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185
[1908
from the Metropolitan Asylums Board Hospitals were overwhelmingly in favour
of the efficacy of vaccination, the other shook his head, whereupon Dr. Glover
asked him with surprise, "Do you not believe them?" to which he replied, "No."
"Then am I to understand that you mean to say that these statistics are
cooked?" said the doctor; to which the anti-vaccinator replied, " Yes, certainly."
When men will go to this length, it is apparent they must be in a very tight
corner, and that they will not be convinced, preferring to slander a body of
able men, whose only desire was to throw light on the subject of vaccination
Such a slander can only be described as despicable. If a man who by his birth
and education should be a gentleman, is capable of making such a statement as
that mentioned, what can be expected from those humble followers among the
working classes who have never had any education, and who, not having had a
chance of studying the other side of the question, make rash statements as to
the value of the greatest preventative of one of the most terrible diseases the
world has ever known.
It is sometimes asked if anti-vaccinators are ever converted. They are,
when the force of circumstances is too strong for them, or when seeing means
believing, as the following instances show. The writer many years ago, when in
charge of the Small Pox Hospitals in the Borough of Sunderland, had under his
care a man who was a very strong anti-vaccinator. He was well-known to the
public, and was a leader among the labouring classes of the borough. His attack
was comparatively mild, for, fortunately for him, he had been vaccinated when
he was young, and consequently his attack was slight, and he soon became
sufficiently convalescent to be able to observe the other patients in the ward in
which he had been placed. It was not long before he commenced to talk about
Small Pox and vaccination, and also to note the different types of the disease
that were under treatment in his ward. This led him to make inquiries as
to the state of vaccination of these people, and soon he was enabled to say
pretty positively, when new patients were brought into the ward, whether they
had previously been vaccinated or not, with the result that before he left
the institution he became a very confirmed believer in the power of vaccination.
As he said, " I cannot close my eyes to the fact that the disease in nearly every
case in which the patient was unvaccinated, was of a very virulent character,
while among the vaccinated it was as a rule of a very mild type." It is only
by such an experience that one can ever hope to convert the anti-vaccinator,
who, like every other " anti," is steeped in prejudice against his pet aversion.
Another case is also of great, if melancholy interest. It is only one, but the
first,of many experiences which the Medical Officerof Health could relate. In the
early part of the year 1873 he entertained in his father's house one
evening, at a time when Small Pox was very prevalent, in the City of Cork,
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