Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1870-02-10
Vaccination.
BY AN EMINENT PHYSICIAN.

DR.. EDWARD JENNER was the pupil OF
John Hunter, one of the most accurate
students of Nature of the last century.
His advice to students was: Don't think,
but try; be patient, be accurate" Jen-
ner's attention was first called to the SUBJ
ject of vaccination while student at
Sodbury, near Bristol, by country
woman, who stated that she could not take
smallpox, as she had had cow-pox. This
was previous to ITO. Prosecuting hio
studies, he afterwards discovered that
milk-maids IN certain district contracted
postular disease of the hand from the
COW, which they called COW pex. In 1896,
he had an opportunity of testing his the
ory, that this disease might be communi-
Gated to another person by incubation,
and prove as effectuala as in the first. Mat
ter was taken from the hand of Sarah
Nelmes, who had been infected by her
masters cows, and inserted into the arm
of James Phipps, a boy eight years old.
He had the cOw-pox regularly, and after.
ward was inoculated with smallpo
matter without effect. In 1898 he made
known the results of his experiments by
publishing work on Variol9 Vaccine.
The discovery was received like that OF
incubation few regarded 1t with favor,
but the majority rejected it with derision.
The foundations Of success had, however,
been too carefully and accurately laid by
the experiments of Jenner, to be readily
removed, and vaccination gained rapidly
in professional and public favor. Within
four years it was successfully practiced in
all parts Of the world, and costly presents
poured in upon the dscoverer from vari
Gus sources. Parliament voted him 81 900
at one time, and subsequently $50 900, and
learned scientific societies honored him
with membership and medals. Since his
death, his statue has been erected in Ira
falgar Square, London.
The value of vaccination is seen in the
remarkable reduction of the mortality of
smallpox in all civilized countries. In
Copenhagen, not single death from
email pox occurred in the thirteen years
following 1910. In single German town,
the number of cases of smallpox annually
was 500, and the deaths so, before vacci-
nation was introduced; in the first year
after thorough vaccination, there were
eight cases and one death, and for the
next nine years there were but four cases.
and no deaths. Accurate statistics show
that the smallpox mortality in Trieste
during the vaccination period has been
seventy.five times less than before; in
Moravia, twenty-one times less; in Silesia,
twenty-nine times less; in Westphalia,
twenty-five times less in Berlin, nine
teen times less, and in Sweden, thirteen
times less. Smallpox has, indeed, lost all
its terrors, and is now justly regarded as
a harmless disease by the great mass of
mankind.
There are certain prejudices, however,
which vaccination has long had to COM
bat, and which are still too frequently met
with First 1t is alleged that it does
not fully protect against smallpox. This
ly performed, it is surely preventive.
Second. 1t is believed that other diseases
may be communicated by vaccination
hence the eruptions which sometimes ap-
pear after the operation. In reply, it may
be stated that it has been determined by
the most careful experiments that pure oac-
cine Dirus aoiW cause only the vaccine disease,
The amount of evidence upon this ques-
ton and confirming this statement is abb
solutely overwhelming. Whenever erup-
tons appear, they are due to an inherent
veee of the system, and not to vaccination
Other diseases, it is true, can be inoculated,
but only when the germs of such disease
are used, and, it should be added, these
germs are not contained in the proper
vaccine lymph, even when taken from
a person suffering from an inoculable
disease
1t is apparent, therefore, that vaccina-
ton should be performed with great care;
first, in the selection of pure and ripe vac
cine virus, and, second, in the thorough ap-
plication of the virus. The best age Is
between the third and sixth months
though, in case of exposure, the opera
ton may be performed at any age. At
some period of infantile life, every child,
without exception, should be vaccinated.--
Hearth and Home.