Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-02-10
Vaccination.


Vaccination.
BY AN EMINENT PHYSICIAN.
DIR. EDWARD JRNNER 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
iect of vaccination while student at
Sodbury, near Bristol, by a country
woman. who stated that she could not take
smallpox. as she had had cow-pOx. This
was previous to ITO. Prosecuting his
studies, he Afterwards discovered that
milk-maids in certain district contracted
a postular disease of the hand from the
COW, which they called cow-pox. 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 effectual 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, q boy eight years old.
He had the cow-pOx regularly, and after
ward was inoculated with smallpox
matter without effect In 1898 he made
known the results of his experiments by
publishing q work on VariolR Vaccine.
The discovery was received like that OF
incubation; q few regarded 1t with favor,
but the majority rejected 1t 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 discoverer from vari.
GUS sources. Parliament voted him Fl 600
at one time, and subsequently e2O, 600, 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 Ia seen in the
remarkable reduction of the mortality OF
smallpox in all civilized countries. In
Copenhagen, not a single death from
small. pox occurred in the thirteen years
following 1910. In single German town,
the number Of cases Of smallpox annually
was 500, and the deaths 80, before vacci-
nation was introduced; in the first year
after thorough vaccination, there were
eight cases and one death, and for the
SsSSSDj
and no deaths. Accurate statistics show
that the small pox mortality in Trieste
during the vaccination period has been
seyenty.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. Small -pox has, indeed, lost all
its terrors, and is now Justly regarded as
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
is untrue when vaccination is thorough
" performed, it is surely preventive.
Second. It 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 oGe-
cine Dir1s soiN cause only the caccine dssedse.
The amount of evidence upon this ques-
ton and confirming this statement Is alb
solutely overwhelming. Whenever erup-
tions appear, they are due to an inherent
vice 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
q person suffering from an inoculable
disease.
It 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 10
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.
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