In 1734, Voltaire's Lettres Philosophiques were published, in the eleventh of which he writes of the ‘mad and dangerous English, who inject smallpox into their children’. So thought the anti-vaxxers of the day, led by a certain Dr. Hecqet of Montpellier, the argument raging for almost half a century.
Voltaire tells the story of Lady Mary Montagu, who arrived in Constantinople in 1716 shortly after catching smallpox herself. Parents in that part of the world had been giving the disease to their children for centuries; this was done by making a small incision in the child's arm and inserting a pustule removed from another child. In Voltaire's version, the reason was to preserve the beauty of the daughters, who could then be sold to harems in Persia and elsewhere. Smallpox was an ever present threat to a valuable source of income. Lady Montagu duly had her son inoculated, and on returning to England in 1721, she militated in favour of the practice.
At that time, smallpox accounted for 10% of all deaths, with a fifth of those who caught the disease succumbing to it. Most of the others were disfigured for life. ‘Do the French not like living?’ asks Voltaire. ‘Do French women care nothing for their beauty? We are indeed strange people.’ Gradually, as the evidence in favour of it accumulated, the practice of inoculation caught on. The WHO officially declared smallpox to be eradicated in 1978.
From smallpox to COVID. I had to chuckle the other day to see that Didier Raoult can now be bought as a santon. Raoult was the Marseille doctor who touted Chloroquine as a COVID cure at the beginning of the pandemic. It turned out that despite being a renowned and respected researcher, his dubious methods and unreliable statistics were more those of a charlatan. This didn't stop him promoting his cure in the States, where he found an enthusiastic supporter in President Trump. Today Raoult is in disgrace, dismissed from the medical institute he himself founded. But his santon lookalike has been selling like hotcakes. One can only imagine what Voltaire would have had to say about that.
Santon Strife doesn't feature Raoult, but Darth Vader is there, along with the more familar figures of Joseph, Mary et al. On sale for a limited time for $0.99.
Amazon Apple Barnes & Noble Kobo
