The progress of preventive medicine and sanitary measures : being the Thruston speech on the Wendy Commemoration at Caius College, delivered on May 10, 1856 / by A.W. Barclay.

  • Barclay, A. W., 1817-1884.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The progress of preventive medicine and sanitary measures : being the Thruston speech on the Wendy Commemoration at Caius College, delivered on May 10, 1856 / by A.W. Barclay. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    atmosphere deprive him, in so far do they restore those re- quisites which nature has decreed to be essential alike for the well-being of the individual and the health and hap- piness of his progeny. In dealing with the causes of disease to which we have just adverted, the great aim of preventive medicine would be accomplished were it possible, as in the case of lead poi- son, to render the bodies of those who are necessarily ex- posed to them, insusceptible of their influence. One very remarkable instance of such an effect is associated with the history of small-pox, which has been already taken as an illustration of zymotic poison. No doubt the anticipated result has not been fully realised, but it is to me almost inconceivable that when its means are so simple, it should be necessary for the Legislature to step in and make it com- pulsory on parents to bestow on their children such an amount of secm'ity as vaccination affords. It is the most astonishing evidence of the apathy and indifference of the public, that at this day upwards of 7000 persons should perish annually throughout England and Wales from a dis- ease which may be, to so great an extent, prevented* by this precautionary measure. It was long known that a person who had once been attacked by small-pox was scarcely ever similarly afflicted • The actual amount of protection in the face of so much small-pox continually prevailing, is well shown by Dr. Balfour (Med. Chir. Trans. vol. XXXV.) who proves that among protected persons of all ages, soldiers, sailors, and boys in England, the deaths from small-pox are only about one in 6400 persons annually; while the returns of the Registrar General show a mortality of one in 2600 of the inhabitants, many of whom however belong to the class of those protected by vaccination. Among sailors who are least exposed to contact with unvaccinated persons, the mortality is at a minimum, only about 1 in 20,000 annually; and if all England were vaccinated, we may believe the annual deaths would therefore be reduced to 700.