French physician (1738-1814). Autograph letter signed. Paris. 4to. 2 pp. on a bifolium, watermarked with a plow and scythes.
$ 7,573 / 6.500 €
(98139/BN64056)
To the mayor of the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, in which Guillotin conveys his enthusiasm for offering free cowpox vaccinations to the local poor as an act of charity and states his availability for the project: "J'ai veux la lettre que vous m'avez fait l'honneur de m'écrire hier, par laquelle vous avez la bonté de me faire part de l'arrêté que vous avez pris pour accepter l'offre que vous font les Citoyens Delaporte et etudié de vacciner gratuitement les indigens de l'arrondissement, et du desir qu'ils ont de concourir avec moi à cet acte de bienfaisance".
He adds that he will be delighted to help his fellow citizens and cooperate with the magistrates concerned with the suffering of the destitute: "Je m’estimerai toujours trop heureux, Citoyen Maire, de pouvoir faire quelque chose qui puisse être utile à mes Concitoyens, et agréable aux Magistrats qui s’occupent du soulagement de l’humanité, et surtout de la classe indigente du peuple". - The French revolutionary physician Guillotin, who had proposed the use of a quicker and more reliable execution device that became known as the Guillotine, was one of the earliest physicians to support vaccinations. At the time of this letter he served as chairman of the Central Vaccination Committee in Paris. Vaccinations were a safe way to prevent people from contracting smallpox, which killed around 10% of the global population at the onset of the 19th century. While inoculations against smallpox had been practised in China since the 10th century, it was Edward Jenner who first performed systematic research on the disease and developed the first vaccine in the West..