Variolation
Smallpox
quotes
The deliberate inoculation of an uninfected person with the smallpox virus (as by contact with pustular matter) that was widely practiced before the era of vaccination as prophylaxis against the severe form of smallpox .
The Chinese were the first to put this observation into practice through an early form of vaccination called variolation, which was carried out as early as the 10th century and particularly between the 14th and 17th centuries. The aim was to prevent smallpox by exposing healthy people to matter from the lesions caused by the disease, either by putting it under the skin, or, more often, inserting powdered scabs from smallpox pustules into the nose (see picture, below). http://www.immunisation.org.uk/history.html