Sutton the Parvenu -- 7. Sutton’s Th under Stolen -- 8. Sutton Misses the Boat -- 9. A Suttonian in America -- 10. An Imposter in the Family -- 11. Inoculation for the Industrious Poor -- 12. Saving the Nation -- 13. Sutton’s Swan Song -- 14. Cowmania! -- 15. Jenner’s Debt to Sutton -- 16. The Battle for Vaccination -- 17. Sutton and Jenner: The Legacy -- 18. The Mystery of Immunity -- Postscript: Sutton’s Family -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Smallpox was the scourge of the eighteenth century: it showed no mercy, almost wiping out whole societies. Young and old, poor and royalty were equally at risk - unless they had survived a previous attack. Daniel Sutton, a young surgeon from Suffolk, used this



knowledge to pioneer a simple and effective inoculation method to counter the disease. His technique paved the way for Edward Jenner's discovery of vaccination - but, while Jenner is revered, Sutton has been vilified for not widely revealing his methods until later in life. Gavin Weightman reclaims Sutton's importance, showing how the clinician's practical and observational discoveries advanced understanding of the nature of disease. Weightman explores Sutton's personal and professional development, and the wider world of eighteenth-century health in which he practised inoculation.