Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-04-20
About Vaccination.


About Vaccination.
Now that the smallpox epidemic that
has been threatening Yorkville and
vicinity is over, few remarks about
vaccination, which a few weeks ago
might have tended only to add to an
alarm that was close on the verge OF
panic.
There are a great many people who
have a strong antipathy to vaccination,
and many who profess to believe that
there is no efficacy in 1t. To trace the
original of this antipathy and prejudice
and bring 1t down to the present time
would be a matter of but little diff
Guilty; but to justify it in the light OF
present day conditions would be next
to impossible.
It is a fact that Of the eight deaths
from smallpox during the recent local
epidemic, not one Of the victims had
been successfully vaccinated before
hand, and Of the four that have recov-
cred, two had been vaccinated many
years before, and the disease did not
go hardly with them. There were In
stances Of vaccinated people being
exposed to this disease in it's most vir-
ulent form without becoming infect
ed, and there Is no reason to believe
that they could have escaped had they
not been vaccinated.
Just how long the world has been
suffering from smallpox Is not known.
There is no specific mention OF the dis
ease in the Scriptures, although 1t is
possible that it may have been referred
to under the general term Of "pesti-
lence" The first historical reference
to the disease Is in an account of an
epidemic that practically annihilated
an Abyssinian army that besieged Mec-
ca in the year 571. The disease Is said
to have spread into Europe from this
epidemic, and to have remained there
ever since.
England suffered a great deal from
smallpox during a period Of more than
a thousand years, and for long period
previous and up to the year 1900, 1t
is estimated that not more than 1 out
of each 25 Of the population escaped.
During period Of forty years or more
there was an average of more than g.
900 deaths from smallpox in the city
Of London alone.
During several hundred years, the
Turks fought smallpox with a sytsem
of incubation Of the disease itself.
They operated usually on children, Sc
lecting healthy specimens in good con-
dition, and developed the genuine dis
ease under the most favorable condi-
tions possible. Many Of the subjects
died-some or per cent, but those
that recovered had the benefit Of sub
sequent immunity and that was highly
priced, under conditions where men
who had not been so immuned were
liable to be cut down at any time.
This same practice was introduced
into England in 1921 and also into
America the same year; but for obvious
reasons it never became popular.
Adults preferred to take their chances
Of missing the disease altogether, and
they were loath to subject their chill
dren to risks that they would not as
sumo themselves.
The discovery of vaccination came
about largely as the result Of an acci-
dent. 1t had been known for genera
tions that people who had had cow
pox were immune from smallpox; but
it remained for DR.. Edward Jenner,
the famous Englishman, to discover
the relationship between the two dis
eases. Having heard a dairy maid re-
mark very confidently that she could
not take the disease, he asked her
why and when she told him it was
because she had had cowpox, it put
him to thinking.
At the first opportunity, DR.. Jenner
secured some virus from a cowpox
and vaccinated a boy named James
Phipps, years of age. After the boy
had been through the various stages OF
vaccination so familiar today, DR.. Jen-
ner put him in room with a small
pox patient and gave him every OPP
portunity to contract the disease; but
with no result other than that he con-
tinued healthy and sound. Then the
u
virus, and this also was without ef-
feet.
This experiment was made in 1896
and after two years, in 1898, DR.. Jen-
ner gave the world the result Of his
experiment in a pamphlet. His ideas
were hooted and scoffed throughout
the world, and it was many years be-
fore other reputable doctors would
even try It; but in the course of few
years the British parliament recogniz-
ed the value Of the discovery by CIV
ing Dr. Jenner an annuity of 10000
pounds a year with which to continue
his Investigations.
But cowpox was not very common
disease even in DR.. Jenner's day, and
knowledge Of incubation was fa1
more limited than it is now About the
best that could be done under the cir
cumstances was to vaccinate from arm
to arm, and this method in time trans
mitted and spread diseases that were
worse than smallpox itself.