The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-30
GOOD FOR ENGLAND!

The English are great individualists. At all times an Enslishman insists on having his rights-as the rest of the world has reason to appreciate. In England for many years the children of conscientious objectors have been exempt from compulsory % yaccinatlon' although rough trys health authorities and the country's
 health authorities and the general public has
 been that this was dangerous to the commit nity
 The practice of vaccination has declined in England in recent years. This IS accounted for partly as result of compulsory vaccination and partly as q consequence of the evolution of smallpox that is to say, the change in tho
 character of the disease in Ehglama. as d m tnc type of illness than was the smallpox Of the
 nineteenth century. So people have less dread of 1t and more readily neglect vaccination. Moreover there is q real menace involved In
 vaccination menace sufficiently grave to war
 rant at least e reconsideration of the whole question of vaccination as public health meas ure. I refer to the occurrence of encephaltis
 following vaccination = brain inflammation
 though this deplorable complication or unto. ward effect occurs only rarely, when 1t does
 happen 1t is quite enough to give the conscien" tious physician terrible doubts.
 have expressed here repeatedly my own
 personal doubts about (a) the occurrence Of | rabies in man, and (b) the administration @ of Pasteur virus to persons who have been bit- ten by presumably rabid animals. All the scien. tihc literature all the recorded cases and all
 clear away obscurity in which this problem Is
 submerged. l don't know. l dont know. But if my own child were in that plight right now believe should NOT sanction the admins tration of the virus.
 | l am comparing vaccine with ant-rabies virus because there are certain impressivev an; alogies between them. No one knows the cause of smallpox and no one knows the cause of rabies if rabies really occurs in man. No
 one knows what disease is inoculated when we | yaccinate an individual successfully-no one can give absolute assurance of the purity or the vaccine. You see, 1t is impossible to steril- ize vaccine as we sterlize anti-typhoid bacterin. nr n approved cd of preparing vaccine is a crude and unsci- | entifc business. groping in the dark with disease than vaccna. Likewise no one knows what disease IS inoculated when Pasteur virus
 is injected for the prevention of rabies. It is all terribly blind business, and we can only follow blindly the lead of the blind. After a calm consideration of the situation the council of the British Medical Association
 reaffirming it's faith in the efficacy of vaccina- ton to protect against smallpox, now holds that | the time has arrived to consider whether greater protection against smallpox would nor be afforded by voluntary rather than by com pulsory vaccination"
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Cramps in Legs
 I am nearly 80 years old. Six years ago I suf- | fered much from cramps in the legs at night. | Had to massage vigorously with an embrOca- | ton kept beside my bed for the purpose. | Then a niece advised that put on tight garters
 at night. tried 1t, and found relief. still wear
 them every night and have no more cramps. | CT. WI
 | Answer-Thank you. Perhaps some of our
 readers who suffer with such cramps will try
 wearing garters and report their experience. | Tourists First Aid Kit 1 We plan trip to the coast, taking our three | children (8-0-S). What precautions can we
 take as to purifying water where we can't boil | It, and what other emergency supplies and pre-.
 cautions would you recommend? (Afrs A. T. VI | Answer--If you can't boil the water, put a
 drop of iodin (common tincture of iodine. old
 speling) in quart of water and shake up and | let stand 20 minutes before drinknk any. Send
 q stamped envelope bearing your address. in-
 close a dime. and ask for Instructions for Pre-
 pairing and Using the Pocket First Aid Kit. | Poisoning the Germ Plasm Premedicai student says smoking and drink | Ing poison the germ plasm. Zoology major stu-
 dent says "Dunkl" What do you say? (Nf IL. L) | Answer-I agree with the premedicai student tcopyrisht 1888. John F. pipA Col