A PIONEER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18381, 23 April 1923, Page 12

A PIONEER.

The recent Jenner centenary celebration is a reminder that the world also yowes something to a woman in the matter of the stamping out of smallpox. Nearly 30 years before Edward Jenner was born, Lady Mary Montagu had adopted the Montagu method of inoculating her children against smallpox, a practice": which she had seen proved efficacious during the years she lived -in Constantinople, where her husband was ambassador. And though it was not. calf lymph that was used in Turkey, ; ; there can be no little doubt that the ambassadorial temerity became a considerable factor in moulding public opinion when Dr. ' Jenner's vaccine discovery made the time opportune for a big campaign toward compulsory preventative measures against the decimating disease. Lady Mary Montagu was also famous as a letter-writer. She travelled widely in Europe, Asia and Africa, writing thence letters .to persons of distinction, men of letters, etc-, in different parts of Europe, letters which are vividly interestins to-day, though it is more than 100 years since they were first published.