Five deadly epidemics, chiefly typhus and smallpox, struck Mexico City in the years between 1761 and 1813, claiming a minimum of fifty thousand lives. Mexico City was at that time the major metropolis of the New World and the capital of New Spain—by far the richest and most sophisticated city in that vast empire. It had the best medicines, the best doctors, and the best hospitals of the New World. What caused these devastating epidemics? Donald B. Cooper here makes a thorough study of the problem. Based almost entirely on unpublished manuscript materials from the national archives of Mexico and the municipal archives of Mexico City, his work represents the first detailed study of the impact of epidemic disease on the history of New Spain, primarily of its capital. The course of each epidemic, its inclusive dates, the mortality it caused, and its effect upon the community are fully described. At the time a major epidemic was in progress, the author says, all levels of government, national and local, secular and ecclesiastical, became involved in varying degrees in providing resources and leadership. The Church, wealthy corporations, and private citizens contributed the main funds. During the actual time of crisis, an outbreak could be prosecuted with remarkable success and cooperation. Once an epidemic was over, however, little was done to prevent another. No single person or agency in Mexico City was sufficiently cognizant of the diverse problems involved to cope with them within a national or regional range—not even the viceroy. Such vital public works as aqueducts, waterlines, roads, and canals were inadequately maintained. Such essential municipal services as cleaning streets and canals, collecting garbage and refuse, and caring for the muddy, shallow cemeteries were poor if not nonexistent. Government officials, as well as the populace, were insufficiently concerned with the relation between sanitation and disease. The practice of medicine in eighteenth-century Mexico had few scientific or professional aspects. The close relation of medicine and theology tended to inhibit experimentation that might have effectively broadened the frontiers of medical knowledge. Traditionalism acted as a barrier to the adoption of innovations. In the epidemic of 1779, for instance, inoculation—which could have saved innumerable lives—was totally rejected; in the outbreak of 1797 it was accepted only by the small upper class; when vaccination came to Mexico in 1803 it met the same militant opposition. The wonder, then, is not that so many died of disease, but that so many lived.

Five deadly epidemics, chiefly typhus and smallpox, struck Mexico City in the years between 1761 and 1813, claiming a minimum of fifty thousand lives. Mexico City was at that time the major metropolis of the New World and the capital of New Spain--by far the richest and most sophisticated city in that vast empire. It had the best medicines, the best doctors, and the best hospitals of the New World. What caused these devastating epidemics? Donald B. Cooper here makes a thorough study of the problem. Based almost entirely on unpublished manuscript materials from the national archives of Mexico and the municipal archives of Mexico City, his work represents the first detailed study of the impact of epidemic disease on the history of New Spain, primarily of its capital. The course of each epidemic, its inclusive dates, the mortality it caused, and its effect upon the community are fully described. At the time a major epidemic was in progress, the author says, all levels of government, national and local, secular and ecclesiastical, became involved in varying degrees in providing resources and leadership. The Church, wealthy corporations, and private citizens contributed the main funds. During the actual time of crisis, an outbreak could be prosecuted with remarkable success and cooperation. Once an epidemic was over, however, little was done to prevent another. No single person or agency in Mexico City was sufficiently cognizant of the diverse problems involved to cope with them within a national or regional range--not even the viceroy. Such vital public works as aqueducts, waterlines, roads, and canals were inadequately maintained. Such essential municipal services as cleaning streets and canals, collecting garbage and refuse, and caring for the muddy, shallow cemeteries were poor if not nonexistent. Government officials, as well as the populace, were insufficiently concerned with the relation between sanitation and disease. The practice of medicine in eighteenth-century Mexico had few scientific or professional aspects. The close relation of medicine and theology tended to inhibit experimentation that might have effectively broadened the frontiers of medical knowledge. Traditionalism acted as a barrier to the adoption of innovations. In the epidemic of 1779, for instance, inoculation--which could have saved innumerable lives--was totally rejected; in the outbreak of 1797 it was accepted only by the small upper class; when vaccination came to Mexico in 1803 it met the same militant opposition. The wonder, then, is not that so many died of disease, but that so many lived.

This master's thesis is a short historical fiction piece that describes the 1797 smallpox epidemic in Mexico City during which inoculation was widely utilized for the first time in the Spanish colonies in order to decrease the fatalities attributed to this disease. A major portion of the background information and sources for this story came from the State files in the Archive of the Indies located in Seville, Spain. These files held numerous letters sent to the King of Spain in 1798 from the viceroy of New Spain, Marqués de Branciforte, and the civil judge, Cosme de Mier y Trespalacios. These letters contained extensive material on two vital aspects of the 1797 epidemics: the precautions against the spread of smallpox implemented by the government in Mexico City and the statistics of the number of people inoculated, the number of people infected, and the number of people killed. Beyond the archival research, more information about Mexico City at the end of the 18th Century was accumulated by perusing relevant journal articles such as Mark A Burkholder's "Audiencia" in the Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture and Paul Ramírez's "`Like Herod's Massacre': Quarantines, Bourbon Reform, and Popular Protest in Oaxaca's Smallpox Epidemic, 1796-1797" in The Academy of American Franciscan History. Also, Donald B. Cooper's book, Epidemic Disease in Mexico City 1761-1813: An Administrative, Social, and Medical Study, was exceptionally helpful as it provided the context necessary to create fictional characters appropriate to Mexico City for a time period over two centuries ago. The epidemic of 1797 in New Spain was unique in that the controversial inoculation procedure was more widely utilized in the population. The debate surrounding the risks and potential of inoculation marks a pivotal stage in the history of medicine, thus this topic was investigated in the works of Vicente Ferrer, Francisco Gil, Jaime Menós y de Llena, Timoteo O'Scanlan, and Francisco Salvá y Campillo. In addition to these pieces on smallpox and inoculation, Simon André David Tissot's book, Warning to the Town, was reviewed for all of the basic treatments and symptoms of smallpox, as this book was widely available in the Spanish colonies at the end of the 18th Century. Although mankind utilized the technique of inoculation as early as 1000 A.D., this procedure was not introduced to the Western world until early in the 18th century. This "new" preventative option against the contagious smallpox disease was utilized on a limited basis in the 1720's in both Britain and, across the Atlantic Ocean, in the city of Boston. However, even with its numerous successes, the few fatalities associated with inoculation simulated a huge debate about the safety and necessity of the widespread usage of this potentially dangerous procedure. As a result, in the ensuing decades individual doctors practiced inoculation but its widespread implementation was not sponsored politically until the 1797 epidemic in Mexico City. Due to the significant loss of lives during the preceding smallpox strike of 1779 on Mexico City, drastic measures had to be taken resulting in the government's approval of widespread inoculation. This was a significant moment in history as it paved the way for the acceptance of the smallpox vaccination that Edward Jenner created in 1796 which led to the eventual eradication of this horrible disease. Although you now understand the historical significance of the 1797 smallpox epidemic, you cannot truly understand the pain smallpox caused or the uncertainty surrounding inoculation from this detached perspective. My thesis takes on a personal and in-depth description of the horrific events of this historical epidemic from the viewpoints of three very different characters: a civil judge, a doctor, and a child. Using these varied perspectives, I portray for you the anxiety, fear, and agony so often associated with smallpox epidemics in the 18th century, however, completely unfamiliar to the population today. These historically accurate events of 1797 show how people reacted to a deadly epidemic without any effective treatment options and with a preventative measure that many warned could spread the disease even more.