The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1901-04-04
HISTORY OF VACCINATION.
How the Discovery of the Pre-
ventive Virus Was Made and
Applied

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During tho eighteenth century it
was common talk among the country
people of England and Scotland that
mixers OF cows never had the small
poX. At time when this disease was
one OF the scourgcs Of Europe such n
fact naturally attracted attention.
Physicians in the cities did not regard
the country notion as worthy of notice.
| When an epidemic threatened they in
oculatcd healthy persons with small
poN virus to give them the disease.
Then it was treated from the start
under favorable conditions. The chief
effect Of the method was to make the
inoculated person certain he was to be
seriously i'll, while the uninoculated
might possibly escape. Jonathan Ed
wards was one of the famous victims
of inOCulati0n.
1t was left for an obscure country
physician, DR.. Jenner, to recognize
the scientific Importance Of the farm
tradition about the immunity Of milk
crs. BY his experiments in 1906 he
proved that incubation with cowpo1
virus carried protection against small
poN. He wrote n pamphlet on his ex.
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lcgc Of Physicians in london. Tho
manuscript was returned with con-
tcmptuous reply. The discovery was
of too great Importance not TO make an
impression, and during tho fifth year
after this first vaccination .Jenner and
other doctors vaccinated 10000 per.
sons in England.
In spite of the success of the pro-
cess there wcro many in the early part
of the century who doubted its efficacy.
The experience of the last thirty years
has demonstrated the value of vacci-
nation beyond the possibility of doubt.
In Chemnitz, Germany, n city of 81 900
inhabitants, there was n smallpox
epidemic in 1S70.-7l. About Sd 900
Of the inhabitants had been vaccinated.
Only l.S per cent of them contracted
the disease. Of the unvaccinated
more than 46 per cent were i'll. Among
the vaccinatcd less than l per cent Of
the cases resulted fatally. Among the
unprotected tho percentage was above
.. Statistics of the armies in the
FrancO-Prusslan war show the same
, general results. The German soldiers
were carefully vacclnatcd, while the
French were not. During wide
spread epidemic of smallpox the Cor
man lost only $50 men from the disease,
while the French lost 23,4O0. In
general il has been shown that the
danger of infection ls six times as great
and the mortality siXty.cight times as
great in unvaccinatcd as in the vac
cinatcd.
Vaccination is compulsory through
out most of Europe. In France the
law is loosely enforced and The Lon
don Daily Mail is authority for the
statement that l4,000 Frenchmen die
annually from tho disease, while It
carries off only 10 Germans year.
The parent of every child born in
England must, within six months after
the child's birth, have il vaccinated by
a registered medical practitioner or by
the public vaccinator In case parent
believes vaccination will be harmful to
his child he can secure exemption by
taking oath before two Justices of the
peace before the child is four months
old. BY such stringent methods as
these England anil other countries have
, prevented the recurrence Of those cpl
denies which were 80 disastrous q cen.
, tury ago. The case IS ono whore the
| ounce Of prevention is worth several
pounds of cure.