Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-16
The Spread of Vaccination:
Bv Frederic j. HaSkin

! legend, HE Did Not Believe in Il"
The pictures following show his prog
ress from the day he contracted the
disease until it reached its most serious
stage. Nothing can be imagined that
could have a deeper effect on the mind
of a child.
There is another picture which re-
Veals a trio of children, two of whom
were vaceinated and the other not Two
of the little bodies are free from all
trace of the disease, while the third is
dreadfully disdgured from it. The les
son is strongly pointed out to children
in this way. In addition to its striking
and Impressive illustrations, the little
book has much text on the subject, all
written in such a simple, direct way
that it is bound to exercise deep in
fluence on the mind of the child who
reads it.
The pamphlet refers to the fact that
smallpox was once so prevalent that it
was a common saying that men could
not escape love nor smallpox, and that
owing to the ravages Of this terrible
disease beautiful women were once so
scarce that they were curiosities. 1t
states that even the Father of his
Country did not escape it, his face
bearing the well known pits which
mark those who have been it's victims
1t traces the decreasing ratio of cases
wherever public sentiment has made it
compulsory for all people to be vaccin-
ated, and recommends that the right
of suffrage and other privileges OF citi-
zenship depend upon vaccination. On
the whole it is one of the most effect
i've pieces of public health literature
ever issued, and should serve as a
model for all communities interested
in the subject.
The culture of vaccine virus is one of
the most interesting things that science
is doing for mankind. The most of that
which Americans use comes from an
original source of cowpox which oc-
CURED in Beaugency, Germany, in 1871
Some is used which comes from a case
in Catassett, Mass, in 1881. 1t is made
at laboratories under government in
spection. The posterior half of q
healthy calf's belly is shaved and scarf
fed in parallel lines and then inocu-
lated with virus. After the vesicles
ripen the virus is taken from them
under the most sanitary conditions, and
is then mixed with glycerine and al
lowed to ripen from four to six weeks.
Every detail of the work must be done
with the utmost care to prevent con-
tagion. =
Those who argue that vaccination is
as dangerous as smallpox itself will de-
hands of the public health and marine
hospital service, that splendid govern
mental agency for the preservation of
the national health. These figures show
that of 2,275, 900 cases observed in Ger
many there were only thirty-f1ve deaths
from vaccination. In another authenti-
Gated series of observations there was
but one death in $4,000 vaccinations.
In a series of 10000 cases in Canada
there was not a single death reported.
The danger from vaccination is in
no wise comparable to the illness from
smallpox. The history of the eighteenth
century shows how terrible and wide
spread were the ravages of this fearful
plague. 1t was called the Attila of
diseases, the very scourge of God, over
running countries and destroying whole
populations. Six hundred million peo-
pie died from it in the century whose
end marked the discovery of vaccina-
ton. More than 80 per cent of the
whole population had smallpox during
their lives. 1t caught the king in his
palace and the peasant in his hovef;
the rich man was attacked as readily
as the pauper, and the cultured were
no more immune than the ignorant.
Most contagious of diseases, and sec
ond only to leprosy in its loathsome-
ness, it is little wonder that parliament
gave Jenner grants dHlOullllHS W HlOIO
than a quarter million dollars, that
Napoleon liberated prisoners of war on
his request, and that Thomas Jefferson
wrote him that so long as man lived
upon the earth, with disease for his
portion, the name of Jenner must ever
be fresh in the human mind. Inc
world cannot forget this benefactor OF
millions. living and generations unborn
Yet the suggestion for the great dis
coverv came from a humble milkmald
In the presence of Jenner she declared
that she could not take smallpox be-
cause she had suffered from coWpoX'
Truly out of the mouth of ignorance
proceeded great wisdom. once planteo
in the mind of Jenner, the idea grew
until it developed into the most VIDE
spread practice of preventive medlclne
the world has known. With the advent
of vaccination for typhoid we are LED 10
hone that other diseases may yet pe
forefended against in the same way,
and with sanitation guarding, the gateS
of health, mans complete declaration
of independence against contaglon may
he written before the second century OIL
Tenners discovery has passed