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a pamphlet before me as President of the Federation of British
Anti-Vivisection Societies, and his pamphlets supply a considerable
proportion of the propaganda circulated in Hackney.
The attack against the prevention of diphtheria is proceeding
on three lines.
1. It is represented that diphtheria and epidemic diseases are
beneficial processes.
This argument, to quote the President, is that "infectious
disease is a natural spring cleaning and its suppression is costly to
humanity at large." "Such diseases as smallpox and diphtheria
are really healing crises. "There is "danger and folly" in attempting
to suppress these "eliminative processes." The Clapton and
District Anti-Vivisection Society is now obviously materially
assisting the spread of one such so-called "healing crisis," namely,
diphtheria.
Any person who takes the trouble to ask the medical superintendent
of a fever hospital or to look at any text-book which records
the facts in connection with diphtheria (Goodall's is an excellent
book, for instance) will at once realise that it is a dangerous, painful
and crippling disease which brings no benefit whatever, but may,
in fact, permanently injure the system. Every death from
diphtheria is a tragedy and every person who contracts this disease
is not benefited but injured in health, sometimes very seriously.
Supporters of this so-called animal defence movement would be
well advised to consider the views of the medical superintendents of
the London County Council's fever hospitals or any other medical
superintendent in the fever hospital service as regards the real nature
of these dangerous diseases, in preference to those of the President
of the Clapton and District Anti-Vivisection Society and his
supporters, whose combined experience cannot approach that of the
medical superintendent of any fever hospital. Anyone who has
actually watched a child slowly suffocating from diphtheria, or
paralysed from diphtheritic poison could surely never consider that
this disease, which may be accompanied by so many distressing
features, such as cellulitis, heart disease—always a prominent
danger—inflammation of the ears and glandular inflammation, was
a "cleansing process."
2. It is represented that immunisation against diphtheria, unlike
the disease itself , is dangerous.
Instances of disasters throughout the world resulting from
accident, carelessness or, indeed, ignorance, have been carefully