AP Success - AP World History: Lady Montagu on Early Modern Medicine
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, wife of British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Letter to Friend, 1717"The small-pox, so fatal, and so general amongst us, is here entirely harmless, by the invention of engrafting, which is the term they give it. There is a set of old women, who make it their business to perform the operation . . . the old woman comes with a nut-shell full of the matter of the best sort of small-pox, and asks what vein you please to have opened. She immediately rips open that you offer to her, with a large needle (which gives you no more pain than a common scratch) and puts into the vein as much matter as can lie upon the head of her needle . . . There is no example of any one that has died in it, and you may believe I am well satisfied of the safety of this experiment, since I intend to try it on my dear little son."
Question 1
Based on Lady Montagu's description, what medical practice is being referred to in the source?
Bloodletting
Herbal medicine
Variolation
Vaccination
Question 2
What can be inferred about Lady Montagu's attitude towards the medical practice she describes?
She is indifferent to the practice and its outcomes.
She is confident in its safety and effectiveness.
She disapproves of the practice on ethical grounds.
She is skeptical about its efficacy.
Question 3
The practice of 'engrafting' as described by Lady Montagu is most similar to which of the following?
Use of antibiotics to treat bacterial infections
Surgical procedures to repair physical injuries
Application of leeches for blood purification
Inoculation with live pathogens to induce immunity
Question 4
The source suggests that the practice of 'engrafting' was carried out by which group of people in the Ottoman Empire?
Government officials as a public health measure
Religious figures as part of spiritual healing
Old women who specialized in the procedure
Trained male physicians
Question 5
What does Lady Montagu's willingness to try the procedure on her son indicate about the cultural exchange between the Ottoman Empire and Britain at the time?
Ottoman medical practices were seen as primitive and were disregarded by the British.
There was some level of acceptance and adoption of Ottoman medical practices by the British.
British medical practices were dominant and influenced Ottoman methods.
The British were generally resistant to adopting foreign medical practices.
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