Lady Montagu

Era: Late Renaissance -

Lived: 1689 - 1762

Module: Medicine –

Important in Medicine because…

·         Lady Mary Wortley Montagu learnt about INNOCULATION in Turkey and introduced the idea to Britain. Innoculation had arrived in Turkey from China.

·         Mild forms of the disease were given to people using a thread soaked in infected pus, it was drawn through a cut on a healthy person, and after a reaction they were then inoculated against smallpox.

·         Unfortunately sometimes people still developed full-blown smallpox and died. However inncoculation was very popular as smallpox was a big killer, those surviving were left badly scarred.

·         Many people became rich giving innoculations.