b1629371X_0114_110

THE NEW VACCINATION ACT.
This act, further to extend and make compulsory
the practice of vaccination, has been in operation
since August last. Under its provisions, the pa-
I rents or guardians of every child are required to
have it vaccinated within three months from the
date of its birth, and afterwards inspected by a
medical officer, so as to receive from him a certificate of the success of the operation. We propose
briefly to narrate some of the interesting facts
which have rendered such an enactment necessary.
The title of the act implies two things : first,
that the safeguard against small-pox has been too
little used; and, secondly, that it is thought by
the government no longer advisable to leave the
use or neglect of vaccination to the discretion of’
the great body of the people. The want of education makes itself felt in this direction also. Vaccination is practised wherever individuals recognise
the full value of health, and know how it may be
most effectually conserved; but it is neglected to
a lamentable extent among the uninstructed poor.
In some countries, where education is more gene-
rally diffused than in England, it has been compulsory for a lung period; and these localities have
been comparatively free from small-pox in consequence. If we have suffered from the disease to a
larger extent, however, we may ascribe it, perhaps
truly, to the slight abuse of a great good—the
wholesome fear our rulers have of legislating upon
matters which admit of being settled by the force
of public conscience and judgment. 1’ut, in this
instance, abundant evidence might be adduced to
prove the wisdom of interference on the part of the
legislature. The private law of parental affection
and prudence has not been found strong enough
to render unnecessary the help of the external
public enactment. \Te propose now to glance
rapidly at some of the evidence on this subject
which was laid not long since before the House.
it is now fifty-five years ago since Dr. Jenner published the result of hs investigations into the
nature of the vaccine disease, and introduced the
practice of vaccination into the world. To estimate duly the value of his discovery, we must
remember the fact, that one out of every four or
five persons attacked by small-pox, in its unmitigated form, used to perish; and that if death were
escaped, the victims of the disease were liable to
disfigurement, deformity, and other physical ills,
to an amount frightful to contemplate. When
lady Wortley Montague found the practice of inoculation in Turkey, she rejoiced at the mitigation
of evil its introduction into her own country pro-
She wrote from Constantinople, in 1718,
as follows :—“ The French ambassador says, pleasantly, that they take the small-pox here by way
of diversion, as they take the waters in other
countries. There is no example of any one that
has died of it, and you may believe I am well
satisfied of the safety of this experiment since
intend to try it on my dear little son. I am
patriot enough to take pains to bring this useful
invention into fashion in England, and I should
fail to write to some of our doctors very particularly about it, if I knew any one of them that
thought had virtue enough to destroy such a considerable branch of their revenue for the good of
mankind. But that distemper is too beneficial to
them, not to expose to all their resentment the
hardy wight that should undertake to put an end
to it. Perhaps, if I live to return, I may, how-
ever, have courage to var with them. Upon this
occasion, admire the heroism in the heart of your
friend.”
Wh lady Mary returned, in 17.21, and put in
practice this determination, she was sorely tempted
to repent it. Torrents of abuse assailed her: she
denounced from the pulpits, and upbraided as
an unnatural mother by the ignorant; and so
virulent was the feeling of the faculty against her,
that when her daughter was inoculated, and four
eminent physicians appointed twatch the progress
of the experiment, she says she feared to leave her
child a moment alone with them, lest they should
in some way mar its success, and injure her. The
court and people found out, at length, however,
the value of lady Mary’s knowledge and courage,
and the practice of inoculation spread through
England and many parts of the world. It was
imperfect mitigation of the original evil: it
tools for granted that every individual must have
the disease; and though, when produced thus artificially, it appeared in a milder form, and ended
fatally very much less frequently, it spread the infection, and left behind the same liability to other
illnesses and disfigurement, though in diminished
severity. But it turned the attention of medical
science towards the discovery of further remedies,
and this perhaps was its most valuable result.
It was a happy thing that Dr. Jenner resisted
the allurements of a partnership in London, and
settled down quietly to a country practice in his
native town. Had he accepted John Hunter’s
offer, the dairymaids an Gloucestershire might
probably have enjoyed immunity from small-pox
for no one knows how many years, without the
world at large gaining by it. But Dr. Jenner
had a love for country things; and at Berkeley, it
seems, possessed a large power of patient observation years ending 1850 or 18o1,waS 219 per 1000, that in Saxony (the highest of the averages ieturned), was 833 per 1000; while in Bohemia,
Lombardy, and Sweden, it was little above per
Bavaria, and Hanover, by fines or imprisonment 1000. The continental states have various methods of enforcing vaccination : some, as Prussia,
others, by requiring the production of a certificate testifying the success of the operation, from apprentices, servants, candidates for admission into public schàols, alms-houses, etc. Zealons public
vaccinators are rewarded with gold and silver medals in France and Belgium. In Austria, no child is allowed to attend either public or private schools, and no person is permitted to renuive relief from the charity boards, without having been vaccinated. In Denmark, we find it stated, on the highest medical authority, that variola had at one time disappeared before the defensive influence of compelled vaccination, though, it is added, “that
chance, and a careless security engendered by the absence of the pest, have led to its re-introduction
there.”
Dr. Cannon, of Simla, states, “that in June, 1850, small-pox broke out along the left bank of the Sutléj. Dr. C. immediately Act his vaccinators to work along the right bank. The results were, that the disease along the left bank, where there was no attempt made to arrest it, destroyed from
fifty to sixty per cent., but along the right bank from five to six per cent, only; and in many of
these cases the proper performance of vaccination was doubtful.”
All the facts in the report from which we have quoted have one tendency—to prove to any who yet entertain any doubt of it, the efficacy of vaccination, and the necessity of enforcing the use of the safeguard upon those who, from carelessness or ignorance, neglect to avail themselves of its protection. “If it admit of doubt,” write the committee, “how far it is justifiable in this free country to compel a person to take care of his own life and that of his offspring, it can scarcely be disputed that no one has a right to put in jeopardy the lives of his fellow-subjects. The
principle of using one’s own so as not to injure another’s is one which has always been acted upon in our legislation as regards property and personal mñsances, and we submit that it is but an extension of this principle to apply it to the questions of life and health
Yes, legislation must step in while education
grows! When the latter spreads through o% land With its enlightening and elevating influence, such enactments as the one under consideration may, we trust, become obsolete. The parents who have knowledge as their handmaiden, an enlightened conscience as their guide, and duty as their
watchword, will need them little. Let present
educators take heed that they be training such!