Vaccination for Smallpox!

Ah! What achievements! My decision to go back to the medical route was surely a good one. I had become Edward Jenner’s partner in discovering the vaccination to small pox! Great discovery I may say. In fact, I was one of the first French doctors to help Edward Jenner. I also became the President of the Committee for Vaccination in Paris. Me and a couple of others found the Academy of Medicine of Paris. 

Thinking back to before, when I was associated with politics, it was not delightful. Now that I’m back to what I do best, medical studies, I feel as if I’m using my life wisely again. Who knows how much longer I’ll live, but I’m content. I contributed a good number of deeds to the world. Now people shall not fear small pox as tremendously anymore. Back a while ago, I remember Voltaire once recorded that 60% of people caught smallpox, with 20% of the population dying of it. People have before tried to use cowpox vaccine as an immunization for smallpox in humans. But Jenner and I, have officially discovered the vaccine for smallpox. 

I am of a good age now. And it is not surprising if I do go anytime. I do hope all the medical ideas and innovations I’ve contributed will help the society. If so, then let me rest in peace.

New Beginning?

Outrageous! This is complete and total nonsense! I was put into prison! I can’t say that this is abnormal considering the time I live in. My friend Count Mere, was one of the accused, he is going to be executed. He just so happens to write a letter to me concerning his family, and requests me to take care of his family after his execution. This letter caused a frown within my political circle and I was arrested and imprisoned.

After I was released from prison, I made my decision to give up politics forever and focus on only medicine. I was a French physician so I was back at where I started out. After Robespierre died, everything was starting to go back on track. I was alive to witness Napoleon Bonaparte come to power. 

Napoleon was truly an amazing young man. He became consul of France in 1802 and became emperor on March 20^th, 1804. I noticed that France had become a good place under Napoleon. He established the Napoleonic code, which laid the administrative and judicial foundations for much of Western Europe including France. In other words, Napoleon issued a couple of laws that benefitted France a lot. I think these codes were much brilliant. The code forbids privileges upon birth, allowed freedom of religion, and government jobs go to the most qualified instead of to certain families. That’s not all Napoleon did. I was walking around one day, and I noticed that higher education and schools were proposed. Tax codes and a new Banque de France were established.  

After all that we’ve been through under Robespierre, I think it’s about time a change.

Paranoia and Disaster

Can you believe it? Today, another man died from the guillotine. That was not the surprising part; in fact it is really normal considering that the time period which I live in was the French Revolution where deaths are considered normal. But the man executed was by the name of Guillotin! No, I did not die. Since me and my family were no longer known by the name Guillotin, the man was not someone from our family. Although this rumor led people to assume that I had died. 

This sickens me. Watching one after another die by the national razor named after ME. What was meant to be a more humane form of execution turned out to be a mean green killing machine. At first I really thought that the guillotine was a great idea, but now that I have seen hundreds upon thousands getting decapitated, it really convinces me that it was such a great idea. It seems as if I was a contributor to the thousands of deaths. The period of the French Revolution was really a time of insecurity. Someone could be fine and dandy but in a blink of an eye could be brought to the guillotine to be executed. The suspicion for counter-revolutionists were solved by executing anyone they suspected. By simply saying “Good day Mister” could get you executed because you’re not saying “Good day citizen” which shows equality that everyone is equal. My point is, the air is unbelievably filled with paranoia. It is a time of fear and disgust watching people die every day.

Introduction to the Guillotine

I wrote a pamphlet called “Petition of the Citizens Living in Paris” in December 1788. This was a proper constitution of States-General. Because of this pamphlet, I was called to give opinions to the French Parliament.

I can’t believe it! They accepted my idea of death by mechanical decapitation! After I became the secretary to the Assemblee Constituante, on October 10, 1789 I made my proposal during a debate on capital punishment. The first step to no death penalty should be a less painful method of execution. So I decided I should propose upon a machine that would make death less painful. They accepted my proposal immediately. I believe that this would make the public feel more appreciative of their rights. 

On December 1, 1789, I made an unfortunate remark during a speech to the Assembly about capital punishment. I now regret it immensely. I said: “Now, with my machine, I cut off your head in the twinkling of an eye, and you never feel it!” My statement, unfortunately became a joke, and a few days later a comic song about me and “my” machine circulated. This forever tied the machine to my name.

But I can feel it. I know that with the new mechanical device, it will be revolutionary! People will thank me for the amazing idea. Executions will be so swift that it will be over before you say anything. I don’t think anything can make it go wrong. In 1791, a law was passed in France saying everyone condemned to death in France shall be decapitated.

Who am I?

I am Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin. I am a French Physician. Many people know me from the mechanical device, the guillotine. Funny thing is, I did not invent the guillotine nor die from it. Two good friends of mine named Antoine Louis and Schmidt invented the guillotine. Antoine Louis was the secretary of the Acadmy of Surgeons and Schmidt was a mechanic. The guillotine was named after me because of my advocacy for painless and swiftful deaths. Quite funny is that the guillotine has an extra "e" compared to my sur name. Some english poet decided to add an "e" for better rythmic purposes. 

I obtained a degree of master of arts from the University of Bordeax. Later, I became a professor of literature at the Irish college at Bordeaux. When I became interested in medicine, I traveled to Paris for studying purposes.  From 1789 -1791, I was the secretary for the Assemblee Constinuante. There, I focused on a medical reform and one day I came across a topic on capital punishment. I wanted to banish death penalty. Knowing that it would be impossible to remove death penalty completely immediately, I proposed to the Legislative Assembly the method of decaptiation, done with a simple mechanism, later known as the Guillotine. Genius, I would say! It was a painless method that replaces the inhumane deaths such as quartering, drowning, hanging, and burning. This would also give the public more appreciation of their rights because of the equality the guillotine brings since everyone dies by it.  

One point in my time, I was very close to being executed myself. Phew! I mean, I was captured and put into a prison because of a letter! The Reign of Terror was definitely a time of paranoia in my opinion! Luckily, after Robespierre fell from power, I was released from prison. After that, I decided to abandon my political career and resume my previous medical profession. If you think the guillotine was the only interesting part of my life, you’re wrong. I’m such an amazing person, not to brag or anything. I was one of the first French doctors to support Edward Jenner’s discovery of vaccination in 1805. I was both the president of the Committee for Vaccination in Paris and one of the founders of the Academy of Medicine in Paris. The downside from all of this was that my family and I weren’t so proud of what the guillotine caused. The association with this death machine was not appreciated by my family. We asked the government to change the name of the mechanical device but the government refused. Guess what we did? We changed our family’s name. That’s right, we were no longer known as the Guillotins.

I lived from 1738-1814, a good age I presume considering the time period which I lived in. I lived in the period of French Revolution, the reign of terror, and Napoleon Dynamite. During the French Revolution, the era known as the reign of terror caused mass executions of people. The committee of public safety was introduced during the reign of terror, their leader, Maximilien Robespierre. Robespierre was executed for having gone too far, ever since his death, the deaths declined, and everything started to calm down.