天花是一种由来已久的祸害, 它在旧大陆为人所知，由欧洲探险家和殖民者带到新大陆. 这是致命的, 但往往是周期性破坏的社区, 随后几年逐渐减弱，然后又卷土重来. 这是在1721年, 波士顿上一次天花大爆发是在19年前, an entire generation had come of age without personal knowledge of the horrors of the disease. 1721年4月17日至24日波士顿报的读者 公报》 很可能看到了这样的公告:“上周六，国王陛下的船抵达这里， 海马和其他几艘船 ... “他们怎么也想象不到，躲在船上 海马 是天花, which would ultimately infect almost 5800 Bostonians and take the lives of 844 that year.

并不是所有人都对疾病在波士顿的再次出现毫无准备. 科顿·马瑟(1663-1728), 著名的波士顿牧师和热心的公民科学家, 一直在阅读, 太, 1721年，当这种流行病开始站稳脚跟时, 他准备支持一项新的行动计划. In 1716, Mather had been taken by an account of a successful inoculation of 天花 in the 英国皇家学会哲学汇刊. 这, 加上他的奴隶阿尼西母的见证, 是谁告诉马瑟自己在西非接种疫苗的, spurred Mather to publicly call for a program of 天花 inoculation in Boston—a suggestion that received positive attention from exactly one Boston doctor—Zabdiel 波依斯顿 (1679-1766).

波依斯顿, 像马瑟, had been afflicted by 天花 during an earlier epidemic and agreed to experiment with inoculation of live 天花—starting with his 6 year old son, 他36岁的奴隶杰克, 和杰克的儿子. 九天之后, 三个人都没有发展成完全的天花, 博伊尔斯顿发誓要继续治疗其他病人. 很快, 然而, he was ordered to appear before town authorities who reprimanded 波依斯顿 and “with high menaces warned him against proceeding with his Practice any farther.”马瑟, 太, 受到了公众的严厉批评, 最后，一枚炸弹被扔进了他家的窗户.

博伊尔斯顿和马瑟的努力遭到了迅速而猛烈的抵制. 一位名叫威廉·道格拉斯的训练有素的医生在波士顿的医生中带头冲锋, 而公众则受到詹姆斯·富兰克林的影响, 的煽动者出版商 新英格兰报. 在她利记APP官网手机版波士顿天花疫情的文章里, Amalie Kass介绍了场景, 这听起来就像是今天的头条新闻:“毫无根据的谣言, 人身攻击, and public disrespect for traditional leaders of the community made the controversy extremely distasteful.尽管存在争议, 1721年爆发的时候, 大约有287人接种了疫苗, 其中只有6人死亡, 相比之下，普通人群的死亡率为14%. 随着每次爆发, 更多的人选择接种疫苗，医生们继续完善这一过程. 下一个重大突破出现在18世纪末.

接种或疫苗接种?

尽管这两个术语在今天可以互换使用, 在19世纪初, 它们有不同的含义. Inoculation or variolation (such as that used by Zabdiel 波依斯顿) meant transferring active 天花 病毒从感染者传染给健康人. 疫苗接种(源自拉丁语vacca或牛)指的是转移的过程 牛痘 一种更温和但相关的病毒，能对更致命的天花产生免疫力. 疫苗接种的过程是Dr. 爱德华·詹纳(1749-1823)，英国格洛斯特郡伯克利人. 詹纳, 谁在8岁时接种过天花疫苗, had a lifelong interest in science and nature and was apprenticed to a local physician, 外科医生丹尼尔·勒德洛, 14岁时. 在这段学徒生涯之后, he moved to London where he apprenticed in surgery and anatomy under famed British physician John Hunter. 1773年，他回到格洛斯特郡，成为一名成功的家庭医生. 当他在农村社区工作时, he likely heard the lore that dairymaids were immune to 天花 because of their exposure to the related 牛痘 virus common in their bovine companions. 被各种可能性所吸引, by 1796, 他准备用这个假设做实验, 给一名8岁男孩注射挤奶女工新鲜牛痘病变的物质. The boy recovered and 詹纳 then inoculated him with 天花, which failed to develop. 詹纳继续在其他病人身上进行实验，并于1798年发表了他的 天花疫苗的病因及影响的探讨这本书后来对马萨诸塞州剑桥市一位大胆的医生产生了影响.

新世纪，新方法

由于天花病毒是由海路到达波士顿的，所以它的治疗方法也来到了波士顿. Dr. 哈佛大学的本杰明·沃特豪斯收到了爱德华·詹纳1798年的一份副本 天花疫苗的病因及影响的探讨 读过其他支持接种疫苗的小册子, he resolved to experiment as soon as a way of transporting 牛痘 virus to 麻萨诸塞州 could be arranged (the cow-borne disease being unknown in New England). Al虽然 the 牛痘 virus was virulent, it was also susceptible to damage through handling. 沃特豪斯’s English compatriots decided that the best method of getting the virus to Boston in a viable state was to soak threads in the virus, 把线紧紧地密封在玻璃瓶里, 让他们搭下一班从布里斯托尔到波士顿的船.

1800年7月4日，这艘船 芙特 从布里斯托尔抵达波士顿港，据信就是这艘船把Dr. 在他的药瓶里灌满了牛痘. 就像他之前的扎巴迪尔·博伊尔斯顿, 沃特豪斯 started by vaccinating a member of his own family—his son Daniel Oliver 沃特豪斯, 5岁. 病情的发展正如詹纳所预测的那样，而且是在几天之内, 沃特豪斯给他的小儿子和他同名的人接种了疫苗, 还有他年幼的女儿, 她的保姆, 和其他仆人. 所有人都很喜欢接种疫苗. 沃特豪斯, 虽然, needed assurance that the 牛痘 had stimulated immunity to actual 天花 and so sent his son Daniel to the 天花 hospital in Brookline to be exposed to 天花 both through inoculation and close contact with ill patients. 12天后，丹尼尔从医院出院了. Dr. 经营天花医院的阿斯宾沃尔惊呼道:“这不是欺骗. I rejoice at the discovery as a friend of humanity al虽然 it must deprive me of a very handsome annual income.”

很快 沃特豪斯 was being assailed from all over the area to provide 牛痘 samples for vaccination—by physicians and quacks alike. Mistakes in using degraded 牛痘 matter (or actual 天花 instead of 牛痘) resulted in outbreaks such as that in Marblehead, 麻萨诸塞州, 在1800年秋天, 威胁疫苗接受进程. 在这种情况下, 接种了沃特豪斯疫苗的居民仍然健康, 而由其他医生接种疫苗的人则患病. Correspondence and viral samples traversed the Atlantic between Doctors 沃特豪斯 and 詹纳 as the success of the vaccine became more and more evident (despite the often antagonistic attitude of 沃特豪斯’s 麻萨诸塞州 medical colleagues, 让人想起几十年前建制派对待马瑟和博伊尔斯顿的方式)。.

希尔瓦纳斯·范希尔到底是谁?

One of the New England practitioners spurred to action by 沃特豪斯’s success with vaccination was “Doctor” Sylvanus Fansher [or Fancher] (1770-1846), 普利茅斯人, 康涅狄格, 上面画的是谁1810年左右的船舷. 范希尔并不是一个有医学学位的人, 而是一封1828年沃特豪斯写给“城里一位朋友”的信,证明了范希尔在接种疫苗方面的经验, 声称他“给更多的人接种了疫苗”, 到目前为止, 比美国任何一个人都好, 如果在世界上.” He continued that he esteemed Fansher for “the surest method of preserving the virus or matter, 在最纯粹和最有效的状态下，再加上无私的精神, 诱使他给整个城镇接种疫苗, 为了什么, 最频繁, 难道不能称之为奖赏吗.”

事实上，人们可以找到. Fansher’s advertisements for vaccination services in New England newspapers from Northampton, 质量.从纽约到R州的纽波特.I., throughout the eighteen-teens and later, often citing Fansher’s connection to 沃特豪斯. 正如沃特豪斯所指出的那样，范希尔的劳动并不总是得到回报. An example of his challenges in receiving payment for his services is engagingly documented in the diary of Salem, 质量.1815年春夏，美国牧师威廉·本特利(William Bentley)来到了这里. 1816年，范希尔被马萨诸塞州普利茅斯镇承包.，为约2800名居民接种疫苗. 尽管范希尔无疑拯救了许多生命，但他在康涅狄格州哈特福德的贫困中去世.1846年6月6日. Dr. 威廉·伍德拉夫有些轻蔑地回忆起他的职业生涯 沃特伯里镇和城市, 康涅狄格, 从土著时期到1895年.

[Fansher] was descended from one of those improvident families … which after a generation or two are swept away by the beneficent law that involves the “survival of the fittest.” … Singular as it may appear under the circumstances, the idea of vaccination was embraced by Dr. Fancher soon after its introduction … as a pioneer and specialist [he] soon became widely known … and the Royal 詹纳ean Society of London made him an honorary member. 他那一天的报酬是丰厚的, 也许能保证他的独立, 它不是被浪费在无用和愚蠢的发明上了吗. 在我的记忆中，他的外貌极其奇特. 丝绒小衣服, a parti-colored waistcoat from which dangled a half dozen watch-chains and trinkets for the amusement of the little folks, a faded blue cloak—all these surmounted by a slouched hat overhanging green goggles—made up the figure. No wonder he produced a sensation among the juvenile subjects of his craft when they were brought into his presence …