The Suttons and the business of inoculation.

THE SurroNs, an eighteenth-century family of Suffolk surgeons consisting of Robert Sutton and six of his sons, were largely responsible for promoting the practice of inoculation for smallpox from an occasional medical procedure to a widespread business venture. Their fame and fortune increased in the second half of that century as inoculation became more popular. Jenner's publication of his method of vaccination in 17981 led to a decline in the use of inoculation and it was finally made illegal in 1840.' Possibly because their method of trying to prevent smallpox was superseded by vaccination, the reputation of the Suttons declined to such an extent that some commentators have regarded them as quacks, and their method of inoculation as both valueless and dangerous. Although there have been a number of short accounts about the Suttons, it is believed that this is the first attempt to trace their progress from contemporary sources and to evaluate their methods. Some of the previous accounts are based on that published in the book Lettsom,3 and were apparently derived from family traditions which contemporary sources have shown to be inaccurate.