41. Sex and Sickness

41. Sex and Sickness

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an extraordinary woman, both in her personality and in her contribution to the world, specifically in medicine.

This episode looks at both aspects, trying to pick out the complex character behind her image, in particular her possibly ambivalent and certainly far from obvious sexuality.

Then, however, it looks at how she became a leading benefactor to humanity, by introducing to England, and through England to Europe, the life-saving procedure of immunising against smallpox by inoculation with the disease itself. That makes this episode not entirely suitable for anti-vaxxers, especially as it ends with a quick look at how her campaign led to the launching of actual vaccination, as opposed to the variolation she promoted. The anti-vaxxers won't like hearing that the procedure has saved hundreds of millions of lives.



Illustration: William Powell Frith, Alexander Pope is said to have declared his love to Lady Mary, who simply found it uproariously funny, offending him deeply and turning him into an open enemy.
The painting dates from 1852, so it’s a later retrospective and imaginary depiction, but more fun than the contemporary and more serious portraits, which is why I chose it. It’s in the library at Otago, New Zealand, and the image is in the public domain.

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License

Jaksot(274)

233. Shocks and surprises at the war’s end

233. Shocks and surprises at the war’s end

Following the German surrender in May 1945, the ‘Big Three’ – the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain – met for the third and last time in conference. And this time, appropriately, they met on...

2 Maalis 202514min

232. Bickering allies win in Europe

232. Bickering allies win in Europe

At the Yalta conference, between the US, the Soviet Union and Britain, the tensions between the Allies became increasingly obvious. Representing Britain, Churchill wanted the Allies’ war effort to be ...

23 Helmi 202514min

231. Nazis facing defeat

231. Nazis facing defeat

By the time of the Yalta conference in February 1945, between the USA, Soviet Union and Britain, the latter still being treated as a great power though its decline was already clear, there could be li...

16 Helmi 202514min

230. From Husky to Overlord, Sicily to the D-Day beaches

230. From Husky to Overlord, Sicily to the D-Day beaches

In 1943, Britain didn’t feel the Western Allies were ready yet for an invasion of France, and with its influence at the highest point it ever reached, it was able to persuade the Americans reluctantly...

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229. The tide turns

229. The tide turns

The tide turned against the Axis and in favour of the Allies in the course of 1943. Victories at Stalingrad in Russia, in the Battle of the Atlantic, and in North Africa, came on top of American advan...

2 Helmi 202514min

228. Turning points: 1943

228. Turning points: 1943

This is an episode for turning points. The year’s 1943. The Battle of Stalingrad, where the unstoppable German offensive into Russia was finally stopped and turned around, with Soviet forces essentia...

26 Tammi 202514min

227. Tough times: 1941 and 1942

227. Tough times: 1941 and 1942

The years 1941 and 1942 were tough ones… Things were going badly in the Battle of the Atlantic, with Germany threatening to strangle Britain by sinking more merchant ships than the British could bear ...

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226. Britain rescued by its enemies

226. Britain rescued by its enemies

Hitler, feeling himself obliged to help out his inept ally Mussolini, was dragged into two wars the Italian dictator had started but lacked the resources to prosecute to victory: in North Africa and i...

12 Tammi 202514min

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