Mather, Cotton

Mather, Cotton

March 19, 1663

Boston, Massachusetts

February 13, 1728

Boston, Massachusetts

Clergyman and scientist

"There is not a Fly but would confute [refute conclusively] an Atheist."

Cotton Mather.

Cotton Mather's life and work illustrate two sides of early American scientific thinking. As a Congregational (Puritan) clergyman and a firm believer in divine revelation (the word of God) and miracles, Mather accepted such unscientific notions as witchcraft. He supported the Salem witch trials, although he later changed his position. The author of hundreds of books and sermons, he ranks highly among the early American theologians. Yet he was also a leading scientist and only one of two colonial Americans to be elected to the Royal Society of London, a prestigious scientific organization in England. (Benjamin Franklin was the other American member; see entry.) Reconciling his interest in science with his religious views, Mather advocated the study of science as a means of teaching about God. A well-informed amateur physician (one who has no formal medical training), Mather was at the forefront of promoting medical advances such as the smallpox inoculation. (Smallpox is a highly contagious, often fatal, disease, and inoculation is the introduction of the disease-causing agent into the body in order to create resistance.) His book The Angel of Bethesda, a catalog of common ailments and theirremedies, made significant contributions to colonial American medicine.