The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-03-10
ANTI-VACCINATIONIST RIDDLES
OPPONENTS ARGUMENTS BEFORE
BIG GATHERING IN PHILADEL PHIA
c. Oscar EeasIey Here Arguments Adj
vanced by Opponents Who Maintain That Serum Is Eff
Safeguard Against Small Pox

in guinea pigs inoculated with it. If
this is so, why does it happen that
these same germs cause tetanus when
they are directly introduced into the
vaccination wound in the experiment
tai incubation of guinea pigs?
1.-THE spores of tetanus cannot grow
into adult tetanus germs and produce
their specific toxin except in the alb
sence Of oxygen, and this is aided by
the presence, also of pyogenic organ
isnns- AS long as the vaccination sore
is open and discharging its puS out
worldly there is little likelihood of the
tetanus spores developing, but when
after the scab begins to form, the air
is excluded, and the affected tissues
are deprived of oxygen, the spores de-
provided by the vaccination sore and
produce their appropriate toxin, and
the disease tetanus results. These
conditions and the time required for
the tetanus spores to develop into full
grown tetanus organisms account for
the prolonged incubation period that
usually characterizes cases of vacc1-
nal tetanus. Indeed, DR.. Joseph Nc
Farland, in his paper on 'Tetanus and
Vaccination read at the Second An
nua1 meeting of the American Assoc
citation of Pathologists and Bacteria
logists, on March 49, 1902, in speaking
of severe local lessons following vac
truly, it may mean that it is only
when such local LESSONS occur that the
implanted tetanus bacilli can find
conditions suitable for their develop
ment.' And DR.. Mcfarland adds, as
one of the conclusions that he thinks
seem justifiable from the facts stated
in his paper: 1.-THE tetanus organisms
may be present in the virus in small
numbers, being derived from the man
ure and hay
DIR. Robert N. Wilson, of Philadel-
phia, while making archaeological ex-
aminations of the contents of glycer-
mated vaccine points, found pps-or-
ganisms, the streptococcus, the sta
phy1locOccus, and the pneumococcus-
Doctor Wilson says that g1ycerin
would tend to accelerate rather than
to retard the action of the tetanus
process. Doctor Wilson innoculated
a white mouse with a culture of vac
cine virus, with the result that one
minute later the mouse died in con-
vulsion. This culture was derived
from a glycerinated point purchased
in the open market and ready for use.
Thus, it has been shown that vac
cine virus itself, and the vaccination
sore, furnish the, best possible media
for the development of the tetanus
spores into the adult germs of tetanus,
resulting in the disease itself. And in
the face of these facts, it is idle to de-
clare that it is proved that cases of
tetanus following vaccination must
necessarily be due to some outside in
ection. This is especially so as Boil
ton staes, in 'Williams's Manual of
that the toxic sub
stance of tetanus appears not to be a
ptonnaine, as was at first supposed
and that its exact nature is not de-
termined.' AS the very. nature of the
toxic substance of tetanus is unknown,
ct re-
been made here tonight, about the
virus used in vaccinating not being
the injecting agent, are manifest1y
by the facts
What the Observation-Disclosures want
is to receive satisfactory answers to
all these questions, such as will clear
up all the doubtful points concerning
vaccination, and not mere dogma tism
and mere assertion. Present expert
7nce proves that smallpox can be kept
out of a community or kept under
control by quarantine and ISOLATION
and other sanitary measures, without
vaccination. In England and Wales,
vaccinations have decreased in num-
Der nearly so per cent, in recent years,
and smallpox has been kept down to
the lowest point it has reached there
during the last four hundred years.
The medical profession will have to
deal more frankly with the public in
his matter if it expects the confidence
Of the public. Utah has expressly
prohibited compulsory vaccination,
and various other states of the Union
nave done away with the, general en-
'orcement of vaccination; and Great
Britain is relieved by parents being
simply required to make a written
and the child is left I'M
zaccfnated, and no increase of small
oox has followed among its great UNI
zaccinated population.
The vaccine virus now most gener-
ally used is human smallpox matter
modified by passage through the low
IT animals and by mixture with gly-
'erin. In the original preparation of
;eed virus, the most satisfactory ma
,er1al was found to be pulp taken
rom the vesteIes on the corpses of
persons that had died Of smallpox.
This material was inocu1ated into the
monkey on whose body it makes a
ore and sometimes an eruption. AZ
er passage through several monkeys, |
ne resulting decayed and diseased
natter from the sores of the monkey |
s in turn inoculated into the calf, |
when another kind of sore is produced
esulting from the diseased smallpox !
natter, plus the diseased tissues of |
he monkey; and then the process is |
completed by the addition of irnpuri- !
les derived from cultivation of this |
diseased matter in the skin of series
II caves Such an origin for any |
ubstance to be introduced into the |
luman circulation is abhorrent to |
10Th reason and science.
"Contiued incubation of the seed vi |
us, from calf to calf, in time pro-
luces still further modified virus, |
which loses the power to make a sat |
sore. The vaccine manufac-
urer must then get something to start |
With again that is sufficiently impure |
Q last for a while. Finding them |
elves in this predicament some. years
.go, propagators Of vaccine virsu sent |
o Jana and procured some seed vac
inc virus from that country. What |
was, was unknown. 1t seemed |
owever; to be of sufficient impurity
nd disease-p producing character to
tart a new strain Of vaccine virus in
he United States. For five or six
ears this virus was sent out, and
hen it was discovered that in spite
10 L. L. =. LII