[AustinMike]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I've read that about Washington but I've also read that Jenner didn't invent the vaccine until 1796. Haven't tried to reconcile this.

In any event, I have no doubt that there are people today who, if transported back in time, would claim that smallpox was a hoax. Fake news!! A nothingburger!!

Interesting, I didn't know that about Jenner and the vaccine. A quick Google search reveals the reason for the disconnect.

https://www.statesman.com/story/news...ar/5456106001/

"Washington issued the order to have all troops inoculated on Feb. 5, 1777, in a letter to John Hancock, who was president of the Second Continental Congress. In another letter, Washington ordered all recruits arriving in Philadelphia be inoculated."

"Back then, the inoculation process was called variolation, named after the virus that causes smallpox — the variola virus.

"It involved exposing people to the virus by scratching material from smallpox sores into their arms or having them inhale it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Variolation was eventually replaced by vaccination after an English doctor named Edward Jenner noticed in 1796 that milkmaids who had gotten cowpox were immune to smallpox, according to the CDC. He guessed that exposure to cowpox could be used to protect people against smallpox and developed a vaccine."

Unfortunately you are correct. I also don't "doubt that there are people today who, if transported back in time, would claim that smallpox was a hoax." But on the one hand, I take some comfort in knowing that if they were transported back in time, they wouldn't be able to get on the Internet to find like minded "dingleberries" to support their delusions. But on the other hand, I think they would fit right in with folks of the time:

https://historycollection.com/10-tru...aughing-night/

Blowing Smoke Up the Ass, and the Healing Properties of Tobacco

"The harmful effects of tobacco are well known and understood nowadays in most of the world. However, there was a time in history when not only were tobacco’s ills unknown, but tobacco was actually considered healthy and good for you. Centuries ago, tobacco was lauded as a cure for many ailments, not only by quacks and charlatans, but also by respected members of the mainstream medical establishment.

"Tobacco was introduced to Europe by the Spanish, circa 1528. From early on, it was described as a “sacred herb” because of its supposed medicinal properties, as claimed by various Native Americans. Before long, European medical practitioners were treating the newly introduced plant as a miracle cure for sundry ailments, from headaches and colds to cancer.

"Today, when somebody scoffs at another that “you’re just blowing smoke up my ass“, it is a figure of speech to mean that he is insincerely complementing the scoffer, telling him what he thinks he wants to hear. However, centuries ago, blowing smoke up the ass was meant literally, to describe a medical procedure in which a tube or rubber hose was inserted in a person’s rectum, through which tobacco smoke would be blown.

"In the 1700s, doctors routinely used tobacco smoke enemas, in the mistaken belief that they had healing properties. Blowing smoke up the ass was thought to be particularly useful in reviving drowning victims. The nicotine in the tobacco was thought to make the heart beat faster, thus stimulating respiration, while smoke from the burning tobacco was thought to warm the drowning victim from the inside. It made intuitive sense: the drowned person was full of water, so blowing air, in the form of tobacco smoke which was full of healing properties, would expel the water.

"Hiccup was that the water was in the person’s lungs, which are not connected to his or her ass. Thus, blowing air up the drowning victims’ butts and into their bowels would do little to expel water from their lungs. Although some doctors preferred sticking the tube directly into the lungs through the mouth or nose, most preferred to shove it up the patient’s butt, instead.

"Although medically useless, belief in the efficacy of tobacco smoke enemas in reviving drowning victims, or even those presumed dead, was widespread. So widespread, that medical kits for blowing smoke up the ass were found at routine intervals along major waterways, such as the River Thames. There they waited, like modern defibrillators, ready for use to revive the drowned and bring the (presumed) dead back to life.

"Blowing smoke up the ass was eventually used to not only revive the drowned, but to also treat colds, headaches, hernias, abdominal cramps, and even heart attack victims. Tobacco smoke enemas were also used on typhoid fever victims, and those dying of cholera. While the treatment was useless for the patient, it could be quite dangerous for the medical practitioner, particularly if he was blowing the smoke with his mouth instead of using a bellows. Should the doctor inhale instead of exhale, or if gases in the patient’s bowels escaped (i.e.; if the patient farted) fecal particles could get blown back into the doctor’s mouth or inhaled into his lungs. Such a mishap, particularly when treating a cholera patient, could prove fatal for the doctor."

Move over Ivermectin, I see another cure for covid on the horizon.