Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1863-05-13
For the Standard.
THE SMALL Pox QUESTION. -

q" THE SMALL POA QUEo1iON'
Mr.. HOLDEN Having watched the course Of the
Union Justices, and the controversy growing on.
of their action with much interest, have thought
Il might be of some interest to your readers, who
do not have access TO the medical journals and more
especially to the foreign medical journals to state
few facts Is have been fully demonstrated BY actual
experiment, by the most celebrated physician :. OF
the age approach the subject with much DIM:
dence. after having been graveiy informed by "A
Justice" Of Union county, that "every man, wo-
man, and little boy or girl in Union county knew
how to vaecnate as well IS the N. DIS and are do
ing it." progress in medical science SO sur
prsing that were it not for the present deselat!ng
war, now over the land, that Union county would
become the Mecca of the medical pilgrim, in the
pursuit of the invaluable information there to be
obtained. To show how far behind the old coun-
tries are in such information, will state few facts
that have been CLEANED from the late English and
foreign publications
In Sweden, for twenty. eight years previous to
the discovery Of vaccination, says the London se
1850 out of ,OOO 900 died annually Of small pox,
while for forty years after the discovery the death
rate averaged only 1853. In Westphalia it came
down. under similar circumstances, from 2.64s to
ia; in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, from 4, OOO
to 300 i. Denmark, the fatality Of the disease be-
came but an eleventh of what it had been; in Der.
lin and large parts Of Austria, 100. Finally, from
observations made for twenty one years on 10000
persons, in Bohemia, it appears that the risk OF
death to vaccinated persons if they happen to con-
tract the small pox, is at the rate Of five and hall
to 100 patients but tho risk of death to non vac
cnated persons when they contract the disease, is
at the rate of twenty nine and four hths for every
100 patients And the concurrent testimony OF
London, Vienna and Milan shows, in an experience
of nearly 900 cases, that small pox after vaccin.
alton if it occurs is but fifth or sixth as dan.
gerous as the natural disease. And yet the small
pox is now increasing the protecting influence OF
vaccination has diminished, and cases of small pox
after vaccination have become more numerous, not
indeed, because vaccination is delusion, but be-
cause the present process hardly amounts to vac
cination.
Four reasons are assigned for The recent increase
in small pox. First bad vaccination in respect to
the choice Of matter employed and non observance
of the rules propounded by Jenner. Unqualified
persons have been in the habit Of operating with
the matter in an imperfect state, and for many
years past until "there is reason to believe the
perfect vesice is becoming the exceptional one and
not that which is most commonly seen and resorted
to-" Secondly, there is reason to believe that
apart from disturbing causes, the COW pox matter
itself tends to deteriorate by descent 1t has been
ascertaned that its vesices are less prominent than
formerly that its symptoms are shorter in dura-
ton, and that the older scars are much better
marked than recent ones. In short. series Of Oh
servations has established says Mr.. Simon, that
"certain original properties Of the vaccine conta-
gon have very generally declined after its long sue
cessive descent from the cow" and it is now very
questionable whether an indefinite length Of
transmission Of the vaccine contagon, without re-
newal from the cow has not been of publiedetri.
ment" Thirdly, apart from the fact of the renewal
Of lymph having been omitted by tho National
Vaccine Establishment" for q considerable length
Of time, there has been such demand upon its re-
sources which it was unable to supply with lymph
Of the best existing quality and fourthy there is
no government requirement Of vaccination, except
in few Of the European nations, and even there
this is as yet impcrfectly enforced. @.
Goldston, Chatham Co., April %, 1868.