Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1873-02-12
Vaccination, lis Dangers and lis
True Character.

true lnafaCicF.
a slbscibcr to The Republican, who is
also a physician Of so'ne twenty years
practice in an adjoining State, sends brief
ly his view Of the dangers incident TO vac.
einaiion, and their cause, in note which
we print below, and which is worth the
reading by everybody who ei'her vuccin-
ates Or is yaccinated, that is &c say, Of
persous in every hundred.
1t is impossible 10 be too careful in mai
ter so dllicai0 and important as proPaga-
ling disease, even if the disoase he pro-
tosuyc one:-- .... ...-....
As prac,iced, vaccination is attended
with danger, both to lilI aud to health,
ard the reasons for this are probably
these three: /. The use of "crusts.' a
crust is a scab Of sore, aud is neeessa-
r.lly composed Of dried vaccine lymph
(mostly in a pustuar s,aie) in small guam
ity, the innamed aud diseased iutegumcnt
in state Of decomposition, and dried Pus
also in . state Of partial decomposition.
The deaths at Westlord, few years ago,
were from a crust dissolved in water.
Probably the two deaths reported few
days go at Falmouth were from the use
of crusts. Every physician (aImcst) has
seen cases of badly swollen arms terysipe-
las. really instead Of cow.pox) from the
use of crusts. Let everybody rcmember
that vaccine crust is the partially rotten
scab Of a filthy sore, and is a very danger
Gus and indecent kind of mediclne.
9 The use Of dirty lancet or vacci-
nator. Every instrument used should be
at cnce clcansed by boiling water and fire.
Wash off all the adhercnt blood, etc, inl-
mcdi atoly. and dry the instrument by
heat above the boiling point. This is not
commonly done, and with somc Of the
complicated instruments, never. Hence
rise CASES OF crys'pelas and probably
lcaIh. | have under my care men,
healthy before yacc.uation in December,
who has been sick with pycmia for six
weeks. This is Il case oi blood poison
rom the use, probably, Of a dirty knife.
3. The use of vacciua matter taken
100 late foom the vacciuated person. Vac
sine matter generally becomes a blood poi.
-on by thc ninth or tenth day after vaccin-
ation. II should be taken on the seventh
5r eighth day, when it is as clear as wa
ter, and used Immediately, if possible.
Every days keeping Of such matter, on
points or quilts, renders the lymph liable
to become blood poison. ......
These three dangers Of vaccination i'm
ply some Ignorance or fault on the part OF
tn vaccinator. On the part Of tbe yacc-
mated the dangers are mostly mechanical
The vaccine vesicle is ruptured or irrlta.
ted in somc way, end inflammation takes
place. But the danger from this is small
compared to the introduction Of blood
poison BY The vaccinotcr.
In regard to tho deaths at Falmouth
we learn that they resulted from malignant
crysipelas, no doubt produced by corrup-
ted vaccine virus, as similar disease was
produced in the Weslford cassc, abovc.
mentioned. The poison thus introduced
into the system is like that resulting from
wounds received in dissection, wh!oh every
BOW ard then prove fatal to physicians
and medical students.
The true noture Of the vaccine disease
and its relation to slrall-pox. remain to be
discovered. or, at least, to be made clear
to the pablo. 1t is commonly thought to
be something quite extinct from variola
or vsrioIoid, but the latest ipyegtigations
throw semc doubt ou this theory, DR.. r,
II. Blkcwcll. Who was for some years the
president of the board Of health in the
British tropical colony Of Trinidad, near
the coast Of Venezuela, and there witness.
ed during the last year maglignant cpl.
demic OF smallpox, which ho has lescrib-
&c with great minuteness in the London
Medical Times and Gazette, denies the
theory altogether. In the last Of his series
of papers, published about Christmas
time, he says I; I'VE may fairly, consider
it settled point that vaccinia is modified
varioIa," and ho ad Is that half dozen
cases OF active vaccination are quite capa.
tle. if in small building, like the huts
at Trinidad, Of generating a smallpox
contagion. In places best vaccinated there
was the most snal-p2x'" says; witch
is certainly contrary to ali our Massachus-
etts experience, 80 far as reported. Dir,
Bakewell, who has now returned to Eng
Ian seems to be wcll-cducated physi-.
clan, and has made many microscopic ex-
aminalons Of tho blood in swall-rox IA
tients and subjects Of vaccination, BY
which valuable facts are disclosed, lie
is skeptiedi as to The fixed period for, the,