The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1901-04-24
The VALUE OF VACCINATION
Proof of It's Efficacy That is Con-
vinciag to All

The Chicago Record. Herald states
that an editorial commencing smallpox
which was recently published in that
paper has been the subject Of 7ehem-
eut p1o' ests on the part Of correspond
enss, who ask whether it is based upon
idle opinion merely or upon proof" As
a sample Of the demands made By in
credulous correspondents it is stated
that one Of them inquired if the editor
''kneW Of a single case wherein vac
cinaiion had prevented smal'poz?' To
this The Record Herald aptly replies
that IF this question is presented as An
argument We can only say that there
would be need of more than human in
telliger CO to swear in any particular.
case that contagion had been prevented
by vaccination. The question is there.
fore dismissed as ''dlsingenuous and
The r, cord Helsld proceeds to make
convincing reference to "the history
of the disease through a period Of
years" For this lu:p,se it had con
suited the Chicago health department,
from which the following figures for
the last Eve months were obtained:
Out of the total III cases of smallpox
found in Chicsgo between Nov. 80,
1900, and April 10, 1901-the period Of
the present ep:demic-140 had never
been vsccinated. OF the remaining 81
cases, 20 we're adults showing faint,
poor OF irregular scsrs claimed to be
evidence of attempted vaccination in
infancy or early childhood-the most
recent being % years old. Ooly two
out Of the III, cases exhibited typical
scars of successful vaccination. OF
these one was 35 years old-"vaccinated
when a child reVaecination attempted
three years ago, Withou: result; vaccine
lymph probably inert. The other was
10 years old, also successfully vscci-
Dated in childhood, but never revacci-
mated. These are the only two cases Of
the total III upon whom vaccination
was ev-r successfully ATTEMPTED, and
the most recent OF these was more than
thirty years ago.
These facts should be convincing
enough to dissipste the doubts Of the
most skeptical. They are, howe Yer, not
isolated instances, for the history Of
every other smallpox epidemic reveals
the same circumstances. There is
notbisg else in the realm of medical
experience SO ipoisputably demon
strated as the efficacy Of vaccination
against smallpox, Not only DO the
histories of epidemics prov, it's value
but the absence of epidemics proves it.
For instance. The Record Herald goes
on to say:
Since vaccination was made compul-
sorry in the schools smallpox has van
ished from them. The requirement was
first put into effect in 1857, and from
that year until 1881 there were only
seve ntsen cases all told Of smallpox
and vsrioloid. It is the opinion Of the
health department that these may be
explained by the imperfect inaugura-
tion Of the compulsory system, and it
is certainly rem srkable that as it con-
tinued in operation the disease dis.
appeared entirely. For twenty years
the schools were immune, and four
cases which were reported last winter
simply Serve to strengthen belief in the
efficacy Of vaccination. The patients
we're pupils who had been let in on
fraudulent certificates and who had
never been vac,insted. They were the
exception which proves the rule. Fin
ally, since vaccination has bsen uni.
vsrsslly prac:ioed in the Chicago police
department the officers have been free
from smallpox, and that is fact of
much Significance. Policemen go every
where, auoug all sorts Of people, so
that they are eptionslly liable to
exposure. Can it be q mere chance
that, though this is true and they are
several thousand in number, they ca
joy perfe immunity from the disease?
There will always be few misguided
people who believe with the late Rev.
Mr. Jasper that the sun do move.