The practice of variolation in Spain

Abstract

Up to the 18th century smallpox ranked as the first cause of mortality in Europe and was considered as a «toll» imposed upon mankind by the unscrutable designs of the Creator. Amidst that bleak and dismal panorama, some faint rays of hope first emerged as two Italian physicians and the wife of an English ambassador returning from the Far East introduced a procedure popular in those lands, «variolation», for curbing the critical consequences -quite often mortal- of that scourge. In Europe, variolation bumped against quite a number of obstacles and never became a general practice. But it was nevertheless· applied in all its countries. En­gland stepped to the forefront in its application and many Spanish provinces pro­moted its development thus saving thousands of lives until the appearance of Jenner's vaccine abolished its practice. The authoress makes a very detailed study of variolation in Spain.