Microscope observations travel from Delft

His dated letter reported living “animalcules” in pepper water and water from different sources.

The letter compared well, rain, sea and other waters through a microscope; identification of individual species came later.

The 9 October account became important to the later history of microbiology, although it was not yet a theory of infectious disease.

Historical accounts date Boylston’s first group to 26 June: his son Thomas and the enslaved Jack and Jackey were inoculated against smallpox.

Jack and his young son Jackey were enslaved by Boylston; their participation in this experiment must not be portrayed as freely chosen.

Onesimus, enslaved by Cotton Mather, had earlier described an African inoculation method that shaped advocacy during the epidemic.