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55
Under head (4) the Commissioners report:—
(437) "We put the use of calf-lymph in the fore-front because, as we
have said, this would afford an absolute security against the communication
of syphilis. Though we believe the risk of such communication to be
extremely small where humanized lymph is employed, we cannot but
recognise the fact that however slight the risk, the idea of encountering
even such a risk is naturally regarded by a parent with abhorence. We
think, therefore, that parents should not be required to submit then
children to Vaccination by means of any but calf-lymph, but this should
not preclude the use of humanized lymph in case they so desire."
(438) "We have already noticed that whilst in Scotland the age within
which Vaccination is obligatory is six months from the date of birth, in
England and Wales, and in Ireland it is three months from that date.
There is obviously no good reason for this want of uniformity. We have
come to the conclusion that it would be well, at all events, to extend the
age period in England and Wales, and in Ireland, to six months from the
date of birth."
(440) "If security could be obtained that whenever a case of small-pox
occurred in a sanitary district, children within the range of the present compulsory
law should be vaccinated, we think the protection against small-pox
would not be substantially less than it is at present. Without some such
provision as this, we should not be prepared to recommend an extension of
the age beyond the period allowed in Scotland. With suoh a provision, we
think that the age might be advantageously extended to one year from the
date of birth, and that the number of cases in which death was, whether
correctly or not, attributed to vaccination, would then much diminish. A
provision of this kind would, however, no doubt, involve some practical
difficulties."
(442) "A study of the reports in our possession relating to cases in
which erysipelas or septic disease has followed vaccination leaches no lessons
more forcibly than these, that any abrasion of the vaccination Vdsicles by
clothing of a nature likely to irritate them should be avoided, and that
foreign subtances should not be rubbed into the wounds under circumstances
calculated to set up inflammation. It is most important, too, that any rags
or other materials applied to the place of vaccinaton should be scrupulously
clean. The want of care in thebe respects on the part of the parent or
person in charge of the child has frequently been a source of mischief. If
more care were exercised, much good would result. Parents and others in
charge of children are frequently unaware of the importance of these matters,
and of the evil which may follow from a disregard of them. We think it