The Empress and the English Doctor - Lucy Ward

The astonishing true story of how Catherine the Great joined forces with a Quaker doctor from Essex to spearhead one of the first global public health campaigns. A killer virus...an all-powerful Empress...an encounter cloaked in secrecy...the astonishing true story. No disease sparked as much dread in the eighteenth century as smallpox. The virus killed millions across the globe, carrying off one in every five victims and disfiguring survivors with tell-tale pitted scars. But one mysterious method offered hope: inoculation, the practice of piercing the skin to insert a drop of infected matter and induce a mild case of smallpox. Those inoculated safely were protected from the 'Speckled Monster' and stayed immune for life. Only one problem remained: convincing people to accept the treatment. Arguments raged in Europe over its risks and benefits, and public
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