Variolation

Variolation was the deliberate introduction of material from smallpox lesions into an uninfected person, aiming to cause a milder infection and lasting immunity.

Smallpox: A contagious disease caused by variola virus, marked by fever and a characteristic rash that could leave scars or cause death. Variolation used material from this disease to induce a controlled infection.
China: A country in East Asia with a long history of state formation and cultural development. Historical accounts place early smallpox inoculation practices in China.
1721 Boston smallpox epidemic: A smallpox outbreak in Boston during which Zabdiel Boylston inoculated patients and Cotton Mather defended the practice. The epidemic made variolation’s potential benefits and dangers visible in a major public controversy.
Edward Jenner: An English physician whose 1796 cowpox inoculation experiment helped establish vaccination against smallpox. Jenner’s work offered an alternative to variolation that did not use smallpox infection.
History of medicine: The study of how medical knowledge, practices, institutions, and beliefs have changed over time. Variolation’s history depends on interpreting accounts written across different medical cultures.
Variola virus: The orthopoxvirus that causes smallpox in humans. Its infectious material was the active agent introduced during variolation.
Ottoman Empire: A multiethnic empire that ruled parts of southeastern Europe, western Asia, and North Africa from the late thirteenth century until 1922. Variolation was practiced there before it became prominent in Britain.
Zabdiel Boylston: A Boston physician who performed smallpox inoculations during the 1721 epidemic. His cases supplied early colonial evidence used to defend variolation.
Vaccinia virus: A poxvirus used in smallpox vaccines that is distinct from variola virus. Vaccinia-based immunization avoided intentionally infecting people with variola.
Oral tradition: The transmission of knowledge and cultural practices through speech across generations. Many accounts of inoculation’s origins rely on practices transmitted orally rather than contemporary written records.

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