View report page

6o
The report of the Commissioners is as follows, the exact
words of the report being here given. The only portions omitted
are those which did not apply to the metropolis.
We have held 136 meetings for the examination of witnesses,
and have examined 187 witnesses. In addition to this, we have
caused important investigations to be conducted for our assistance.
On the eighteenth occasion on which we met, we were
invited to make a personal examination of two children who were
alleged to have suffered from the effects of vaccination. Some of
the members of the Commission, at the request of their colleagues,
made the desired examination. It was felt, however, that it
would be neither practicable nor expedient to pursue the same
course in other cases in which injury from vaccination was
alleged. Authority was accordingly obtained from the Treasury
to secure the services of competent observers to make such
investigations as might be called for. A large number of cases of
alleged injury from vaccination brought to the notice of the
Commission have thus been the subject of careful investigation.
(A.) As to the effect of vaccination in reducing the prevalence of, and
mortality from, small.pox.
The first of the questions submitted to us by Your Majesty
is as to ' the effect of vaccination in reducing the prevalence of,
and mortality from, small.pox.' This is obviously a fundamental
question. It has been strenuously maintained by some that
vaccination has not had, and indeed, could not have had, any
effect in controlling the spread of Small.Pox or in diminishing its
virulence. They insist that the notion that it is, to any extent, a
protection against Small.Pox rests on no scientific basis, that
there is no relation between vaccinia and variola, and therefore
no reason why those who have been subjected to vaccination
should enjoy any immunity from, or protection against Small.Pox.
They insist, further, that, as a matter of experience, it is not