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71
regard to some of its provisions, could scarcely have been
more unsatisfactory had it been designed to abolish compulsory
vaccination. Indeed, it is not infrequently described as "An
Act to Abolish Compulsory Vaccination," for the "conscientious
objector" can avoid the vaccination of his children
without any sensible difficulty and without expense. The
one good feature in the Act is that it provides for the use of
glycerinated calf-lymph, and so cuts the ground from under
the feet of those who objected to vaccination because of the
bare possibility of enthetic disease being conveyed in
humanised lymph. Previously, as had been shown in these
reports, the Local Government Board almost penalised the
employment of calf lymph, which, it may be mentioned, had
been used for several years at the vaccination stations in this
parish when desired by parents. Public vaccination stations
are abolished by the Act, which will entail considerably
increased expenditure upon the ratepayers. It remains to be
seen what will be the ultimate effect of the measure upon
the number of vaccinations, under the provision which
takes the offer of free vaccination, and, if necessary, of free
medical treatment of any infantile troubles arising out of
vaccination, or during the vaccination period.
The facts stated in the report of the Royal Commission
on vaccination, go to show that the community is becoming
every year less protected against small-pox (as the figures
above citied plainly show); for each year, so far, the
number of unvaccinated children increases; and, I fear there
is no great probability of a large increase in the number of
vaccinations (which is the primary consideration) under the Act,
which, moreover, does not deal with the question of revaccination
In a word, so far as one can at present form an opinion on
the subject, the Act would seem to be a poor outcome of the
seven years' labours of the Royal Commission ; this body,
moreover, having, in the judgment of unprejudiced persons,
demonstrated both the safety of vaccination and its efficiency,
under prescribed conditions, as a protection against small pox.