When did Lady Mary Montagu?
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, née Pierrepont, (baptized May 26, 1689, London, Eng. —died Aug. 21, 1762, London), the most colourful Englishwoman of her time and a brilliant and versatile writer.
What did Lady Mary Wortley Montagu do?
Born in 1689, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (née Pierrepont) was an English aristocrat and lady of letters. More important than her literary achievements, however, Lady Montagu was responsible for the introduction of the smallpox inoculation to Britain and Western Europe.
What year did Lady Mary Wortley Montagu make her discovery?
1721
In April 1721, he inoculated young Mary Alice, the first time the procedure was performed in Britain. Although the observers were impressed, others were sceptical about this dangerous, exotic practice. Wortley Montagu and her daughter visited households affected by smallpox to demonstrate that she was protected.
Was Mary Wortley Montagu a feminist?
As an aristocrat Montagu was in many respects different from other feminist thinkers of her time. In her discussions of the need for women’s education, she seems to have desired the privileges granted to men of her class, but was less vigorous in pressing for the education, much less the equality, of women in general.
How did Lady Mary Wortley Montagu die?
Cancer
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu/Cause of death
During her time there, Lady Mary wrote extensively on her experience as a woman in Ottoman Istanbul. After her return to England, Lady Mary devoted her attention to the upbringing of her family before dying of cancer in 1762.
What is engraftment smallpox?
There, Lady Mary had witnessed the Turks employing a technique known as ‘engraftment’ against smallpox. A small sample of pus would be taken from someone who had the disease, wounds opened on the wrists and ankles of the volunteers, and the pus mixed into their bloodstreams.
Where did Lady Montagu learn about smallpox?
Wortley Montagu had learned about the practice of inoculation in Turkey, where her husband had worked as the British ambassador. “When she got there, she went to Turkish baths and saw women without any smallpox marks on their skin. That was a wake-up call.”
What is cow pox?
Cowpox, also called vaccinia, mildly eruptive disease of cows that when transmitted to otherwise healthy humans produces immunity to smallpox. The cowpox virus is closely related to variola, the causative virus of smallpox.
Who found cure for smallpox?
Edward Jenner (Figure 1) is well known around the world for his innovative contribution to immunization and the ultimate eradication of smallpox (2).
What disease were milkmaids immune to?
Milkmaids were thought to be immune to smallpox and, before long, it became known that if you too wanted to be immune, all you had to do was get exposed to “cowpox.”
Are humans immune to smallpox?
It is now clear that immunity wanes over time. Exactly how long the vaccine confers protection, however, is difficult to assess. Immunity to smallpox is believed to rest on the development of neutralizing antibodies, levels of which decline five to 10 years after vaccination.
What was the last pandemic outbreak?
The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history. It was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. Although there is not universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, it spread worldwide during 1918-1919.