Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1822-03-05

DR.. Benjamin Warehouse, of Boston,
"the Jenner of America" has given il
as his opinion "that not more than one
in thirty five of the vaccine crusts will
produce the genuine kline hock, upon
which alone our dependence should be
placed as an ever-aa,1ng shield against
the smallpox"
But Jenner himself, the iiustrous
discoverer of vaccination, has more Sc
riousiy detained the kine-pock than any
other author have read ON this
subject. He states that single Serious
blotch upon the body, existing during the
progress of the vaccine visicle on the
arms, may occasion such irregularity
and deviation from correctness, that vac
cination, under such circumstances, CAM
net be depended on. Slight abrasions of
the skin behind the ears, and upon many
other parts where the cursicle is thin, he
adds, will produce the same effect"
Now, if any such difficulties and nice
distinctions as these did really eXist, we
should certainly be obliged TO abandon
vaccination very soon, or the chief part
of our population would ere long to be
found to be fit subjects for the smallpox.
But it is more than fortunate for mankind
that the efficacy of the kine-pock, as
preventative of the small poS, does not
depend upon the skill or opinion of any
man, or set OF men. 1t has come to us
from the GiUer q every good gift, suifi-
ciently perfect for the end that is to be ac-
complished by it., viz: To secure as from
The smaHhor. But if we would obtain
this security without having 10 regret any
exceptions to the general rule, it is es
sentially necessary that not only a few in
diyiduals here and there should use the
kine-pock, but the people generally
should subject themselves to vaccination
at seasonablc age, and as universally as
the nature of this remedy will admit Of,
without injury or Inconvenience to socie-
~.
Whether the disease which has been in
troduced into the village of Tarboro' be
really the true smallpox or not, am
not prepared to declare with any posi-
i've degree Of certainly. The directions
which sent with the matter were, as is
too lrequently the case, entirely neglect
ed. Ii Dir. Ward had used the matter
sent to him in propc time, and attended
to send me the crusts which it produced,
would have been able to have answered
all his queries, and would likewise have
prevented all the mischief w!.ichJ fear
mas happened. | do not state this to cast
any blame On DR.. Ward, but to show 10
others how necessary it is for them, j!
they would hold any intercourse with
this Institution, to attend to the rules un-
der which have offered to correspond
with them.
l can only state to the public, then, al
this time, that the evidence which have
received from 1arbors' is neither full
nor satisfactory to me, as to the nature OF
the disease produced by the vaccine mat
ter which sent to DR.. Ward. ] am in
clined, however, to believe, that the
smallpox contagion did really accompa-
ny the virus put up here, and was trans
mitted to him by me. My reasons for
supposing this to be the fact, apart from
Or. Wards statement, are these:
lst. have been unavoidably engaged
in attending to persons diseased of the
small pox here. ! daily visit, handle,
and administer medicine to them and,
although l have always taken every pre-
caution that knew was necessary to pre-
vent this coatagion from adhering to my
person, still it is possible that such an
accident may have occurred.
Cd. The genuine kline peck is itself so
nearly allied to the small pox, that, when
this plague becomes epidemic in any
place, it intermixes with the vaccine mat
ter by a natural and unavoidable process,
and in a manner that may possibly elude
the utmost care and vigilance of any
person TO prevent it.
Sd. The same persons or subjects from
whom the vaccine matter must be taken,
for it cannot be otherwise procured than
from persons who are Il subjects for i!)
may be the bearers of the genuine kline
peck and of the true small pox at the
same time.
4th. The same identical kline peck
sesicle, under such circumstances as
We are now nnhappily involved in, that
will one day furnish the most pure
and genuine vaccine matter, is suscepii-
BILE OF a change in its natural properties,
ard within a few days afterwards will
furnish different mater, capable oil ge-
nerating the most destructive small pox.
There are butfew practitioners ofyac-
cination who have any idea that, in the
selection Of the vaccine matter, they may
be exposed to SO much danger from
causes of this description; and no one