In 1726, Francois-Xavier D'Entrecolles2(1654-1730), one of the members of the French Jesuit Mission in China, wrote a letter to Jean Baptiste Du Halde (1674-1743), superior of the Paris Mission, in which he commented in depth on the Chinese practice of inoculation. His letter was not, however, a mere description of what he saw, but reflected in different ways how D'Entrecolles viewed Chinese culture in general, and Chinese medicine in particular. Besides, his point of view inevitably meant that D'Entrecolles was participating in the European
controversy on smallpox inoculation, which he was very much aware of. As a Jesuit, he stood in a particular position: he was a member of the Catholic Church
which firmly rejected the practice of inoculation, but he supported the practice. At the beginning of his letter, D Entrecolles specially quoted an article written by the
French doctor Jean Delacoste, published in Memoires de Trevoux in 1724. Delacoste discussed the practice of inoculation and, according to D'Entrecolles, he was aware of the resemblances between it and Chinese medical procedures.