The vaccination dilemma : &c. A word to our legislators / by E. Haughton.

  • Haughton, E. (Edward)
Date:
[1889?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The vaccination dilemma : &c. A word to our legislators / by E. Haughton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    Delusion, and in Dr. Charles Creighton's monograph upon Jenner. In the latter work the great apostle of blood-poisoning is shown to be a worthy representative of the fabulous cuckoo which his imagination has depicted, to the discredit of natural history, rather than a careful student of Nature and a generous benefactor of long- suffering humanity. With regard to the Royal Commission of Inquiry, which has recently been proposed, it must not be taken for granted that it will settle any of the points under dispute. The official medical reports on the condition of Leicester and Birmingham have been largely occupied by the endeavour to prove that the well-vaccinated town of Birmingham would have had more small-pox if it had not been for vaccination, and that the comparatively ill- vaccinated town of Leicester owes its strange and long- continued immunity from small-pox to an oppressive system of isolation and re-vaccination. On the other hand, the elaborate report of Dr. Barry on the thoroughly vaccinated town of Sheffield gravely assures us that a study of the frightful epidemic of small-pox which has recently prevailed there, ought to convince the most obstinate anti-vaccinator of the priceless benefits of vacci- nation. The report, having proved a little too much, is withdrawn for correction, after having been puffed in almost every paper in the kingdom. There is absolutely no point in connection with the practice upon which there is anything like general agree- ment amongst modern physicians. Take, for instance, the following questions:—What is the true so^yf^ of vaccine lymph ? What is its nattm, and what are its pathological effects ? How often must we be vaccinated in order to be safe from small-pox ? What is the degree of protection afforded ? In what way should the operation be per- formed—K'hethey by one or many punctures ? &c. Under these circumstances it is quite useless to appeal to authority; for it may be asked which of the authorities we are to follow ? Whether Jenner, who thought the virus came originally from a disease in the horse ; or Dr. Martin, of Boston, who thought it must occur spontaneously in the cow; or Dr. S. Wilks, who doubts if there is such a disease as vaccinia ; or the bulk of British medical opinion