The first scientific book published by Jacob de Castro Sarmento, a Portuguese doctor who escaped from the Portuguese Inquisition, was published soon after his arrival in London. Named A Dissertation on the Method of Inoculating the Small-Pox with Critical Remarks on the Several Authors who have treated of this Disease (1721), it was the first book published in England addressing smallpox inoculation, at a time when there was a heated debate concerning its universal application. In 1722, Sarmento published the Latin Version of Dissertation, which was reprinted several years later, in 1731, when Sarmento became a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. The book was also included as a supplement to Materia Medica (1735, 1758), and continued in circulation until the end of the century. This chapter intends to clarify some aspects, which have seldom been considered. One set of questions relates to the editorial life of the book: Who edited the book? How many editions exist? Was the book pirated by unscrupulous editors? Was the book translated? The chapter also aims to assess the book’s impact among readers and its contribution to Sarmento’s prestige and his affirmation as a scientific authority. Other set of questions includes the evaluation of Portuguese doctors’ reaction to Sarmento’s book and the application of inoculation in Portugal.
...MoreBook Ana Simões; Marta Lourenço; José Alberto Silva (2021) Ciência, Technologia, e Medicina na Construção de Portugal. 2: Razão e Progresso (Séc. XVIII) (Science, Technology and Medicine in the Construction of Portugal: Reason and Progress. 18th Century, volume 2).
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