Good afternoon everyone,
Following recent protests over mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations at ChristianaCare, the name of Dr. James Tilton briefly surfaced.
Tilton was the owner of the landmark Tilton Mansion in Wilmington, the longtime home of the University and Whist Club. He is a towering figure in Delaware medicine as a pioneering surgeon and a founder of the Medical Society of Delaware.
Lost in the mists of history is the story of how a new nation responded to disease threats.
Naturally enough, the name of Ben Franklin enters the conversation. Franklin’s early views on smallpox remain unclear, but we know that his young son’s death from the disease led to lasting regrets.
We also know Ben Franklin’s older brother, James, went out his way to use the newspaper to promote anti-inoculation beliefs while claiming he was a neutral observer. In other words, he was an earlier version of the online influencers we see online. For a time, young Been worked with his brother and learned the printing trade.
An ally in the fight against smallpox was one of the more infamous figures in colonial history, Salem Witch Trial champion Cotton Mather.
Mather championed the inoculations despite opposition from a divided Boston.
In the colonies, smallpox outbreaks continued into the Revolutionary War.
That brings us to Tilton, who grew up near Smyrna and graduated from the first medical school in the colonies at the University of Pennsylvania. Tilton joined the Continental Army, which soon faced the scourge of smallpox and typhus.
According to a well-researched article from the University and Whist Club, Tilton found that close quarters led to outbreaks of typhus and determined that better ventilation less crowding reduced its spread.
Tilton’s role in combatting smallpox is less clear, but it is apparent that he made common-sense changes that strengthened the fighting ability of George Washington’s army.
Facing a dire situation, the Continental Congress ordered soldiers to receive the sometimes dangerous inoculations. Without the order and medical steps from Tilton and others, the British, who had a degree of “herd immunity” from smallpox exposure, could have won out over a weakened foe.
After the Continentals prevailed and the Constitution was crafted, Tilton continued to practice medicine from his home while involving himself in Delaware politics. Toward the end of his life, he became the nation’s first surgeon general.
Later, smallpox was beaten back, thanks to a vaccine developed by a British doctor at the end of the 1700s.
We learn from this look at history that humans are a species suseptable to influencers.
The ultimate irony is that the term liberty by anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers is used when other arguments prove futile.
Without inoculations and related actions, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness would never have been woven into this nation’s fabric. – Doug Rainey, chief content officer.
