Killing the speckled monster: riots, resistance and reward in the story of smallpox vaccination

En route to the vaccination exhibition, it was easy to get distracted by the impressive variety of preserved specimens on display in one of London's most fascinating museums, the Hunterian. Jar upon jar of human and animal body parts as well as medical tools, skeletons, and other paraphernalia are enough to keep a visitor absorbed for hours. Happily, the Qvist gallery exhibition of Vaccination: Medicine and the Masses was equally captivating.