• DOI:10.1177/096777200100900403
• Corpus ID: 41392514

The enigma of Johnnie "Notions" Williamson.

@article{Conacher2001TheEO,
  title={The enigma of Johnnie "Notions" Williamson.},
  author={Ian D Conacher},
  journal={Journal of medical biography},
  year={2001},
  volume={9 4},
  pages={
          208-12
        }
}

• I. Conacher
• Published 1 November 2001
• History
• Journal of medical biography

Stand on the cliffs at the lighthouse of Eshaness with your back to the swell and roar of the North Atlantic. Survey, as far as the eye can see, the windswept and treeless coastal plain of Northmavine on the main island of Shetland (Figure 1). Before you lies practically the whole life of John Williamson, otherwise known as Johnnie "Notions". Behind you, that which would have dominated his life, and that of Zetlanders for aeons, even before the Vikings. Consider an enigma. Somewhere between the land and the sea lie those elements that, in the eighteenth century, enabled a humble man, of rudimentary education, and no medical background, to develop a technique that Shetlanders believe protected many of their antecedents from the scourges of smallpox. His life, recently thrown into sharp focus2, was lived mainly in the little village of Hamnavoe, a mile to the north-east. His last resting place is a mere stone's throw away, in Cross Kirk graveyard (Figures 2 and 3). It has been said to be marked, erroneously, by a unique runic stone of considerable antiquity, great archaeological interest, and of some controversy3. His method, a variant of variolation, was to be eclipsed by Jenner and vaccination, which was evolving almost contemporaneously. The story of the latter discovery is comparatively easy to put together. For Jenner, 10 or so years the younger, there were intellectual signposts a medical training, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, the folklore