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188
[1908
The last line of this letter gives the real reason why inoculation was prohibited
in England when vaccination was introduced The persons inoculated
were a danger to everyone with whom they came into contact who had not
previously contracted Small Pox or who had not been inoculated, for they
were suffering from the disease themselves. Vaccinated persons on the contrary
are no danger to the community, although they themselves became
immune from the disease, which immunity lasted for a considerable time.
Can anything show more clearly the madness of these anti-vaccinators
than the suggestion to sweep away not only inoculation, which nobody now
desires, but vaccination, which has done, and is doing so much for the prevention
of Small Pox throughout the world ? Do they desire to have the nation
return to those days and conditions so well described in an old book on
Domestic Medicine,* written by Dr. W. Buchan, written so long ago as 1769
in Edinburgh? This is what he says:—
"This disease is so general that few escape it at one time of life or
another. It is the most contagious malady in these parts; and has for
upwards of a thousand years proved the scourge of Europe. The smallpox
generally appear towards the spring. They are very frequent in
summer, less so in autumn, and least of all in the winter. Children are
most liable to this disease. . . The small-pox are generally caught by
infection. Since the disease was brought into Europe, the infection has
never been wholly extinguished, and is so generally known that a minute
description of it is unnecessary."
Dr. Buchan then goes on to speak of—
" The inexpressible terrors that perpetually harass persons who never
had the disease, in so much that where the small-pox is epidemical,
entire villages are depopulated, markets ruined, and the face of distress
spread over the whole country. From this terror it arises that justice is
frequently postponed or discouraged at sessions or assizes where small-pox
rages. Witnesses and juries dare not appear; and by reason of the necessary
absence of some gentlemen, our honourable and useful judges are not
attended with that reverence due to their office and merit. With regard to
the soldiery, it is stated that the miseries attending these poor creatures
when attacked by small-pox on a march is inconceivable; without attendance,
without lodgings, without any accommodation; so that one of three
commonly perishes.
*This book had an enormous sale and was found in nearly every household. The M. O. H.
recollects it on his grandfather's bookshelves. It was the first medical book he ever saw. He is
indebted for the extract to the "Medical Officer."