The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1901-04-03
HISTORY OF VACCINATION
How the Discovery of the Pre-
ventive Virus Was Made and
Applied

During the eighteenth century il
was common talk among the countr,
people of England and Scotland that
lnllkers of cows never had the small.
poX. At time when this disease was
one OF the scourgcs of Europe such a
fact naturally attracted attention.
| Physicians in the cities did not REGARD
the country notion as worthy of uoiice.
| When an epidemic threatened tbev iu-
ocula'ed healthy persons with small
pOX virus to give them the disease.
lhen 1t was treated from the start
under favorable conditions. The chief
effect of the method was TO make the
lnoculatcd 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 incubation.
1t was left for an obscure country
physician, DIR. Jenner, to recognize
the scientific Importance of the farm
tradition about the immunity of milk
crs BY his experiments in 1896 he
proved that inOcuatiOn with cowpo1
virus carried protection against small
poX. He wrote pamphlet on his cx.
pcrlmcnts and sent IT to the Royal Col.
leee Of Physicians in London. The
manuscript was returned with con-
temptuous reply. The discovery was
OF too great Importance not TO make an
impression, and during the 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 were many in the early palt
OF the century who doubted its efficacy.
The experience of the last thirty wears
has demonstrated the value of vacci-
uatlon beyond the possibility of doubt.
In Chemnitz, Germany, a city of GA 900
inhabitants, there was smallpox
epidemic in lS70-1l. About 54 900
OF the inhabitants had been vaccinated.
Only IS per cent of them contracted
the disease. OF the unvaccinated
more than 4G per cent were i'll. Among
the vaccinatcd less than | per cent of
the cases resulted fatally. Among the
unprotected the percentage was above
,. Statistics of the armies in the
Franco-Prusslan war show the same
general results. The German soldiers
were carefully vacclnated, while the
French were not. During wide
spread epidemic of smallpox the Ger
man lost only 450 men from the disease,
while the French lost 23,4OO. In
general il has been shown that the
danger of infection Is SIX times as great
and the mortality sixty eight times as
great i'll unvaccinated as in the vac
& nat d.
Vaccination is compulsory through.
at N st of Europe. In France the
aw is loosely enforced and The Lon
don DAILY Mail is authority for the
state nnnt that II, 900 Frcnchmen die
annu lily from the disease, while ii
ca,tIcs off only ll0 Germans yea,
The parent of every child born in
England must, within six months after
the child's birth, have it vaccinatcd by
a registered medical practitioner or by
the public vaccinatur In case parent
believes vaccination will be harmful to
his chlld 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 SO disastrous CEN
tury ago. The case Is one where the
ounce Of prevention is worth several
pounds of cure.