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13
unexpected close by the appearance of the disease in an
epidemic form. An interval of unwarranted confidence has
invariably been succeeded by a season of panic.
But even common prudence has not been purchased by a
century of experience. Now, as in times gone by, each outbreak
in turn is regarded as the final flicker of a dying ember,
and with the general acceptance of this belief precautionary
measures arc either relaxed or abandoned. It shows a peculiar
and contradictory phase in human nature, when a people,
remarkable alike for common sense and business capacity, and
eminent among others in qualities of prudence and foresight,
should be among the last by legislative enactment to adopt,
and the first by popular consent to relax, the use of a
measure which has saved thousands of their countrymen
from a miserable existence or an untimely death. But yet
this popular tendency to relaxation in the employment of
preventive measures is not altogether a sign of loss of faith
in the value of those measures. When an epidemic is
looming in the distance, or the danger of infection is at the
threshold, many who before had been negligent seek protection,
and many who, until now, stood aloof among the ranks
of the anti-vaccinationists are observed in making rapid strides
towards the camp of the other party. The man who delays
building a shelter until he is alarmed by the gathering clouds,
will indeed be fortunate if he escape the effects of the storm.
The habit of procrastination, and the lack of common
prudence, are factors which, during epidemic periods, largely
tend to swell the death rate.
Yet besides those to whom reference has been made, there
is a large number of people who entertain honest doubts upon
the value of vaccination as a preventive measure. This
section is aware of the almost universal support the principle