The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-15

From the Philadelphia Medical Journal.
In these days a century after Edward
Jenner's memorable incubation OF James
Phipps on May II, 1896. we can hardly APP
preclate what emall-pox was A few facts.
however, will show its dreadful ravages.
Dinsdale. who went 10 st. Petersburg to in
ocuiate the Empress Catharlne, says that
200GOJ0 people died in IA single year In the
Russian empire from smallpox. In 1907, i'm
Iceland. out OF population of 1000, $4,000
died. In Mexico, in the sixteenth century.
30OO'OV0 people died, leaving In some places
scarcely enough alive 10 bury the dead. At
the END of the eighteenth century Gilbert
i5iane estimated that IAN adult person who
had NOT had smallpox was scarcely met
with or heard of In the United Kingdom"
When servants were advertised for, II was
common 20 specify that they must have
had smallpox in the natural way" In
1855 In an advertisement for counterfeit-
er, 4 was noted as a.mvans of his identi-
fication that he was Without pock-holes''
AT the institution OF the INDECENT Blind.
two-thirds Of the applicants were made
blind by the smallpox"
II attacked the high as well as the huns
BILE. In the family Of William III of Eng
land, his Queen. Mary, his father his
mother, his uncle, and TWO cousins, chill
dren of James l. all died of the smasl-
pox, and the King himself barely escaped
with his life. During The eighteenth CEN
tury. one Emperor and two Empresses OF
Austria. six archdukeS and archduchesses,
an elector Of Saxony an elector OF Bone
mia, DauphIn, and a King Of France, a
King OF sweden, ana "a Car OF Russia,
were all numbered among It's victims So
fearful were its rayages, that Bernouit
estimated that 6O,O0D,C0O persons died from
smallpox IN the century the close OF which
saw the foundation Of this very faculty.
Wen might Macaulay say: The havoc OF
the plague had been far more rapid, but
the plague visited our shores only once
or twice WITHIN living memory. But the
smallpox was always present filing the
church-yaTd with corpses, leaving on those
whose lives II spared the hldeous traces OF
III h4 m "a
ling ~ which the mother shuddered, and
making the. eyes and cheeks Of the be-
trothed maiden objects OF horror TO her
lover" IL was "the most terrible OF all the
ministers of death"
But IN 1896 arose the medical David who
was to smte this Goliath. From that time
TIL the present smallpox has been shorn
or all It's terrors. Very recently. In Jen-
ner's own country, attempts have been
made TO show that vaccination was USE
less; that II drove out Of the system one
vile disorder by introducing another, that
It disseminated instead OF preventing dis
ease Were we TO grant all that Is falsely
alleged as 20 the Introduction of tubercii-
losls and syphilis, even then the benefits
II has conferred would out-number the
of fact. the cases in which evil results
have followed are few and far between.
and by the use of animal virus instead Of
the humanized and by the proper anti
septic care In vaccination, which isI really
e minor surgical OPERATION all of these
Ill effects can be avoided.
A few statistics wiz show the benefits
vaccination has conferred. In Sweden, be-
fore vaccination. the deaths per 1,000,eo0
were 2,0f5. Since compulsory vaccination
was Introduced they have fallen 10 155.
In England during the eighteenth century
the average deaths per 100000 were about
1000. Since the epidemic of iS7i-72 and the
enforcement of the law for vaccination
the deaths have fallen TO 50 per 1000 900,
and IN Scotland they have fallen to s.
In Prussia, before compulsory vaccina-
ton there were 300 deaths per 10o0.Oo0:
IN the last ten years only 7. In Austria,
without compulsory vaccination, in the
last ten years the average has been Az
deaths per 100000. and IN Belgium with
out compulsory vaccination from 1875 TO
1894, there were AL deaths per 100000.
In the Sheffield epidemic of 1sS7-SS Of the
unvacclnated population, In 20 died: OF
those who were vaccnated. / In 1900