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The year 1850 was plagued by stormy weather and the turbulent conditions were closely followed by the aptly named George Merryweather, a doctor in Whitby, North Yorkshire, who claimed to forecast storms using leeches. Merryweather had been inspired by distinguished predecessors such as the 18th-century poet William Cowper. “I have a leech in a bottle that foretells all these prodigies and convulsions of Nature,” Cowper wrote. “He is worth all the barometers in the world.” Edward Jenner, inventor of the smallpox vaccine, was another believer in the forecasting abilities of leeches, observing how agitated they became before storms: “The leech...

In 1796, he carried out his now famous experiment on eight-year-old James Phipps. Jenner inserted pus taken from a cowpox pustule and inserted it into an incision on the boy's arm. He was testing his theory, drawn from the folklore of the countryside, that milkmaids who suffered the mild disease of cowpox never contracted smallpox, one of the greatest killers of the period, particularly among children. Jenner subsequently proved that having been inoculated with cowpox Phipps was immune to smallpox. He submitted a paper to the Royal Society in 1797 describing his experiment, but was told that his ideas were...

Do you personally know anyone who has died of COVID? Seeking real first hand info. Not my boss' cousin or wife's friend's sister anecdotal info.

<p>WASHINGTON - Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said yesterday he does not plan to be inoculated with the smallpox vaccine and recommends that other Cabinet members not request the inoculation either.</p> <p>"I do not believe it is necessary or should be taking place," he said.</p>