The Sun.
London, England, 1822-02-15 00:00:00

VACCINATION.

REPORT FROM THE VACCINE ESTABLISHMENT:
TO TILE RIGHT HON. ROBERT PEEL, PRINCIPAL SE-
CRETARY OF STATE FOIL THE HOME DEPART-

M ENT.

National .Vaccine Establishment, Percy-street, Jan. 31, 1822.

Sin—Vaccination has now been submitted to' the test of an-,
other year's experience and the result is an increase of our
confidence in the benefits of it. We are happy to say' that it
appears to have been practised more extensively than it wag,
notwithstanding the influence of exaggerated rurhours, of the
frequent occurrence of Small Pox subsequently, on the minds
of some persons, and the obstinate prejudices of others, who
still continue to adopt inoculation for that disease. The una-
voidable consequence of the latter practice is to supply a con-
stant source of infection,. and to put the merits of Vaccination
perpetually to the severest trial.
Of. Small Pox, in the modified and peculiar form which it
assurrieS when it attacks a patient who has been previously
vaccinated, many cases indeed have been reported to us in the
course of last year; and some have fallen within the sphere of
our own observation; but the disorder has always run- a safe
course, being uniformly exempt, from the secondary fever, in
commonly the patient dies most CononlY when he dies of Small
Pox.
For the truth of this assertion we appeal to the testimony of
the whole medical world. And for a proof that "die number of
such cases bears no proportion to the thousands who have pro-
fited; to the fullest extent of security, by its protedting, in-
fluence, we appeal confidently to all who frequent the theatres
and crowded assemblies, to admit that they do not disco-
ver in the rising generation any. longer that disfigurement of
the human face which was obvious every where some years
since. _ . .

To account for occasional failures, of which we readily ad-
Mit the existence, something is to be attributed to those ano..
malies which prevails throughout nature, and which the physi-
cian observes, not in some peculiar constitutions only,. but in
the same constitution at • different periods of life, rendering the
human frame at one time susceptible of disorder from a mere
change of the wind, and capable, at another, of resisting
the most malignant and subtle contagion. But amongst the
most frequent sources' of failure which have occurred, and will
for a time continue to occur, is to be numbered that careless
facility with which unskilful benevolence undertook to per-
form in Vaccination in the narly years of the discovery ; for ex-
perience has taught us that a strict inquiry mto the condition
of the patient to be vaccinated, great attention to the state of
the matter to be inserted, and a vigilant observation of the pro-
gress of the vesicles on the part of the operator; are all essen-
tially necessary to its complete success.
That less enlightened parents should hesitate to accept a
substitute for Inoculation, which is • not perfect in all its pre-
tensions, and absolutely' and altogether effectual to exempt the
objects of their solicitude from every future possible inconve-
nience, does not surprise us ; but we cannot forbear to express
our unqualified reprobation of the conduct of those Medical
Practitioners, who, knowing well that Vaccination scarcely oc-
casions the slightest indisposition, that it spreads no contagion,
that in a very large proportion of cases it alibrds an entire se-
curity against Small Pox, and in almost every instance is a
protection against danger from that disease, are yet hard.y
enough to persevere in recommending the insertion of the poi.
son, of which they cannot pretend to anticipate either the mea-
sure or the issue (for no discernment i 4 able to distinguish those
constitutions which will admit inoculated Small 'Pox with
safety;) and there are some families so dangerously affected by
all the eruptive diseases that they fall into imminent hazard in
taking any of them. This remark has a particular application to
Small Pox. A family lost its two first-born children of the
Small Pox, inoculated by two of the most skilful surgeons of
the time ; nor is it improbable that the parents might have had
to lament the loss of more children, under the same formidable
disease, if the promulgation of the protecting influence of Vac-
cination had not happily interposed to rescue them from the
consequences of a repetition of the fatal experiment. Of their
remaining children? one took the Small Pox after Vaccination,
and went through it in that mild and mitigated form which
stamps a value upon this resource, as real in the eye of reason
and sound philosophy, as when it prevents the malady al-
together.
We have :contended, Sir, for this its merits With all the
powers of our understanding, and with all that just and fair
pretension
to convince others, to which we are entitled, by being
firmly and sincerely convinced ourselVes. Nor shall we relax
in our efforts to promote its adoption, but continue to exert the
influence which the benevolent designs of Parliament, in esta-
blishing this Board, have given us, for extending the benefits
of this salutary practice.
That the blessing is not yet absolutely perfect, we are ready
to admit; but when we compare it with Inoculation for the
Small Pox, the only alternative, we have no hesitation in stat-
ing, that the comparison affords an irresistible proof of its su-
perior claims to regard ; for we learn from ample experience,
that the number of cases of Small Pox, in the safe form which
it is found to assume after Vaccination, is by no means equal
to the number of deaths by Inoculation ; an evidence quite ir-
refragable, and, as it appears to us, decisive as to the incalcu-
lable advantages of the practice of the first over that 'of the
latter method.

The number of persons' who have died of Small Pox this
year ,within the Bills of Mortality is only 508 ; not' more than
two-thirds of the number who fell a sacrifice to that disease the
year before ; and as in our last Report we had the satisfaction of
stating that more-persons had been vaccinated during the pre-
' ceding than in any former twelve months, we flatter ourselves
that this diminution of the number of deaths from Small Pox
may fairly be attributed to the wider diffusion of Vaccination..
(Signed) HENRY HALFORD, President.
ALGN. FRAMPTONj
Censors of the
THO. HUME,'
Royal College
' CHARLES' BADHAa
r, of .Yhysiciaf s.
ROIIERT LLOYD
• •
,; • . EvERARD HamE,. Master of the Royal College of Surgeons.
• WILLIAM' BLIZARD, Governors of the Royal College of
HENRY CLINE, ) Surgeons.
By Order of the Board,
JAMES HERVEY, M. D. Registrar.

~'

PRICE SEVENPENCE.

INDIA.

Extract from the BonthaN Gazette, dated Feb-
raary 9,4 , 1821 .

f 4 BomnA Y CASTLE, FEn. 24, 1821.—The Ho-
nourable the Governor in Council. has much sa-
tisfactioiLin publishing the following extract of
a letter from Lieut.-Colonel the iion.,L; STAN-
HOPE, respecting the operations of a part-4f the
detachment under his commands against the Koo-
maum Katties:—

Extracts of a letter from Lieut.-Colonel the iron: L..tanhope,
to the Address of the Adjutant:General of the'Artn'y, dated

Ist of February, 11121.

" The position of Muletto is in itself- very strong,, and did
approach to it extremely so, being through a pass,' commanded
by high hills, for the distance of three mass thrc -,lgh which
t4*.trilops adi'anced, covered by light infantry in front,. and on
eittlitiank.—The.fert, which is situated on' thattetztrerne:poia
of a range of hills, was occupied by three hundred horse- and
fifty Arabs ; the former went Off on our approach With the
Chief of the place, and consisted of the principal insurgents ;
the latter made some resistance, but the village and fort were
carried with great spirit by the advanced guard, .consisting of a
company of the 10th Regiment, under the command Of Lieut.
Blacker, of his Majesty's Toth Regiment." " The Insurgents
were followed up close by them, and the remainder of the In-
fantry, for six miles, over the precipices, and througiv.the, ra-
vines and jungles of the mountain." "It is not possible to
ascertain the exact number, but the celebrated Arab, Jamadar
Rowasat, so well knoWn throughout liattywar, has fallen, and I
believe two-thirds of his men have heefililled; wounded, or
taken prisoners." ." It is impossible: to have evineed.:greatar
zeal than the troops did in pursuing the enemy through_ their
fastnesses: the fatigue of it was excessive." " I-have already
spoken of the gallantry with which Lieut. Blacker carried the
Hill Fort ; I am also much indebted to Lieut..Colottel. Gilbert
and Captain Burrows, commanding the Ist Battalion of the sth,
and detail Battalion, for their zeal- and gallantry, and p.articu--
larly so to Lieutenants Wilkinson and Hart, my Asslititnt Ad-
jutant andQuarter.alaster Generals." "I am also greatly in-
debted to Major Balantine, not only for his zeal and gallantry,
but for the assistance I have derived from his local information
in regard to the state of- the country."
BOMBAY CASTLE, MATIEII 1, 1521.. —Messrs.
John Skardon Ramsay, and Thomas Brown, hav-
ing reported their arrival at Bombay on the 24th
of last month, on board the licensed •ship Braels-
ford, and produced certificate of their 'appoint-
ment of cadets of infantry cor this Presidency, are
admitted on the Establishment, and promoted to
Ensigns, date of:rank to be settled .hereafter.

FOR THE SUN.

HERALDRY:

Had TAtTifyinus seen the MS. of my commu.

nication, he might have spared his wit on the deep
knowledge ql rudinzents, a phrase which: my pen
is not quite young enough to let slip.; yet it may
be left with the compositor, or even witlrmyself,
" uncriticized ;" since it not even 44 slightly" af-
fects the question.
• Utterly I contend, that. the heraldric sable is
a colour,..not a fur. The new system, like that
which promoted the heart to the dexter' ribs,
would create no little disarrangethent., Without
hunting the Peerage 'for argent npon -or, and inks
upon vert, I should like to know what X'. X. and ,
the. Greek Herald will please to do with the fol.,
lowing .authentic blazons :—Ermine, on' le fess
sable, 3 mullets, or—Sable, • a chevron
Ermine, on a bend sable, 3 pheOns argefit.—Er-
mine, a fess sable—Ermine, on a chevron. Able-
-3 fountains proper—Sable, 2 bars ermine-Sable,
a star between 2 flanches ermine—Sable,"'a fess
ermine, between 3 crescents—or,-ErMine, on a
canton sable, a harp argentErmitie, 'Chevron
couped sable—Sable, 2 palletts,errninris—Sable,
a chevron ermine, between 3 salmons argen.f.
In tu these, the ordinaries are fur'uponr, if
sable he not a colour. Let me mention a'`few,
wherein the charges are liable to the .saMe. cen-
sure :—Sable, a chevron or, between three 'cipque-
foils ermine—sable, three mullets ermine—sable,
an eagle displayed, ermine—ermine„ three lo-
zenges in fesse, sable. Should it nowle argued
that fur upon. fur is not false heraldry",, per-
haps I shall be told how the several Varieties of
,ermine, all of which have a tincture of sable, can
be placed on a sable field.
-The metals and colours,' for we must be
mightily nice in their distinctions, are blazOned
by names for the gentry and knighthood, by
gems for the nobility, and by planets for Sove-
reigns. Accordingly, the yellow is respectitely,
or, topaz, and sol ; as the • black is'sable, dia-
mond, and Saturn. My "rudiments" are not
deep" enough for me to say whether Attides
had any furs in his coat armour; but 1 should
like to know the gems and planets by whiCh' they
are distinguished:'—unless indeed the sable be
the only fur which enjoys that eminence. 1:f,
Speaking of metals and colours, not as either
sort are distinguished from the other, but as both
are distinguished from.furs, I did not and do not
think their mutual anti respective relations n'eces-
sary to our question. In this sense, therefore, I
was not so overseen , as Talthybius reckons
There needed no ghost from the Grecian camp
to inform me that gules cannot be placed *upon
Vert,'or Argent upon Or. But we were arguing
about furs, rather than metals ,or colours; and,
being equally aware that sable may be placed
upon Argent or Ermine, I was not as nice as
Talthybius on the P'P and Q Q of less imme-
diate distinctions.

From any further argument, unless something
more literary and less literal shall be started,
Y Y desires to be

X. Q: Z.

Yates, an officer belonging to . the. 'flumes
Police-office, brought James Bennett to the tar,
whom he apprehended in company with two
others yesterday, in the Sirand, whilst in•the
act of picking a gentleman',s pocket of a tiilk
handkerchief. WM. BALANTINTB, Esq,, fully com-
mitted him to take his trial for the-felony, and
hoped the officers would exert themselves in the
apprehension of such people,- especially in the
Strand, which is infested with pickpockets.