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Abstract

London and Boston were inarguably the two most important centers in the early history of smallpox inoculation in the West. Moving from simple to complex, this article reexamines the conventional story of the adoption of smallpox inoculation, diving more deeply into the knowledge of early experimenters and their practice of the technology. Before the introduction of smallpox inoculation in London by the famous Lady Mary Montagu and Dr. Charles Maitland and in Boston by Rev. Cotton Matter and Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, knowledge of the practice had already circulated in the transatlantic world by word of mouth. Information about the methods and techniques of inoculation was inconsistent and complex, but early experimenters did not exclude such methods, which were later considered to be non-Western in style. Surgical tools and inoculation methods were transformed through practice, and imperfection in written knowledge and technical complexity at the practical level were ingrained from the very beginning of the history of smallpox inoculation.