Writers argument: Focus on inoculation and smallpox only on three sections

Essay Instructions:

Select ONE text from each of the 6 sections below. Do a close reading of all 6 texts. Discuss these 6 readings; pay attention to WHAT the main argument or topic of each reading is, and HOW the author makes their argument (that is, list the points the author used to make the argument). SECTION 1 Achebe, Ikechukwu The Idea of Immunity: West African Medicine in the Age of Enlightenment (New York, 2020), pages 1-27 ONLY SECTION 2 (select one number below) Mather, Cotton The Angel of Bethesda (American Antiquarian Society, 1972). (attached here in BB) “Some remarks on the grand cause of sickness” “Variolae trimphatae. The small-pox encountered” Beall, Otho T. “Cotton Mather, the First Significant Figure in American Medicine.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine, vol. 26, no. 2, 1952, pp. 103–16. JSTOR, http://www(dot)jstor(dot)org/stable/44443686. Kittredge, G. L. 'Some lost works of Cotton Mather', Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, XLV (1912). [available online, Hunter College Libraries] G. L. Kittredge, “Some lost works of Cotton Mather,” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, XLV (1912), pp. 420-23 and notes. https://hdl(dot)handle(dot)net/2027/hvd.32044038440277 G. L. Kittredge, Several Reasons Proving that Inoculating or Transplanting the Small Pox, is a Lawful Practice... [Boston, 1721] [available online at Hunter College libraries] Donnan, E., Documents Illustrative of the history of the Slave Trade to America (4 vols. Washington, 1932), III, 1-28. https://babel(dot)hathitrust(dot)org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000018404012&view=1up&seq=9 Greene, L. J. (1928). Slave-Holding New England and Its Awakening. The Journal of Negro History, 13(4), 492–533. Hunter College library online SECTION 3 (select one number below) Discuss BOTH (a) and (b) (a) The Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (b) M. de Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet, 1694-1778) “INOCULATION”, The Works of Voltaire, Vol. XIX (Philosophical Letters) available online—Online Library of Liberty (libertyfund.org) https://oll(dot)libertyfund(dot)org/titles/fleming-the-works-of-voltaire-vol-xix-philosophical-letters#lf0060-19p2_head_008 OR “Letter on Inoculation with Smallpox” in Letters on England [as translated by Leonard Tancock for the Penguin edition] https://jacklynch(dot)net/Texts/voltaire-smallpox.html Woodville W. The History of the Inoculation of the Smallpox in Great Britain. London: J Phillips; 1796 [available online], Section III, pp. 85-153 https://link(dot)gale(dot)com/apps/doc/CW0107100613/ECCO?u=cuny_hunter&sid=bookmark-ECCO&xid=ae647009&pg=100 The history, of inoculation. By M. De La Condamine, member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in France; Published April 24th, 1754. [available online courtesy of Oxford Text Archive, Bodeleian Library, University of Oxford] https://ota(dot)bodleian(dot)ox(dot)ac(dot)uk/repository/xmlui/bitstream/handle/20.500.12024/N10096/N 10096.html?sequence=5&isAllowed=y Andreas-Holger Maehle, ‘The Ethics of Prevention: German Philosophers of the Late Enlightenment on the Morality of Smallpox Inoculation’, in John Woodward and Robert Jütte (eds), Coping with Sickness: Perspectives on Health Care, Past and Present (Sheffield: European Association for the History of Medicine and Health Publications, 1996), 91–114 https://hunter-cuny-illiad-oclc-org(dot)proxy(dot)wexler(dot)hunter(dot)cuny(dot)edu/illiad/illiad.dll?Action=10&Form=75&Value=243524 Andreas-Holger Maehle, ‘Conflicting Attitudes towards Inoculation in Enlightenment Germany’, in Roy Porter (ed.), Medicine in the Enlightenment (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1995), 198–222 and 289–315 https://hunter-cuny-illiad-oclc-org(dot)proxy(dot)wexler(dot)hunter(dot)cuny(dot)edu/illiad/illiad.dll?Action=10&Form=75&Value=243525 SECTION 4 (select one number below) Boylston, Z., An historical account of the small-pox inoculated in New England, Upon all Sorts of Persons, Whites Blacks and of all Ages and Constitutions. With some account of the Nature of the infection in the Natural and Inoculated Way, and their different effect on Human Bodies (London, 1726) Colman, B. A narrative of the method and success of inoculating the smallpox in New England. With a reply to the objections made against it from principles of conscience: In a letter from a minister at Boston. To which is now prefixed an historical introduction. By Daniel Neal. Colman, Benjamin. Some observations on the new method of receiving the small-pox by ingrafting or inoculating. By Mr. Colman. Containing also the reasons, which first induc'd him to, and have since confirm'd him in, his favourable opinion of it. Printed by B. Green, for Samuel Gerrish, at his shop near the Brick Meeting-House in Corn-hill (Boston), 1721. [William Douglass], The Abuses and Scandals of Some Late Pamphlets in Favour of Inoculation of the Small Pox, Modestly Obviated, and Inoculation Further Consider'd in a Letter to A- S- M. D. &r F. R. S. in London (Boston, 1722) https://pds(dot)lib(dot)harvard(dot)edu/pds/temp/async/7910092-1-30.pdf [available for 7 days] [William Douglass], Inoculation of the Small Pox as Practised in Boston, Consider'd in a Letter to A- S- M. D. & F. R. S. (Boston, 1722), 1-13; News-Letter, July 24, 1721. 58 Fitz, R. H., “Zabdiel Boylston, inoculator, and the epidemic of smallpox in Boston in 1721" Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, XXII, 247 (1911), 315-27 Minardi, Margot. “The Boston Inoculation Controversy of 1721-1722: An Incident in the History of Race.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 61, no. 1, 2004, pp. 47–76. JSTOR Anna E. Storm, Religious Conviction and The Boston Inoculation Controversy of 1721, (BA Thesis, 2011) College of William and Mary [an example of work produced by student at undergraduate level] SECTION 5 (select one number below) Halsband, Robert. “New Light on Mary Wortley Montagu’s Contribution to Inoculation.” Journal of the History of Medicine 8 (1963): 390-405 [available online] Barnes, Diana “The Public Life of a Woman of Wit and Quality: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and the Vogue for Smallpox Inoculation,” Feminist Studies, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Summer 2012), pp. 330-362 https://www(dot)jstor(dot)org/stable/23269190 Discuss BOTH (a) and (b) (a) Theodoros Kyrkoudis, et. al., “Vaccination of the Ethnic Greeks (Rums) Against Smallpox in the Ottoman Empire: Emmanuel Timonis and Jacobus Pylarinos as Precursors of Edward Jenner,” Erciyes Medical Journal (Dec 2020), Vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 100 – 106 https://doi(dot)org/10.14744/etd.2020.82856 (b) Needham, J. “The Idea of Inoculation,” Times Literary Supplement, June 24, 1983, p. 673 see attached PDF Meyer, V. N. (2022). Innovations from the Levant: smallpox inoculation and perceptions of scientific medicine. The British Journal for the History of Science, 55(4), 423–444. https://doi(dot)org/10.1017/S0007087422000322 Still, Judith. (2009). “Hospitable Harems? A European Woman and Oriental Spaces in the Enlightenment,” Paragraph: A Journal of Modern Critical Theory, 32(1), 87–104. https://www(dot)jstor(dot)org/stable/43151907 Ki Che Leung, “‘Variolation’ and vaccination in late imperial China, ca 1570-1911”, in Plotkin, S. A. (ed) Vaccinia, vaccination, vaccinology: Jenner, Pasteur and their successors. International meeting on the history of vaccinology. Oxford, 1996, pp. 65-71. [available online, HCL] https://link(dot)springer(dot)com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4419-1339-5_2 SECTION 6 (select one number below) Naraindas, Harish. “Preparing for the Pox: A Theory of Smallpox in Bengal and Britain.” Asian Journal of Social Science, vol. 31, no. 2, 2003, pp. 304–39. JSTOR, http://www(dot)jstor(dot)org/stable/23654671. Accessed 13 Jan. 2023. Discuss (a), (b), and (c) below: (a) Ainslie, Whitelaw. “Observations Respecting the Small-Pox and Inoculation in Eastern Countries; With Some Account of the Introduction of Vaccination into India.” Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2, no. 1, 1829, pp. 52–73. JSTOR, http://www(dot)jstor(dot)org/stable/25563420. Accessed 13 Jan. 2023. (b) Kochhar, Rajesh. (2011). Smallpox in the modern scientific and colonial contexts 1721–1840. Journal of Biosciences, 36(5), 761–768. https://doi(dot)org/10.1007/s12038-011-9146-6 (c) Chorba,Terence & Esparza, J. (2022). A Head of State Leading by Example. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 28(10), 2141–2143. https://doi(dot)org/10.3201/eid2810.AC2810 Pruen, Thomas, A comparative sketch of the effects of variolous and vaccine inoculation, being an enumeration of facts not generally known or considered, but which will enable the public to form its own judgment of the probable importance of the Jennerian discovery, [London] Printed for Phillips, Crosby, Murray, Dwyer and other booksellers, 1807. https://hdl(dot)handle(dot)net/2027/aeu.ark:/13960/t9b575958 (ANY 3 SECTIONS ONLY) TIPS: 1) All readings are posted on BB or available as web links 2) Contact me by email if you are having difficulty accessing any of the texts 2) Write SHORT, clear sentences. 3) Put citations at the end of EVERY sentence or idea that is not your own original thought 4) Write out the prompt at the beginning of your response for each of your 6 responses. 5) Write the class number and title (ANTHC 32101) at beginning DATE DUE: MONDAY, 1 APRIL, 2024 AT 11:59PM

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Inoculation and Smallpox Student Name Institutional Affiliation Date Inoculation and Smallpox Question 1 The main argument in Ikechukwu Achebe's article is examining the concept of immunity in West African medicine during the Enlightenment Age to indicate that traditional West African medicine was not inferior to Western medicine but instead, it had an effective way of immunizing people against diseases like smallpox. To support his arguments, Achebe starts by indicating how the introduction of inoculation for smallpox was revolutionary considering some of the earlier remedies employed. For instance, Robert Boyle, a chemist recommended a mixture of fresh sheep's dung in white wine which was to be taken in intervals of two or three hours. Such approaches did not work and served more as palliative measures. Achebe proceeds to demonstrate the less-known introduction of inoculation into England from Guinea, emphasizing the intellectual exchanges that led to the introduction of inoculation to England.[Achebe, Ikechukwu The Idea of Immunity: West African Medicine in the Age of Enlightenment (New York, 2020). Pg. 1] The author acknowledges the confusion that inoculation in England was from Constantinople (the Turkey method) and China (the China method), which has overshadowed the West African method of inoculation. Achebe proceeds to demonstrate the genesis of the Guinea method to New England. He recounts how on the 13th of December 1706, Cotton Mather received a slave from West Africa, whom he named Onesimus. On inquiring about if he ever suffered from smallpox, Onesimus replied “yes” and “no.” Onesimus then explained how he underwent an operation that introduced some smallpox to his body to preserve him from the same killer disease. Onesimus' account of inoculation was similar to the same practice in Constantinople as written by Dr. Emanuel Timonius. Mather proceeded to make inquiries to groups in Boston that were involved in the Gunea trade which further reinforced Onesimus’ account. Finally, in 1721, Mather introduced the practice of inoculation, despite the resistance from physicians.[Ibid pg. 9] [Ibid pg. 14] Question 2 The main argument of Increase Mather's work "Several reasons proving that inoculation or transplanting smallpox, is a lawful practice, and that it has been blessed by God for the saving of many a life" is justifying smallpox inoculation as a legitimate approach which is divinely sanctioned to save lives. Increase Mather argues that several physicians have recommended the practice of inoculation to His Majesty King George and his Royal Highness the Prince has approved the practice. Indicating that the practice has been approved by the King serves to demonstrate the level of acceptance from the highest office in the land. Mather then proceeds to appeal to religious faith by suggesting that God has approved the live-saving practice. He demonstrates that God has owned inoculation since "Above a hundred have been inoculated, and not one miscarried." Mather invokes God to demonstrate that the inoculation is a divine practice and should not be rejected on religious grounds. Mather proceeds to demonstrate the acceptability of inoculation among high-ranking officials like magistrates and ministers.[G. L. Kittredge, Several Reasons Proving that Inoculating or Transplanting the Small Pox, is a Lawful Practice... [Boston, 1721] pg. 72] Question 3 In “Letter on Inoculation with Smallpox,” Voltaire argues in favor of smallpox inoculation, indicating that the procedure is critical in saving lives and preserving beauty, despite the skepticism in some parts of Europe. Voltaire makes his argument by considering the origins of inoculation, where the Circassian mothers administer the procedure out of motherly love and self-interest, which has allowed the community to maintain beauty for the economic prosperity of the Circassian ladies. Voltaire uses the practicality of the Circassian people to advocate for the adoption of inoculation in Europe to protect the masses. Since the practice has worked for the poor Circassian communities, Voltaire believes Europe would benefit more by avoiding skepticism and embracing the procedure. To call people to action, Voltaire gives examples of prominent people who have undergone the inoculation process successfully. He highlights how the efforts of Lady Wortley Montagu to introduce inoculation to England have received the support of the Princes of Wales, who have accepted inoculation to preserve her family.[Letter on Inoculation with Smallpox by Voltaire. Available on https://jacklynch.net/Texts/voltaire-smallpox.html] Similarly, “Letters” by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu seeks to demonstrate Turkish customs, especially those undertaken by Turkish women, demonstrating the differences between her approach to issues and that of Ottoman women. In Letter XXXI, Montagu talks about how the Turkish women have managed to deal with smallpox, a disease that is ...

Updated on June 12, 2024

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