Baron Thomas Dimsdale was an English doctor, banker and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1780 to 1790. He was created Baron Dimsdale of the Russian Empire by Catherine the Great.
Cartoon showing Edward Jenner, Thomas Dimsdale and George Rose seeing off opponents of vaccination.
Variolation was the method of inoculation first used to immunize individuals against smallpox (Variola) with material taken from a patient or a recently variolated individual, in the hope that a mild, but protective, infection would result. Only 1–2% of those variolated died from the intentional infection compared to 30% who contracted smallpox naturally. Variolation is no longer used today. It was replaced by the smallpox vaccine, a safer alternative. This in turn led to the development of the many vaccines now available against other diseases.
Engraving of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu by Samuel Freeman, after a portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller
"Queens" of Mysore: left, Krishnaraja Wadiyar III's first wife, Devajammani has a discoloration around the mouth, thought to be due to the blowing of variolation dust in the nose ("nasal insufflation"). Right, his second wife shows the discrete mark left by vaccination under her saree. Thomas Hickey, 1805.