Letter from Benjamin Waterhouse to Edward Everett

Letter from Benjamin Waterhouse to Edward Everett

Waterhouse, Benjamin, 1754-1846 (author)

Vaccination

Everett, Edward, 1794-1865

Correspondence

Letter books

In the 1820s, years after his initial vaccination experiments, Benjamin Waterhouse remained closely involved with the subject. He used this letterbook to keep copies of correspondence with President John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, and other influential political figures on the advisability of the government appointing a national director of vaccination programs.

In this letter, addressed to Massachusetts Congressman Edward Everett (1794-1865), Waterhouse outlines his experience with vaccination and concludes with this: "Whereas you have a very expensive dept. for destroying human life, would it not be for the honour of the New World to have a little national establishment for the preservation of human life; more especially as the devouring monster, small pox, has a lready destroyed many millions (some say 40) more lives than there are people now on the face of the earth."

Autograph letter from Benjamin Waterhouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Edward Everett in Washington, D.C.

Waterhouse, Benjamin, 1754-1846

1826 December 02

The Harvard Medical Library does not hold copyright on all materials in this collection. For use information, consult Public Services at chm@hms.harvard.edu

Access to the original work depicted requires advance notice. Contact Public Services at chm@hms.harvard.edu for additional information

Harvard Medical Library Rare Books Collection (H MS b16.2)

text

1 manuscript letter

English

text

DigID0002459

Gift of Mary Ware Sampson and Margaret Thayer Lancaster to the Harvard Medical Library, 1941