Letter 4155

Hartley writes to Sloane thanking him for his letter last year and would like to acquaint him with the success they had with an Inoculation. There were four persons who received the operation, one of which went through the distemper very well and is now (with the others) in perfect health. The town is now free of the infection for half a year and the account of people who died of it was no more than one in eleven. David Hartley, (bap.1705, d.1757), philosopher and physician. Practiced medicine in Newark after obtaining a BA and MA from Jesus College, Cambridge. He was interested in inoculations for small pox and published on the controversial subject. (Richard C. Allen, ‘Hartley, David (bap. 1705, d. 1757)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12494, accessed 14 Aug 2015])