The army and navy : a demonstration of the uselessness of vaccination / by Alfred Russel Wallace.

Alfred Russel Wallace

Date:: [1901?]

Credit: The army and navy : a demonstration of the uselessness of vaccination / by Alfred Russel Wallace. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$Lt- THE ARMY AND NAVY: A DEMON STRAIN \ OF THE USELESSNESS OF v •: tjljO By Peofessok Alfked Russel Wallace. (1) The doctors always claim that, though the effect of vaccination in infancy wears out, yet re-vaccination offers an almost complete protection for the rest of the person’s life. In a circular issued in 1884, and up to the time of the Eoyal Com- mission widely distributed ivith the approval of the Local Government Board, it is stated that : “ Soldiers who have been re-vaccinated can live in cities intensely affected by small-pox without themselves suffering to any appreciable degree from the disease.” I will now show you that this statement is absolutely false. (2) All soldiers and sailors are re-vaccinated on entering the service, unless they have recently had small-pox. The reports of the Eoyal Commission give the small-pox deaths in the Army and Navy from 1860 to 1894. The Eegistrar-General gives the total mortality from disease in the two services for the same period. I have compared these two mor- talities by means of a diagram constructed from the tables, and this is what we find. First, throughout$

The army and navy : a demonstration of the uselessness of vaccination / by Alfred Russel Wallace.

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