The Sun.
London, England, 1840-03-30 00:00:00

VACCINATION v. INOCULATION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Silt—l have read a letter in your Journal of Mon-
day last, from a medical gentleman named Brown,
stating that for the iaA thirty years he has opposed the
principle of vaccination, and that he does not think
there is a single medical man of respectability,
who will assert that that operation is calculated to in-
sure immunity from the small-pox.
He states, moreover, that many years ago he ex-
plained his objections in a letter to Dr. Jenner, and
he would seem to be of opinion that because his objec-
tions were unanswered, they were unanswerable. Lest
he should draw the same inference with respect to his
present letter, I beg leave to subjoin the petition of
twelve hundred medical gentlemen, founded on the Vac-
cination Report read before the Provincial Medical,
and Surgical Association at Liverpool, in July last.
As you inform your readers you do not yourself parti-
cipate in Mr. Brown's opposition, but, on the contrary,
deem the discovery of vaccination to be one of the
greatest blessings conferred upon mankind, you will, I
doubt not, feel it proper to publish this petition, and
thus neutralize the virus of Mr. Brown's letter, and
prevent the mischief it might otherwise produce among
the ignorant and the poor, so many of whom are too
much inclined to take the same view as Mr. Brown..
I am, Sir, &c. T.

" The Petition of the President, Council, and Members o
the Provincial Medical and Surgi-al Association, held
at Liverpool, the 25th day of July 1839,
•' Humbly showcth,—That this Association consists of
nearly 1,200 members, including a great proportion of the
physicians and surgeons of eminence practising in the various
cities and towns of England, most of whom, during the
whole of their professional lives, have bestowed much of
their attention in studying the qualities of human small-
pox and cow small-pox : That at their last anniversary
meeting, held in July, 1838, at Bath, a section was ap-
pointed to inquire specifically into the present state of vac-
cination : That the section so appointed had recently pre-
sented its report to the meeting held at Liverpool, con-
taining inforrnation of an highly important character, and
well deserving the attention of your Honourable House :
That your petitionershave peculiar satisfaction in stating that
the result of their inquiries has thrown much light on the
nature of variole vaccine, and that Dr. Jenner's opinion, that
it was an affection of a true variolous character, has been de-
monstrated, by historical evidence, as well as by direct ex-
periment; human small-pox having been recently commu-
nicated to the cow by inoculations, and the result having
been the production of a variolo-vaccine lymph, possessing
all the properties of the original vaccine disease : That this
direct confirmation of a great doctrine adds infinite value to
the original discovery, by explaining alike the nature and
the degree of protection that may be derived from the per-
fect vaccination, which is, in short, to use the language of
the discoverer himself, to impregnate the constitution of
man with small-pox in its mildest, instead of its pestilential
and fatal form : That the diffusion of this truth may be made
subservient to the best purposes, and with the aid and counte-
nance of your Honourable House be rendered highly instru-
mental to the preservation of human life: That your peti-
tioners have learned, by the concurrent testimony of a very
large portion of their members, that cow small-pox, if duly
and carefully administered, has an enduring influence in pro-
tecting the constitution ; that while they admit that this
protection is not in all cases complete, they have unques-
tionable proof of its being capable, if generally and pro-
perly employed, of mitigating, controlling, and, they might
almost say, of extinguishing small-pox in any district.
" That they have further learned, that while vaccination
has been imperfectly and insufficiently employed in many
places, s►mal-pox has been, and continues to be, diffused i❑
a manner highly detria.ental to the health and safety of the

community.
" That before suggesting any measure for the more ei
fective diffusion of vaccination, they would specially iO.
plore your Honourable House to take measures for regu-
lating the practice of small-pox inoculation ; and they arc
induced to urge this prayer of the petition with greater
earnestness, because they have ascertained that such prac-
tice has been abandoned by almost every respectable me-
dical man in the kingdom, from a disinterested conviction
that it is uncalled for and dangerous, and ought to be uni-
versally superseded by vaccine inoculation.
" That the abandondrnent of small-pox inoculation by
medical gentlemen, has led ignorant and illiterate persons
to take up the practice, whereby the disease has been
widely disseminated throughout the country, and that
many deaths have been the consequence.
" That your petitioners humbly beg leave to repre-
sent to your Honourable House the extreme necessity
of restraining such proceedings ; they do not ask
for a positive enactment to forbid small-pox inocu-
lation entirely, though they think there are sufficient
grounds for so doing ; but they pray that it may be
enacted, that a practice always dangerous, and very fre-
quently fatal, to the subject of it, as well as to the com-
munity at large, shall not be permitted to be followed by
any one who has not been duly qualified to exercise the
profession of medicine or surgery ; that such restriction,
in their opinion, would he wise and salutary at all times,
but is more especially demanded, now that a mild and effi-
cient substitute may he brought within the reach of every
member of the community. To accomplish this
later object, your intiticxxers humbly submit that cer-
ta:.n regulations ought to be adopted. They have
ascertained, that during recent epidemics, a very
large proportion of the lower classes, both in towns
and among the rural population, have been found totally
unprotected ; that in one city. in the South of England,
five hundred persons perished from this cause in the course
of last year ; and that in anothe- place, on the breaking out
of small-pox, the whole of the children under nine or ten
)c,rs of age were exposed to its ravages, which were only
checked by prompt and extensive vaccination.
" Tnat these and many similar facts have convinced
them, that at this time there is no sufficient provision for
the vaccination of the poor in this kingdom ; that the prac-
tice, as offered to the poor at our public institutions in
,owns, as well as by private individuals, is by no rucaus
adequate to the wants of our greatly increasing population
" That it appears to your petitioners to he the duty of
the State to remedy this great evil, by appointing regularly
educated vaccinators, with suitable salaries, iii districts
sufficiently numerous to embrace the whole of the poor
population of the country, and who shall offer gratuitous
vaccination, at stated periods, to all within their bounds,
keeping accurate registers of their proceedings, and com-
municating regularly with the National Vaccine. Estab-

lishrnc,nt.
" That under such a system, duly organized and vig-'-
lantly ext.euted, your petitioners have the strongest rca,on
for believing that small-pox would be effectually restrained,
and soon become almost unknown.
" And your petitioners will ever pray, &c."

FIRE IN A FRENCH COAL MINE.

The coal mines in the Commanierie in the Allier,'
says a letter of the 17th instant, from Montlucon, " con-
tinue to burn with undiminished intensity, and if we
could but forget that the flames have been for three
successive days devouring immense riches. and tl at
three hundred families ma:' thereby be deprived for
a long time of their means of subsistence, we should
experience the utmost admiration at the magnificent
spectacle we behold. Imagine a deep ravine, in the
form of an inverted coae, the circumference of which
is constantly enlarging. On approaching the scene, we
find torrents of flames issuing with violence from 14
vast openings, formed at about 20 feet above the bottom
of the ravine, forming entrances into the galleries which
were at work. Frequently a dull cracking sound is
heard. This is caused by an enormous block of coal,
which detaches itself from the top or sides of a gallery,
and falls in a burning state to the bottom of the ravine.
A thick column of black dust then bursts forth, and
reaching the opening of the galleries, the flames lay hold
of it, and a body of serpentine fire is produced. Sixty
feet higher up, on each side of the galleries, two shafts,
which reach to the subterranean passages, send up
dazzling columns of flame. Sometimes one goes out
suddenly, and the other increases in violence. It
would appear as if, arrested in its fury, the fire hesi-
tated for an instant. A great roaring is now heard,
and suddenly the flame breaks forth again with such
force as to create an idea that it is about to burst the
whole of this burning mass, and cover the spectator with
its ruins. Now cast your eyes around ; it is midnight.
Two thousand spectators are present ; some grouped on
the ridge opposite the ravine, others standing carefully
aloof. Listen—no other noise is heard than the ter-
rible voice of the fire, which roars in the entrails of the
earth, or if some human voice is heard, it reaches the
car broken and interrupted, like that of a man who
is being suffocated. There is something grand and
sad, which elevates and oppresses at the same time.
The magnificence of such scenes gives a sort of eleva-
tion to the mind,but it is also harrowed in the presence
of such convulsions." A letter of the 20th instant re-
presents that on the preceding day, the pillars left to
support the galleries having been consumed, they had
fallen in, and nothing remained but one immense gulf
of glowing fire. The engineers give hope that they
will now be able to extinguish the burning mass by
turning into it the waters of a stream which runs at
about two miles off. To accomplish this, innumerable
workmen are employed night and day, but this will re-
quire a length of time, and in the meanwhile the damage,
already incalculable, must be greatly increased.
it., at

COACH ACCIDENT.---.Au accident, attended
with unfortunate consequences, happened to the Rapid coach,
at Newport Pagnel. on its way from London to Sheffield, late
on Wednesday night. The coachman quitted the box at New-
port Pagnel, in order to take some refreshment, and entrusted
the horses to the care of two horsekeepers. The spirited ani-
mals, however, took fright, and breaking loose, galloped away
with the coach at full (peed. An outside passenger and the
guard were thrown off (the latter in attempting to climb over
the roof and reach the reins), but sustained no serious injury.
Mr. Shortland, of Coalpit-lane, Sheffield, was travelling in-
side, and, becoming alarmed, jumped out of the coach whilst
the horses were at their utmost speed, and fractured both the
bones of his leg. When the Express came up shortly after-
was travelling by thcr'Ex-
wards, ha was lying helplessly on the road side. A surgeon
(Mr. Harmar Smith, of this place)
vress, and he immediately applied a temporary splint, which
he had with him, to the broken limb, so that Mr. Shortland
that
ROYAL
Was enabled to proceed to Northampton, where he was imme-
diately taken to the hospital. We are happy to learn that he is
doing well. The horses, having galloped about six miles, be.
came exhausted, and the leaders having broken loose from the
harness, the speed of the shaft horses was so much slackened
ingoin uNp aAhill, the only remaining passenger, wi,o had
kept his seat outside, was able to get down and stop them. We
has votedVlAool.l.
asS C. idloonOatLi
understand no blame whatever can be attached to the coach-
man.—Sheffield Iris.
Company donation to
Corporation of the T
thish e Goldsmithsinstitution.
Th:
City of London, the
, East-India Company,
i the Vintners', Grocers', Drapers', Waterrnen's, and Skinners'
Companies, have already contributed
mostlibei ally to the school.