Information on Edward Jenner
GCSE History- Medicine Through Time
Edward Jenner
Edward Jenner (1749-1923) was a country doctor, he had studied his natural surroundings and nature since childhood. His name is known because he was the first to invent successful vaccination (in this case for smallpox.) At the time, smallpox was a greatly feared disease. One in three of those who caught it died and any survivors were often badly disfigured.
He investigated the rural old-wives tale that milkmaids couldn't get smallpox believing there to be a connection. After examining a woman with cowpox, he noticed she had blisters on her hands and concluded it was the pus in them that prevented smallpox. James Phipps, a young boy, volunteered to be Jenner's guinea pig. Some pus was taken from the hand of a milkmaid named Sarah. She had previously milked a cow called Blossom and developed the blisters. Jenner injected a bit of the pus into James and repeated this for a few days gradually increasing the dosage. Then he injected James with smallpox, although he became ill- he made a quick recovery and Jenner was eager to share his discovery with London.
However, Londoners were prejudiced against Jenner for being a country doctor and for a while refused to accept his revelation. He was publicly humiliated and at last encountered the conservatism of the medical world. Of course, the effects of smallpox were so high at the time, they eventually had little choice.
Edward Jenner did not patent his discovery and instead thought of it as a gift to the world. Even though Jenner's vaccination didn't eradicate smallpox, it had an impact on fatality rates in London. The fact that the poor wouldn't be able to afford doctors fees influences the numbers greatly, as these would be the people living in the least hygienic areas- and therefore more susceptible to the disease. In 1840, the government banned any other treatment of smallpox. His influence still exists today, there's a small museum in his hometown. It
Edward Jenner
Edward Jenner (1749-1923) was a country doctor, he had studied his natural surroundings and nature since childhood. His name is known because he was the first to invent successful vaccination (in this case for smallpox.) At the time, smallpox was a greatly feared disease. One in three of those who caught it died and any survivors were often badly disfigured.
He investigated the rural old-wives tale that milkmaids couldn't get smallpox believing there to be a connection. After examining a woman with cowpox, he noticed she had blisters on her hands and concluded it was the pus in them that prevented smallpox. James Phipps, a young boy, volunteered to be Jenner's guinea pig. Some pus was taken from the hand of a milkmaid named Sarah. She had previously milked a cow called Blossom and developed the blisters. Jenner injected a bit of the pus into James and repeated this for a few days gradually increasing the dosage. Then he injected James with smallpox, although he became ill- he made a quick recovery and Jenner was eager to share his discovery with London.
However, Londoners were prejudiced against Jenner for being a country doctor and for a while refused to accept his revelation. He was publicly humiliated and at last encountered the conservatism of the medical world. Of course, the effects of smallpox were so high at the time, they eventually had little choice.
Edward Jenner did not patent his discovery and instead thought of it as a gift to the world. Even though Jenner's vaccination didn't eradicate smallpox, it had an impact on fatality rates in London. The fact that the poor wouldn't be able to afford doctors fees influences the numbers greatly, as these would be the people living in the least hygienic areas- and therefore more susceptible to the disease. In 1840, the government banned any other treatment of smallpox. His influence still exists today, there's a small museum in his hometown. It