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retaining compulsory vaccination in any form. We allude
especially to the following statements, in which we generally
concur:—
Section 399.—"It is not open to doubt that there have been
cases in which injury and death have resulted from vaccination."
Section 409.—"It must not be forgotten that the introduction
into the system of even a mild virus, however carefully performed,
is necessarily attended by the production of local inflammation
and of febrile illness."
Section 410.—"It is established that lymph contains
organisms, and may contain those which, under certain circumstances,
would be productive of erysipelas."
In section 413 we are told that vaccination may become
exceptionally risky, through special circumstances over which, in
our opinion, the parents can have little or no control, such as the
prevalence of disease in the neighbourhood.
Section 417.—"It may, indeed, easily be the fact that
vaccination, in common with chicken-pox, measles, small-pox,
and other specific fevers, does occasionally serve as an exciting
cause of a scrofulous outbreak.'
Section 418.—"It is freely to be admitted that vaccinia, like
varicella, does occasionally cause an irritable condition of skin
which may last long, but it is exceedingly improbable that it is
responsible for any substantial increase in the number of chronic
skin diseases in children." And again, "Amongst the inconveniences
connected with vaccination is the production of
contagious forms of eruption, such as have been classed under the
names of porrigo and impetigo contagiosa. These eruptions are
not attended with any risk to life, nor by any permanent injury to
health, and they are usually curable by simple measures. References
to these eruptions have been made by many witnesses.