Water samples reveal an unseen living world

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

Leeuwenhoek sent his observations to Henry Oldenburg in London for discussion at the Royal Society.

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.

Boylston treated his own son and two people he enslaved, while Asian, African and Ottoman variolation practices long predated Boston’s experiment.