The Dawn of the Vaccine, and the Downfall of the Old Medical Paradigm in 18th-Century Europe

Dr. Edward Jenner’s “An Inquiry Into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae, a Disease Discovered in Some of the Western Counties of England, Particularly Gloucestershire, and Known by the Name of the Cow Pox,” originally published in 1798 and later in 1800, is a collection of case studies of individuals that contracted or were treated with variolae vaccinae (an earlier name for the cowpox virus). Through Jenner’s observations of these individuals, he found that a prior exposure to the virus brought about a future immunity to it; this became one of the first successful vaccination…