If the name Charles Sherwood Stratton does not sound familiar to you, it may be because Stratton was best known by his circus name: General Tom Thumb. That name was appropriate because Stratton was a little person. His body was diminutive but perfectly formed. As a young man, he was only 25 inches tall and weighed 15 pounds. Later on, he grew to be 40 inches tall and weighed 70 pounds. He was a sensation wherever Phineas T. Barnum exhibited him.

#23 The word dissemination means:

a. Widespread scattering;
extensive spreading
b. To pass out to a small group
c. Cessation; stopping
d. Moderation

#22 The word diminutive means:

a. Softer
b. Tiny; very small
c. Broken; not quite right
d. Excessively large

No discussion of smallpox vaccination would be complete without including the one man who made the miracle possible, Dr. Edward Jenner. Jenner was a country doctor in 18th-century England when the dream of finding a way to stop the smallpox scourge first came to him. In those days, the only measure taken against smallpox was a form of inoculation introduced in England in 1717 by a woman of great stature, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, wife of the British Ambassador to Turkey. While staying in that country, Lady Montagu had observed a unique and apparently satisfactory technique of inoculation, and was so impressed by it that she described it in a letter she wrote home. This letter ultimately led to dissemination of the procedure throughout England.