The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-03-02

then President, who fully understood the
ravages of the disease among the black
population.
Jenner vaccinated all who came to him.
There were sonnet ines 300 waiting at his
door, He would have become impover-
ished had it not been for liberal grants
by Parliament. He sent out lymph to
the ends of the world, and carried on
wide correspondence. He became, in his
own words, Vaccine clerk to the world"
He died on January rs, 1928, and was
buried in the village church, the offer of
grave in Westminster Abbey having been
declined by his family. He was modest
and fond of quiet life and simple pleas
ures; man of great practical sagacity
as we'll as originality of mind.
The faith in vaccination and the honor
in which Jenner was held by his own
generation, who understood smallpox so
we'll, is shown by the fact that Parla-
ment twice voted him grants of money
amounting to 10000 pounds, while Napo-
leon, the bitter foe of the English, liber-
ated prisoners at his request.
To comprehend what vaccination has
done for the world, we must understand
what smallpox was when Jenner an
uOuHCeu his great discovery. us eAlTcne
contagiousness, it's excessive rate of
mortality, it's loathsome character, and
the manning and Disagreement it left
behind combined to make it the most
serious scourge from which the race has
suffered. 1t has been justly described as
1.-The Attila of diseases, the very scourge
of God, oyerrunning countries and de-
stroying whole populations" When Jen-
1896, smallpox was causing one-tenth OF
all the deaths of the human race. Ber
rouilli the mathematician, estimated
that more than 60,000,000 of the inhabi
taEts Of Europe died from smallpox dur
ing the eighteenth century, being an av-
erage of 100000 year Others place the
number even higher. Specific proof of it's
fa tality is shown by COwan'S vital sta
tistics of Glasgow. He states that be-
tween 1888 and 1892, SO per cent of all
the deaths under ten years were due to
smallpox, and between 1898 and 1902 81
per cent were due to the cause. These
are no Uncommon figures, for it was as
serted by others that One-third of all
deaths under ten years were due to
smallpox. 1t was estimated by Conda-
mine that this foul disease destroyed or
dis1gured the fourth part of mankind.
When the smallpox was introduced into
Mexico by the Spaniards in 1920, $500
600 died within a few years. In 1887, 10
per cent of the people of Greenland died
of smallpox. In 1907, in Iceland, 1900
in population of $4,000 died in single
year. 1T is believed that 100000 North
American Indians fell victims to it's raw
ages. 1t has done more to eXterminate
the aborigines of this continent than any
other cause. In 1887 the destruction of
life was enormous, whole tribes being ex-
terminated.
1t will surprise many to know that in
former times smallpox was essentially a
disease of childhood, over so per cent of
all eases occurring in children uI.der five
years. AS vaccination is done chiefly in
infancy and childhood it is a strong
proof of it's efficacy that the occurrence
of the disease has been transferred from
childhood to adult life, when immunity
has been exhausted.
Let us now consider the history of
smallpox since Jenner'S time and COM
! pare it with previous conditions. In
England, it has been estimated that in
1860 the average annual number of deaths
per million from smallpox was 4,l10 Dr..
! Farr estimated the rate per million at
1890 for the thirty years from l72S to
1857. Official registration OF the causes
of death began in 1888 From that year
to 1854, a period of optional vaccination,
the average rate per million was 400.
From 1854 to 1894, a period OF enJoined
vaccination, the rate for the whole period
was 40. From 1872 to 1894, the laws
were more rigid. and the rate was SO.
Excluding tho epidemic of 1872, 1T was
but 3d. In the fourteen years preceding
1872. the average death rate from small
poX IN the British army per 100000
, strength was Ill; for twenty-five years
after that date, 81. This was rendered
even higher by the loss in 1889 of twenty
three men in India. In 1895, in popula-
tion of over 100000, there were So
deaths from smallpox in London. With
! less than one fourth that population, Sir
| j. Simon states that during the eighteenth
century the annual smallpox death rate
of London ranged from 5000 to 5000.
Sweden furnishes some particularly
| valuable facts, for excellent records have
been kept since IVA. Between 1774 and
1901 the average smallpox mortality per
million living was 2,045. During fifteen
years 0S02 to 1870 of optional vaccina-
! ton the average mortality was +0S and
| for seventy-seven years of compulsory
| vaccination it averaged 155.. During the
| ten years from 1884 to 1898 (the latest
! record l can obtain, under still more
! rigid laws, there was no year in which
| the rate per million was above five; 1t
| was in one year as low as OF. In the
| twenty eight years before 1901, the rate
was over 1000 in eighteen different
years, reaching in 1879 the enormous fig
ure of 1876. Since 1901 it has been be-
| low 100 in forty-six different years, and
| below ten in fifteen different years.
| Attempt has been made by antivac-
cinationists to minimize the value Of
| these remarkable figures by the theory
| that there was a natural decline in small
| pox before vaccination had been adopted
! The facts are, however, that vaccination
was taken up in Sweden with the utmost
| enthusiasm. 1t is known that in 1902
eighty physicians had lymph in their pos
| sessions. In 1904, royal orders required
| vaccination by means of the pastors OF
/ chuches, while in the following year the
| Royal College alone reported 100000 vac
cinaticns. 1t certainly requires great
| credulity to believe that the rapid fall in
| the mortality rate from 2,O45 to 4S0 was