In crediting the work of Edward Jenner (The long read, The hunt for the perfect flu vaccine, 24 January), you fail to mention that his work was based on the earlier discovery of smallpox inoculation by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Having suffered from smallpox herself, she later inoculated her own children against the disease, after witnessing the Turkish practice while staying in the Ottoman empire. On her return to England she promoted the practice and it was used successfully, but the medical establishment rejected it at the time.
Edward Jenner used the safer cowpox (a milder form of smallpox) vaccine instead, taking pus from an infected cow rather than a person who had already contracted smallpox, but the principle had already been discovered. Lady Mary deserves some recognition, though. Plus ça change?
Janet Leach
Ilkley, West Yorkshire
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