{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,21]],"date-time":"2026-10-21T02:52:23Z","timestamp":1792551143866,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":65,"publisher":"The Royal Society","issue":"1666","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2015,4,19]],"date-time":"2015-04-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1429401600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/royalsociety.org\/journals\/ethics-policies\/data-sharing-mining\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["royalsocietypublishing.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2015,4,19]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Sir Hans Sloane's account of inoculation as a means to protect against smallpox followed several earlier articles published in\n                    <jats:italic>Philosophical Transactions<\/jats:italic>\n                    on this procedure. Inoculation (also called \u2018variolation\u2019) involved the introduction of small amounts of infectious material from smallpox vesicles into the skin of healthy subjects, with the goal of inducing mild symptoms that would result in protection against the more severe naturally acquired disease. It began to be practised in England in 1721 thanks to the efforts of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu who influenced Sloane to promote its use, including the inoculation of the royal family's children. When Edward Jenner's inoculation with the cow pox (\u2018vaccination\u2019) followed 75 years later as a safer yet equally effective procedure, the scene was set for the eventual control of smallpox epidemics culminating in the worldwide eradication of smallpox in 1977, officially proclaimed by WHO in 1980. Here, we discuss the significance of variolation and vaccination with respect to scientific, public health and ethical controversies concerning these \u2018weapons of mass protection\u2019. This commentary was written to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the journal\n                    <jats:italic>Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society<\/jats:italic>\n                    .\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2014.0378","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,3,6]],"date-time":"2015-03-06T20:54:37Z","timestamp":1425675277000},"page":"20140378","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":50,"title":["The prevention and eradication of smallpox: a commentary on Sloane (1755) \u2018An account of inoculation\u2019"],"prefix":"10.1098","volume":"370","author":[{"given":"Robin A.","family":"Weiss","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jos\u00e9","family":"Esparza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"175","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,4,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1098\/rstl.1755.0073"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_3_2","first-page":"234","volume-title":"Sir Hans Sloane, the great collector and his circle","author":"John Brooks J","year":"1954"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_2","first-page":"170","article-title":"Sir Hans Sloane and the Philosophical Transactions","volume":"18","author":"Cooke AM","year":"1984","journal-title":"J. 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Physicians Lond."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_2","volume-title":"Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: selected letters","author":"Grundy I","year":"1997"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_6_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1098\/rstl.1722.0007"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_7_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"355","DOI":"10.9783\/9781512818086","volume-title":"The adoption of inoculation of smallpox in England and France","author":"Miller G","year":"1957"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_8_2","volume-title":"Voltaire's Philosophical letters or, Letters regarding the English nation","author":"Leigh J","year":"2007"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_9_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/rmv.443"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_10_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2001.0838"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_11_2","volume-title":"Deadly companions","author":"Crawford DH","year":"2007"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_12_2","volume-title":"Smallpox and its eradication","author":"Fenner F","year":"1988"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_13_2","volume-title":"The life and death of smallpox","author":"Glynn I","year":"2004"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_14_2","volume-title":"Smallpox\u2014the death of a disease","author":"Henderson DA","year":"2009"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_15_2","volume-title":"Angel of death: the story of smallpox","author":"Williams G","year":"2011"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_16_2","volume-title":"House on fire\u2014the fight to eradicate smallpox","author":"Foege W","year":"2012"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_17_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.0609268104"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_18_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/509022a"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_19_2","volume-title":"Pathfinders: the golden age of Arabic science","author":"Al-Khalili J","year":"2010"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_20_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1099\/0022-1317-83-4-855"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_21_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1125134"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_22_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1101\/cshperspect.a006841"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_23_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/nrmicro2165"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_24_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/mBio.01146-14"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_25_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1574-6976.2000.tb00536.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_26_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1465610"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_27_2","volume-title":"Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a","author":"Bernal Diaz del C","year":"1632"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_28_2","first-page":"527","article-title":"La introducci\u00f3n de la viruela en Am\u00e9rica: epidemias en Am\u00e9rica Latina durante el siglo XVI","volume":"72","author":"Esparza J","year":"2000","journal-title":"Tierra Firme (Caracas)"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_29_2","volume-title":"Plagues and peoples","author":"McNeill W","year":"1998"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_30_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/514544a"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_31_2","volume-title":"The greatest benefit to mankind","author":"Porter R","year":"1997"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_32_2","unstructured":"Moxham N. 2013 Job's boils and washballs. See http:\/\/blogs.royalsociety.org\/history-of-science\/2013\/06\/13\/jobs-boils\/."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_33_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1098\/rstl.1722.0038"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_34_2","article-title":"On the way of inoculation for small pox as it is practised in the kingdoms in Tripoli, Tunis & Algier","author":"Aga C","year":"1729","journal-title":"Phil. Trans. R. 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