PEIOE 25 CENTS. 
STARTLING 
FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE; 
REGARDING 
vaccination, 
FOR 
Everybody who has any Intention of being Vac- H 
cinated ; Giving Good Reasons why Caution 
SHOULD BE TAKEN; SHOWING HOW ThOUS- 
, ANDS ARE BEING POISONED OlIT- 
Right by Impure Virus, 
AND GIVING, 
IN PLAIN LANGUAGE, 
Such Advice, from Physicians Eminent tn the 
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Life and Health 
PUBLISHED BY (\ P. SYKES & CO., 
160 Nassau StijEkt. 
NEW YOBK: 
1872. 
For sale by the American News Co., Nos. 111 & 113 Nassau St, STARTLING 
FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE 
REGARDING 
VACCINATION, 
FOK 
Everybody who has any Intention of being Vac- 
cinated; Giving Good Reasons why Caution 
SHOULD BE TAKEN ; SHOWING HOW THOUS- 
ANDS ARE BEING POISONED ()UT- 
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AND GIVING, 
IN PI jA IN I .A N GIJ A G E, 
Such Advice, from Physicians Eminent in the 
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NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY C. P. SYKES & CO., 
166 Nassau Street. 
1872. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 
C. P. SYKES & CO., 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. 0. A BOW TO THE READER 
Everything is supposed to have its uses; or, in other words, 
everything is believed to have been made for something. This 
pamphlet is printed, bound, and now before you. Why ? 
You need hardly be told after you have perused, but shall be 
before you spend valuable time in thumbing, its pages. We prize 
nothing above life and health, but both of these are at this moment 
in peril; first, by the prevalence of small-pox; and, second, by the 
carelessness of those who are practicing vaccination. If placed in 
the order of their real danger, it might be proper to reverse the 
above classification, and say: first, by the carelessness of the vac- 
cinator, and, second, by the prevalence of the small pox. 
The majority of the medical profession are just about as ignorant 
of what constitutes true and successful vaccination as the masses of 
the people. The latter apply for a sore arm, and are entirely satisfied 
if they obtain one. The physician looks at it, and if it is only a 
“ big one," he, too, is satisfied, and the patient is pronounced imper- 
vious to small-pox! 
This ignorance—this malpractice—results in starting up two antag- 
onistic classes in the medical profession; one opposing vaccination 
under all circumstances, and another favoring the operation in the 
most indiscriminate manner. Those composing the first are insti 
gated in their opposition by finding that a large number, and per 
haps, in some communities, the majority of those contracting small 
pox, have been vaccinated, and hence claim that Jenner’s discovery 
is not a protection, while they are able to point to thousands of cases 
in which other diseases than kine-pox have been communicated, fre- 
quently to the extent of destroying life. Those of the second class, 
accepting the “ Jennerian system,” without investigation or question, 
indeed knowing little about it, find they can make the required sore 
arm by secondaiy as well as by virgin lymph, and clamor for “ thor- 
ough house to house vaccination,” and draw their supply of virus 
from the arms of those whom they have previously vaccinated. 
When assured, by those who do not go through the world with eyes 
and ears closed, that they are sowing syphilis, scrofula, etc., in their 
track, and that statistics prove that their careless system does not 
afford the necessary protection, they ridicule the protesters as being 4 
ignorant and prejudiced, and only appeal more loudly for authority 
to vaccinate, or, in correct parlance, poison, everybody, from the 
aged, in the old arm chairs, to the children in the public schools. 
The small-pox‘has been unusually prevalent during the past winter, 
and continues so to be, and the public have really been unable to 
decide what to do in the matter of vaccination, in view of the dis- 
agreement of the doctors. With a score or more of medical writers— 
well informed upon every other subject than the one upon which 
they are treating—denouncing Jenner’s discovery as useless and mis- 
chievous, and another class, true to the traditions of the old school 
practice, and a professional appetite for nothing else, advocating vac- 
cination, and telling the people that loathsome diseases cannot be 
communicated through the process, nearly every one has felt like an 
awakened sinner within the sound of forty sectarian pulpits. To 
simply say that he is puzzled is no word for it. With his mind made 
up for vaccination in the morning, he may end the day with a prefer 
ence for the small-pox itself, after hearing the conflicting testimony, 
and especially the well-sustained evidence that even that loathsome 
distemper, syphilis, has, in innumerable instances, been communi- 
cated by the lancet of the careless vaccinator. 
In December last the Academy of Medicine appointed a commit- 
tee to investigate the subject of vaccination, and report thereon. 
The respectability of the names of the physicians constituting the 
committee gave hope that something would be produced which could 
be accepted as a comprehensive guide to the public in this important 
matter. It was published in the Daily Times the 1st of February. 
But the reader was quite as much in the dark at the conclusion of 
the perusal as at the beginning. At the regular monthly meeting 
of the Eclectic Medical Society, in February, E. B. Foote, M. D., 
exhibited the inconsistencies and absolute contradictions of the report 
in a well written criticism which awakened a lively discussion. This 
discussion has produced something of practical value to the people, 
and we are now ready to tell you why this pamphlet has been issued. 
It is to place in the hands of those most interested that information 
which will enable them to decide intelligently how to act at a mo- 
ment when those who should be able to advise totally disagree. No 
extreme position is taken in this little work, while the safe course is 
plainly marked out. The opponents, as well as the advocates, of 
vaccination, can strike hands in brotherly accord over the recom- 
mendations herein presented. 
The New York City Eclectic Society, at the meeting alluded to, 
appointed Drs. E. Whitney, E. B. Foote, R. A. Gunn, and J. De 
Meyek, a committee to investigate the subject, and draw up a coun- 
ter-report to that presented to the Academy of Medicine. This 
report, together with additional articles from Drs. Whitney and Gunn, strongly corroborating its positions, have been published in 
Pomeroy’s Democrat, and, having awakened unusual interest in the 
minds of the community, it has been thought advisable to present 
them in pamphlet form. So here you have the whole matter, reader* 
and it has been issued for your benefit. Read it, and urge your 
neighbors to do so. You have nothing here that you cannot easily 
understand, as technicalities have been carefully avoided so far as 
practicable. This is eminently a book for the people and in the in- 
terests of the people. 7 
SMALL-POX AND VACCINATION, 
In presenting the results of their deliberate investigations, Drs. 
Whitney, Foote, Gunn, and 1)e Meyer open by saying that they 
will, “ for the sake of brevity and effect, lay down certain proposi- 
tions, and the evidence sustaining the same, bearing upon both small- 
pox and vaccination.” 
HUMAN SUSCEPTIBILITY TO CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 
Proposition I.—Leaving for the field of theological discussion the 
dogma of “total depravity,” we do unqualifiedly assert that, with 
only occasional exceptions, mankind are physically depraved; that a 
majority of children are born with those latent physical properties 
which render them susceptible to the influence of contagious dis- 
eases. 
Proof.—The well-known liability of children to measles, scarlet 
fever, chicken-pox, <fcc. 
THE CAUSE OF SMALL-POX. 
Proposition II.—We regard small-pox as the creation of the 
union of certain minute animalculse, diseased animal effluvia, or 
subtle poison, pervading the atmosphere of an infected locality, with 
either the germs of infusoria, or certain morbid conditions in the 
human body. 
Proof.—Wp have no positive knowledge of the creation of any 
living or material thing excepting by generative or chemical union 
the doctrine of spontaneous generation still remaining an undecided 
question among scientists, with the probabilities mainly adverse 
thereto. We must, therefore, deal with this subject in accordance 
with the recognized laws of generation and chemistry. There are 
those who, without vaccination, have been repeatedly exposed to 
small-pox without contracting the disease, while others, with the 
least exposure, have fallen easy victims to its ravages. This immu- 
nity of the few, and the insecurity of the many, suggests beyond 
doubt the existence in the latter of those germs or properties that 
possess an affinity for and attract the germs or properties which, 
united with those already existing in the susceptible system, produce 
small-pox. If the latter were simply and only a poison, not in any 8 
degree depending upon certain morbific conditions of the system for 
its development, then all would be safe, or all would be subject to 
its attacks when exposed to its influence. 
It may be well enough, under this head, to remind the members 
of this society that the drift of scientific investigation at present 
tends t,o the confirmation of the hypothesis entertained by many, 
that small-pox is a disease of similar character to epizoa. Accord 
ing to Huxley, Professor Tyndall has demonstrated that “ordinary 
air is no better than a sort of striabout of excessively minute solid 
particles,” while M. Pasteur has shown, by a series of interesting 
experiments, that among these solid particles “there really do exist 
germs capable of giving rise to the development of living forms in 
suitable menstrua.” We have only then, to admit what seems like 
an irresistible deduction—in view of the fact that all known living 
forms are subject to disease—that these atmospheric germs may be 
transformed to microscopic demons in places of corruption and 
tilth—and that the air of an infected neighborhood is loaded with 
these mischievous creatures, which are able to make sick and envelop 
in pustulation every person who carries in his circulation germs or 
morbific matters, with which they can unite to produce pustules, 
which, in turn, appear to be generative nests of myriads of the same 
kind of smaller than microscopic vermin. Inasmuch, however, as 
the settlement of the true pathological character of small-pox is not 
essential for the purposes of this paper, we will pass this not alto- 
gether irrelevant matter by, having adverted to it only to show the 
foundation for the epizootic hypothesis. In view of the peculiar 
characteristics of small-pox, with its remarkable partiality in select- 
ing its victims, there can be no reasonable doubt that something in 
the infected air, having the taint or germ of the infection, unites 
with morbific qualities in the system to produce the disease in the 
susceptible subject; whether in obedience to the laws of chemistry, 
or to those of vegetative or animal generation, time and the revela- 
tions of science must determine. 
THE THERAPEUTIC EFFECT OF PURE VACCINE. 
Proposition III.—The discovery of .Tenner supplied to the med- 
ical profession means of destroying in the human subject those 
germs or properties which have affinity for the germs or properties 
of the disease we call small-pox. 
Proof.—If the previous propositions are true, this one will not be 
disputed, as the fact of the preventive influence of kine-pox is gen- 
erally admitted by the public and the profession. 
WHAT CONSTITUTES EFFECTIVE VACCINATION. 
Proposition IV.—To render a susceptible person proof against 
the attack of small-pox, the true disease, vaccinia, must be induced, 9 
the presence of which is indicated by a temporary illness, with the 
symptoms of small-pox in a mild form, such as slight headache and 
backache, chill, and some perceptible symptoms of fever. 
Proof.—Thousands of cases of small-pox occur among persons 
who have been vaccinated and carry upon their arms the scars bear- 
ing the characteristic pits of an apparently effective vaccination. But 
it is found that in nearly or quite all such cases that vaccinia, with its 
attendant symptoms, had never been experienced. The exceptions, 
if any there be, are manifestly of those who would be subject to 
repeated attacks of variola or small pox. 
ABORTIVE VACCINATION. 
Proposition V.—A pustule having the external indications of a 
successful vaccination may be produced, while the system is not for 
a moment placed under its constitutional influence. 
Proof.—Evidence confirmatory of this has come under the ob- 
servation of every vaccinator; but the most convincing evidence 
that has been offered to this society is the statement of one of its 
elderly members, who asserts that he has experimented upon himself 
by vaccinating his arm time and again—as often, indeed, as he 
thinks of it when he has some of the reliable lymph at hand—and 
that in every instance he has produced a well marked pustule, with 
the usual external, and none of the internal characteristics of effect- 
ive vaccination. By way of explanation, your committee would 
suggest that this fact may be owing to the previous extinguishment 
of the small-pox germs or qualities, and a pustulous susceptibility in 
the subject. 
WHAT MUST BE EMPLOYED FOR EFFECTIVE VAC- 
CINATION. 
Proposition VI.—The true lymph of kine pox, taken from the 
udder of a heifer affected with the disease, must be used in vaccina- 
tion, in order to avoid possible complications of other diseases with 
the vaccinia, and to render the patient secure from small-pox. 
Proof.—“We do not gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles,’’ 
says the sacred writer; we cannot cross a clam with an oyster, or a 
fish with a turtle. We must obey the laws of generation, or of 
chemistry, whichsoever is involved in the production of true vac- 
cinia, and by this we mean that mild form of small-pox which we 
denominate kine-pox, with its characteristic internal as well as ex- 
ternal symptoms. We must, in obedience to those laws, employ for 
vaccination something possessing an affinity for those latent germs 
or properties in the system which render the patient susceptible to 
the contagion of small-pox. It will be found, before the conclusion 
of this report, that lymph taken from the arm may be, and often is, 10 
deficient of the necessary properties. By the way of argument, we 
will present the fact, which no medical practitioner will dispute, that 
Iheve are those who cannot accidentally abrade the cuticle without 
causing a sore, which is more or less slow in healing. Unless, then, 
the vaccine virus possesses a virtue, which no one has ever yet 
claimed for it—that of preventing cutaneous irritation—this same 
soreness is likely to take place in such persons when vaccinated, and 
the commingling of the blood impurities with the contents of an other- 
wise pure vesicle will vitiate the lymph and render it unfit for use 
in “ vaccinating from arm to arm,” as it is called. 
Again, it is a fact recognized by all vaccinators, that a true vesicle 
may be chafed by the clothing or irritated by scratching, when 
attended with a sensation of itching, and that this constant friction 
may direct thereto the impurity of the system, and cause an unwhole- 
some suppuration, the contents of which sore are manifestly depart- 
ures from the characteristics of pure lymph, and consequently unfit 
for further use. Where there is no apparent tendency to either of 
the above results, it may be reasonably implied that the discrimina- 
tion of the vaccinator may be utterly at fault in determining what 
lymph may and what may not be safely employed in “ vaccinating 
from arm to arm ;” and this implication is abundantly*lustained by 
facts, which will appear under their appropriate heads. We will 
simply append here a few statistics derived from the British Medical 
Journal: 
“ Our Manchester correspondent writes that the extent to which 
re-vaccination has been practiced in Manchester during the last few 
months has afforded rare opportunities for deciding some questions, 
which were before held by some to be still sub judice ; for example, 
the custom, which has prevailed among the mill-owners, of having 
all their work-people vaccinated, has settled the question of the value 
of secondary lymph as compared with virgin lymph. [We under- 
stand the virgin lymph to be that taken directly from the kine, and 
the secondary that which has passed through the human subject.] 
Out of many similar experiences, the following may be quoted by 
way of illustration: A fortnight ago a surgeon vaccinated 300 oper- 
atives; in 150 of these cases he employed virgin lymph; in the 
remaining 150 secondary lymph was used. The first series gave the 
following results: Nineteen cases unsuccessful, in 16 cases small 
papulae and spurious vesicles resulted, while the remaining 115 
showed well-marked primary vesicles. The second series gave very 
different results, for out of them 50 were entirely unsuccessful, 86 
terminated in papulae and small spurious vesicles, and only 14 
yielded true primary vesicles.” 
These statistics are not as complete as we could wish, for they do 
not state how many of each class experienced the true symptoms of 11 
vaccinia. We believe, if they did, it would be found that nearly 
or quite all of the 115 alleged successful vaccinations with the virgin 
lymph had the real and protective vaccinia—the first effective vac- 
cination—while but a small proportion of the fourteen alleged suc- 
cessful vaccinations with the secondary lymph were thus affected. 
This, of course, is only problematical, but, presented as imperfectly 
as they are, these statistics clearly show that the virgin lymph was 
more than eight times as efficacious as the secondary, besides being 
attended with less than one-fifth of the liability to papulae and spu- 
rious vesicles. In respect to the papulae and spurious vesicles ob- 
served in the cases wherein the virgin lymph was employed, your 
committee would attribute them to the predisposition existing in 
such persons to cuticular irritation by abrasion, as explained above, 
or to degeneration of the true lymph in the hands of careless vaccin- 
ators, rather than to any chemical or generative power on the part 
of the lymph to “awaken” them. 
If, in conformity to the hypothetical but not established doctrine 
of Xenogenesis, the true and well-preserved bovine lymph is capable 
of “ awakening” diseases in the system unlike vaccinia, even though 
the predisposing germs pre-exist, such, for instance, as scrofula, syph- 
ilis, erysipelas, eczema, &c., or if' it is capable of producing other 
loathsome diseases which seem original in their characteristics, then 
vaccination becomes an uncertain and even dangerous operation, 
with the most scrupulous care, and a person may better risk the 
possibility of an attack of sinall-pox than to voluntarily accept a 
greater liability of being disabled or utterly destroyed by diseases 
which vaccination may, and so often, under the present careless sys- 
tem, does “ awaken,” to use the favorite word of those who profess 
to have no fear of spurious vaccination. With the weight of scien- 
tific authority adverse to Xenogenesis in the production of epizoa, 
the probabilities are altogether on the side of those who believe that 
pure lymph from the kine can only produce kine-pox, and that all 
serious or destructive variations from that disease, following vaccin- 
ation, must result from the use of impure or spurious virus possess- 
ing those mixed epizootic constituents which enable it to “awaken” 
or innoeulate other diseases. 
TO PRESERVE THE PURITY OF LYMPH. 
Proposition YII.—To preserve the purity of kine-pox lymph, it 
should be kept in something which will completely exclude the air. 
To this end it may be put upon quill slips, and securely folded in 
tin foil. Again, it should be kept from heat, animal or artificial. 
Carried in the pocket of a vaccinator for a little time, it becomes 
affected with the animal heat and efiiuvia, causing it to putrefy and 12 
degenerate, in which condition it is manifestly unfit for its specific 
use. 
Proof.—According to the latest discoveries of science, as before 
remarked, the atmosphere is impregnated with living particles, and 
animal secretions removed from the body and exposed thereto decay, 
and in process of putrefaction the atmospheric germs combine with 
some unknown properties of the decomposing matter, and produce 
vermin. Thus exposed, it is self-evident that pure lymph must 
become impaired, and it is consequently but reasonable to conclude 
that while the protective power of the virus is impaired, it is liable 
to have taken on corrupt qualities, which may cause spurious and 
contaminating pustules on the arm of the patient receiving it. Kept 
under the influence of animal heat and affluvia it must likewise lose 
its efficacy and purity, because heat is capable of effecting subtle 
chemical changes in such matter, and, if Dr. Andrew Combe was 
right in saying that scrofula might be communicated by prolonged 
social or bodily contact, the affluvia of a scrofulous or syphilitic person 
carrying vaccine matter about him, must unquestionably render it 
unfit for use. In consideration of the fact that the affluvial emana- 
tions from the skin are effete, it would seem certain that even when 
the vaccinator is free from any known disease, he must injure the 
purity and efficiency of the lymph, if it be carelessly carried about 
for any great length of time in the vest pocket. If there ever was 
a case in which the bovine lymph was employed with serious result- 
ing consequences (your committee never heard of one), it is more 
likely that the impurity was thus communicated than that it was 
“ awakened ” in the system, however scrofulous or syphilitic the 
subject may have been. 
OTHER DISEASES MAY BE COMMUNICATED BY 
IMPURE VACCINE. 
Proposition VIII.—Contrary to the affirmation of the committee 
which reported to the Academy of Medicine on the 1st of February, 
other diseases than vaccinia may be communicated by spurious or im- 
pure vaccine. 
Proof.—The language of the said committee’s own report 
wherein, after the affirmation referred to, it recommends in language 
as follows: “ When practicable vaccinate from arm to arm with 
virus taken on quill slips, directly from a healthy individual to the 
arm of another.” This language, in the judgment of your com- 
mittee, can only mean that other diseases may be communicated if 
this caution be not exercised. This being the only logical implica- 
tion, your committee next suggests the impossibility of determining 
in boyhood before constitutional taints have had time to manifest 
themselves, or in adult age when they are often obscure or hidden* 13 
who can be safely trusted as a healthy individual. If other diseases 
cannot be communicated with the vaccine virus, as affirmed by the 
learned committee referred to, it can make no possible difference 
whether the individual from whom the lymph is taken be healthy or 
rotten with disease. The lymph taken from the arm of a patient in 
one of the syphilitic wards of the Charity Hospital will answer as 
well as any other, if Proposition VIII, is not well founded. The 
advice of the committee to the Academy of Medicine shows very 
conclusively that the said committtee considers its ground untenable. 
Its entire report is devoid of consistency in that—after affirming that 
other diseases cannot be communicated with the vaccine virus, it vir- 
tually concedes the possibility of syphilis being so communicated 
“ under circumstances of gross carelessness;” remarks that complica- 
tions, such as blotches, rashes, erysipelas, eczema, suppuration of the 
glands of the neck, Ac., are undoubtedly witnessed occasionally, but 
that they are mostly the results of a pre-existing tendency—the 
word “ mostly” having but one possible construction, which is, that 
these complications “witnessed occasionally” do not all result from a 
pre-existing tendency ; tells us in these very words that, “ with due 
precautions no other disease than that of vaccinia will be communi- 
cated,” meaning, manifestly, that precaution is necessary to prevent 
other diseases from being communicated ; states that under certain 
circumstances what would have been, if it “ had run its course natur- 
ally,” a true vesicle becomes “ an angry sore,” the matter from which 
if used for vaccinating others, “ is worse than valuelessmeaning, if 
it means anything at all, that such matter may communicate diseases 
other than true vaccinia; and finally, as already alluded to, it advises 
the use of vaccine taken from a healthy individual, which can convey 
no other impression than that the virus taken from an unhealthy per- 
son may possess impurities which may be communicated. We, there- 
fore, refer you for a refutation of the affirmation of the committee to 
the Academy of Medicine, that “other diseases cannot be communi- 
cated by vaccination,” to the language of their own report, which is 
conclusive on this point. But, inasmuch as facts are better than ar- 
guments or theories, these unanswerable proofs shall be presented to 
the satisfaction of every reader before the conclusion of this report. 
OTHER DISEASES ARE OFTEN COMMUNICATED WITH 
IMPURE VACCINE. 
Proposition IX.—We deny the affirmation of the committee 
which reported to the Academy of Medicine on the 1st of Febraary, 
that other diseases than vaccinia cannot be communicated with spu- 
rious or impure vaccine. 
Proof.—The evidence we have to submit is not less than abso- 
lutely appalling. We invite the serious attention of every reader to t he well authenticated facts presented herewith. It is nothing less 
than a wicked crime against the unsuspecting public to withhold 
them. It will be observed that your committee give no isolated 
cases of individuals who are daily infected with the syphilis and other 
diseases, by careless vaccination, many of whom have come under 
their direct observation, because the opponents of our views would 
claim that these isolated persons were simply victims to the “ awaken- 
ing” process, to which they are very ready to ascribe all abnormal 
manifestations occurring after vaccination. Only such evidence will 
be presented as exhibits several persons poisoned at one and the 
same time by impure or spurious vaccine, and having in each and 
every case become affected with one and the same disease. 
In the “Annuaire Encyclopedique,” for 1864, may be found the 
following: “Until recently it has been believed that the vaccine 
virus formed a characteristic vesicle ; no matter what the diathesis or 
condition of the subject might be, the virus was always the same, and 
could be used for propagation in others with impunity. In other 
words, that the vaccine virus in passing through the body could not 
be contaminated by any constitutional taints, and thus engender any 
other disease, such as syphilis, scrofula, <fcc.” This article then goes 
on to quote from the Union Medicale, t. xii., in language as follows: 
“ Such was the generally received opinion, when it was ascertained 
at Rivalta, in Italy, in the first series of forty-six children vaccinated 
on the 23d of May, 1861, with matter furnished by the vaccine pus- 
tules of an infant named Chiabrera, who seemed healthy, and a sec- 
ond series of seventeen children vaccinated with the pus taken from 
one of the children of the first, there had occurred symptoms of 
syphilis in thirty-seven children of the first series, and in seven of the 
second series; then propagation of the infection to the mothers and 
to the nurses. Several of these infants died; several were fortu- 
nately cured.” These remarkable cases are also presented in lectures 
on venereal diseases, by Wm. A. Hammond, M.D., and published by 
Lippincott, of Philadelphia. In this work the recovery of fourteen 
of these sufferers is ascribed to the use of the allopathic remedies for 
syphilis. 
By reference to “ Braithwaite’s Retrospect,” vol. 63, page 276, a 
report, from J. Hutchinson, surgeon to the London Hospital, will be 
found in language as follows,: “ On the 7th of February, 1871, thir- 
teen persons, young adults, were vaccinated from the arm of a 
healthy looking infant. All, except one, had normal vaccine vesicles 
which healed well; in all, except two, indurated chancres have since 
developed in the vaccination scars. In nearly all, the scar began to 
inflame and harden during the fifth or sixth week. Several of them 
have two or three chancres.” This article goes on to remark that 
the infant from whose arm the lymph was taken, was undoubtedly 15 
the subject of inherited syphilis, the taint having been latent at the 
time of vaccination, and that she was beginning to waste away with 
condylomata at the anus. It further remarks that the sores of those 
suffering from the vaccination were disappearing under the usual 
treatment for syphilis. 
By turning to “ Chamber’s Encyclopedia,” facts, substantially as 
follows, may be found: “In 1861, in a thinly populated district in 
Piedmont, in which syphilis was virtually unknown, forty- six children 
of various ages were simultaneously attacked with syphilis, proceed- 
ing from chancres in the arm, and followed by buboes in the arm 
pits, and that all these children had been vaccinated directly or indi- 
rectly from a child who was subsequently proved to have contracted 
syphilis from a wet-nurse ; and, further, that these children transmit- 
ted the same disease to their wet-nurses, mothers, and even to chil 
dren who nursed and played with them; and that the women 
communicated the disease to their husbands.” All these cases yielded 
to the ordinary treatment of syphilis. 
Turn to the “ London Lancet” of Janunry, 1866, and you will find 
the following upon vaccination and syphilis : “ This highly import- 
ant subject has been fully treated by the Siglo Medico, a Spanish 
medical paper. In this article we find statistical tables of value. The 
author in collecting data respecting the instances of syphilitic con- 
tamination through the vaccine virus, shows that the disease was 
communicated in two hundred and twenty-four out of three hundred 
and fourteen vaccinations.” 
On page 103 of the “Philadelphia Medical and Surgical Reporter” 
of February 10, 1866, may be found an article on spurious vaccina- 
tion, by George H. Hubbard, M. D., Surgeon of the United States 
Volunteers, &c., wherein he says, substantially, that on reaching Fort 
Smith, Arkansas, in November, 1863, his attention was immediately 
called to several hundred men disabled in consequence of spurious 
vaccination. He says that “ some had well-marked Hunterian chan- 
cre ; some had large excavated ulcers, with edges elevated above the 
raw and sm-rounding induration ; the centres, when not recently cau- 
terized, were of a brownish hue—some, whose primary ulcers were 
almost healed, had secondary symptoms, such as swelling and ulcera- 
tion of the glands in different parts of the body, while others had pain 
and stiffening of the joints.” He remarks that in all some five hun- 
dred men were infected. 
It may be remembered that in the specification of one of the 
charges made against Wirz, of inhuman treatment of the prisoners 
under his charge at Anderson ville, he was accused upon good evi 
dence of using impure or poisonous matter for the vaccination of 
those prisoners, “by reason of which large numbers of them, to wit, 
one hundred, lost the use of their arms, and many of them, to wit, 16 
about the number of two hundred, were so injured that they soon 
thereafter died.” It is alleged by some that this charge, well sus- 
tained at the time of his trial, cost Wirz his life. 
We might go on and fill a volume with facts illustrative of the 
truth of the proposition under consideration, but we will spare your 
time and patience by citing no more. Those who would like a finely 
printed book of extraordinary facts, showing that both syphilis, 
erysipelas, and, in fact, other diseases, have been communicated by 
spurious vaccination, are commended to “ Researches upon Spurious 
Vaccination, by Joseph Jones, M. D., Professor of Physiology and 
Pathology in the Medical Department of the University of Nash- 
ville, Tenn.” Therein are enough facts to convince anybody who is 
not wilfully prejudiced. Professor Jones, himself, exhibiting an 
entirely impartial spirit, would like to explain them in such a way as 
to avoid undue apprehension in the public mind. But he finds him- 
self unable to do so, and strongly recommends caution in vaccination. 
Isolated cases of syphilitic or erysipelatous poison by spurious vacci 
nation may be counted by the thousand, and some remarkable cases 
were presented by members of this society at its last meeting. Inas 
much, however, as these cases are always attributed, by those who 
differ from us on this subject, to pre-existing latent taints, we have 
withheld any mention of them in support of the above proposition. 
There are enough indisputable facts to sustain it without citing those 
which ingenious minds may, with a little sophistry, seemingly con- 
trovert, 
NEW DISEASES PRODUCED BY VACCINATION. 
Proposition X.—Contrary to the affirmation in the report to the 
Academy of Medicine, which says, “no new disease has been known 
to follow vaccination,” we claim that new diseases have been, and 
consequently may be so produced. These maladies may partake 
too much of the character and limitation of hybridity to reproduce 
and perpetuate themselves so as to become recognized as new and 
permanent types of disease; but they are, nevertheless, new diseases, 
in the sense that a mule was a new animal when first introduced bv 
the trick of the stock raiser; and, further, they are new diseases in 
view of the fact that they are pathological puzzles to medical men. 
They are, doubtless, generated by a compounding or mixing of those 
various distinctive germs or properties taken from the impure vesicle 
of supposed kine pox, with those germs or properties for which they 
have an affinity existing in the susceptible subject who undergoes 
vaccination. This philosophy may belong to the speculative class, 
but the assertion preceding it, which really constitutes the proposition 
under this head, can be sustained by actual facts. 
Proof.—Fortunately for our purpose—unfortunately for the suf 17 
fering people—-a wail comes to the ears of your committee from 
Wisconsin, at the very moment we are preparing this paper, which 
sustains it, although we propose to offer further evidence. Copied 
from the Green Bay (Wisconsin) State Gazette, into the New York 
papers, an article informs us that the Town Board of Hartland, 
Wisconsin, in view of the prevalence of small pox, resolved to have 
vaccination thoroughly performed, and accordingly employed a well- 
known physician of Shawano to do the work. Between the hours 
of 10 and 4, on the 21st of last month, 117 persons, old and young, 
were vaccinated. “ Of this entire number, within six horn’s after 
each patient was vaccinated he was taken sick, exhibiting symptoms 
of having been poisoned. By the next morning three had died; 
two children of one family being among the victims. Very naturally 
great consternation seized upon the community, and fear added still 
greater danger to the situation of the unfortunate people.. Messen- 
gers were dispatched to Green Bay for medical aid and doctors. 
Drs. Crane and Rhode went to the scene. By the time they arrived 
there the sick people had begun to improve, and apparently needed 
little else than stimulants to entirely recover. As near as can be 
described, the arms of the patients presented an appearance similar 
to the results of a snake-bite, and the symptoms were those of a 
person recovering from an overdose of morphine.” Determining to 
learn whether the foregoing was strictly true or otherwise, your 
committee wrote to the editors of the Gazette, and before the 
conclusion of the preparation of this report they received a prompt 
reply, confirming the truth of the statement by furnishing other 
names and circumstances, which letter is submitted with this report. 
Among other statements made in the letter you will observe one to 
this effect: The doctor who went out there pronounces “ these cases 
the strangest ever coming under his observation,” and confesses he 
‘‘can offer no solution of the mystery.” 
In 1860 sixty persons were vaccinated at Westford, Mass., on two 
successive mornings, with vaccine obtained from the city physician 
of Boston, all of whom were immediately affected with a very sin- 
gular and malignant disease, which proved to be entirely new and 
unknown to the profession, and “ the investigation,” we are informed 
by the foreman of the coroner’s jury, “ was conducted in a very 
careful manner, some fifty-five witnesses, many of them the first 
M. D’s. in this vicinity,” having been examined. Four deaths 
occurred in from eighteen to seventy-two hours after vaccination, 
and an eminent surgeon, referring to the judicial investigation into 
the facts and the cause of death on that occasion, says: “ I was sum- 
moned at the coroner’s inquest as a witness in regard to the cause 
of death of many persons who died soon after vaccination in the 
town of Westford, Mass. I heard the testimony of several witnesses. 18 
Medical testimony presented many theories as to the cause of the 
vaccination terminating so disastrously, for nearly all that were 
vaccinated were immediately affected, and some died within a few 
days. There was no doubt expressed in any of the theories as to the 
cause of death—all admitting that vaccination was the direct cause 
of death in the several cases before the jury. These cases presented 
a variety of symptoms unlike kine pox in most instances, and unlike 
each other in some particulars, but all were attended with putrid 
fever and, in many, sub-cutaneous abscesses, while some were 
very delirious in the early stage and died soon after. These 
cases,” continues the surgical writer, “ did not resemble 
anything that had ever been known by any of the faculty 
before—and were considered entirely new here, but caused by a 
poison from the vaccination.” Your committee have within a few 
days received a letter from the foreman ot the coroner’s jury, before 
which these remarkable cases were investigated, corroborating the 
facts given by the surgeon whose statement we have just presented. 
J, M. Comins, M. D., Professor of Obsteterics in the Eclectic Medi- 
cal College of this city, informs your committee that some years ago, 
when living in Palmer, Mass., the small pox made its appearance, 
occasioning a great deal of excitement. An allopathic physician 
living in the place vaccinated perhaps a hundred, and in a large 
majority of the cases so vaccinated the virus had a very deleterious 
effect. The arms of some of them, from the shoulder to the elbow, 
were covered with a black scab resembling a smear of coal-tar, and 
were swollen to their fullest capacity. The affection was attended 
with general fever and resembled, somewhat, erysipelas, but the real 
character of the disease could not be definitely determined. The 
scab used in these cases came from the State Almshouse. Dr. 
Comins remarks that about fifty came under his observation who 
were thus affected. He further says that he vaccinated, himself, 
some cases in the same families, with lymph taken from the cow, 
and that there was not a single one of them that did not work well 
and give the true symptoms of vaccinia. It should not be overlooked 
in this instance, that members of the same families vaccinated with 
spurious lymph were affected with the peculiar disease described, 
while those vaccinated with the pure lymph passed safely through 
the usual symptoms attending successful vaccination. The physician 
who performed the vaccinations with spurious lymph was so good a 
disciple of the Academy of Medicine in its theoiy as to the non. 
communicability of other diseases that he would take the lymph or 
scab from the arm of any person. At one time he wished to take it 
from a woman who was afflicted with the salt rheum so badly that 
she had to wear gloves and soothing plasters ! She, wiser than he, 
would not permit it 19 
Under this head we might present a multiplicity of facts, if it were 
necessary. We simply offer those which are at hand. Isolated cases 
which might properly be placed under this head, confirmatory of the 
proposition under consideration, were presented to this society at its 
last meeting, in one of which, related by R. E. Kun/.e, M. D., death 
ensued within a few weeks after vaccination by the Board of Health 
or its appointed vaccinator; but we forbear to present any which 
may be claimed to have arisen from pre-existing impurity. Where 
a whole neighborhood is poisoned by spurious vaccination, no such 
explanation will suffice. 
SECONDARY LYMPH VALUELESS. 
Proposition XI.—Results show that secondary lymph possesses 
but little value as a protector against small pox, if indeed it does not 
sow the seeds of the latter by introducing impurities into the system. 
Proof.—During the epidemic in New York City in 1864-5, there 
was a decided general effort made to give protection to the people, 
in which nearly the entire city was vaccinated. Again, in 1867-8, 
another general effort was made, during the excitement and discus- 
sions oh the subject at that time, to give’protection to such as might 
have failed in the previous effort, and still remained unprotected ; 
this, however, may be considered limited and partial. Again, in June, 
1869, another special house to house effort was made, in which the 
whole city was districted, and every section visited, and the people 
vaccinated and revaccinated as occasion required. This work was 
performed by the appointment of four score inspectors, save one, 
“ skilled experts,” who performed the duty assigned them thoroughly ; 
yet the small pox followed in their trail, increasing and widening in 
extent and fatality. Under these circumstances, the effort was re 
newed and carried through the fall and winter of 1869-70, with little 
abatement of the epidemic disease. Again, in 1870-71, a special 
effort of revaccination was carried through the season. It was 
general and thorough, and without any apparent effect on the pro- 
gress of the noisome disease. Again, in the fall and winter of 1871-2, 
it was renewed and carried on vigorously until some time in Feb- 
ruary, when the services of the police surgeons were called in 
aid of the sanitary inspectors. Thus persistently and thoroughly 
has the work of free vaccination been carried out five times during 
the past eight years, bringing nearly the entire population of the 
city under its influence in each general and special effort. Thus has 
the city been canvassed, and this vaccination process repeated no 
less than jive times within this period. 
Now, look at the statistics for the last few years, in which these 
general and special efforts were mostly made: In 1867, the number 
•of deaths from small pox were 19. In 1868, the number of deaths from the same disease were 24. In 1869, the number of cases 
of small pox occurring in the city were 1,186, and the 
number of deaths 203. In 1870, the number of cases of small pox 
rose to 1,580, and the number of deaths from the same diseases to 
293. In 1871 the number of cases, despite the efforts to stamp it 
out, rose to 3,084, and the total of deaths for the year to 805. At 
this rate of increase how often and how many times will the repe- 
tition of the vaccination process be required to stamp it out ? Or, 
perhaps, the question better be asked, How long before the small 
pox will stamp out the population of the city under the present 
system of vaccination ? Such statistics as these need no comment, 
and we shall offer none. 
ONE THOROUGH VACCINATION SUFFICIENT. 
Proposition XII.—One thorough vaccination, attended with all 
the true symptoms of vaccinia, is sufficient, with one possible excep- 
tion, alluded to below. 
Proof.—It is, we believe, universally conceded, by the advocates 
of vaccination, that a person who has been thoroughly put under the 
influence of kine pox is as impervious to an attack of small pox as if 
he had had the latter disease. If this be so, one successful vaccina- 
tion is manifestly equal, in its constitutional results, to an attack of 
small pox. It is alleged that there are those who may have repeated 
attacks of small pox, and that some persons have had this disease 
twice, and in some instances thrice. An individual with this sus- 
ceptibility may as well not be vaccinated at all, for if he is so liable 
to small pox, after having small fox, he certainly must be equally 
as liable to have small pox after having had kine pox. The latter 
cannot, in the nature of things,.be more thorough in extinguishing 
the susceptibility than the small pox itself, with which, in the opinion 
of some, it is identical. Still, if, as many believe, the system under 
goes a change at the age of puberty, which may possibly be suffi- 
cient to overcome the protective influence of vaccination, it may be 
well, perhaps, to repeat the operation once during a lifetime. Your 
committee is not unanimous in the opinion that repetition, even to 
this extent, is necessary, for if it be so, then it is clearly expedient 
after the age of puberty to vaccinate all persons who have had the 
small pox previous to that age. 
The inconsistency of the report of the committee to the Academy 
of Medicine on this subject may be properly alluded to under this 
head. It quotes, and implicitly indorses, certain authority as follows : 
“One thoroughly good vaccination to start with,” says 
and one careful vaccination after puberty, are all that is necessary 
for protection as complete as any known proceeding can give 
against small pox.” Under the head of revaccination, it indorses 21 
quite as unqualifiedly the alleged opinion of “ Jenner himself, who 
thought that the security which the first vaccination imparted was 
in direct proportion to the degree of perfection of the vaccine pro- 
cess, and advised that vaccination should be repeated as long as any 
effect was produced.” While remarking in another place that “ it 
is well known that a single well performed vaccination, perfect in all 
respects, does, with few exceptions, suffice to secure for life an indi- 
vidual subject to it ” (small pox), before concluding, the committee 
again informs its readers that, “in order to give complete and 
assured protection against small pox, every person not recently and 
thoroughly vaccinated should be at once revaccinated, and in subse- 
quent life should repeat this duty as often as every five or six years, 
until in adult life the repeated revaccinations cease to have effect.” 
From this it is to be implied that vaccination should be repeated 
as often as it will cause the formation of a pustule resembling that 
of kine pox, and this in some cases may be done every time an 
individual thinks of it, according to the experience of one of our 
members, as related in proof of proposition No. Y. To such as 
indulge this view, and insist on this practice, your committee would 
suggest the expediency of taking a good life insurance policy before 
the process be carried too far, or repeated once too often. 
Dr. Gregory, formerly physician to the London Small Pox Hos- 
pital, speaking of the repetition of vaccination, says : My persuasion 
is that you cannot thus multiply degrees of vaccine protection. Two 
imperfect vaccinations do not in medical arithmetic equal one perfect 
one; no, nor three, nor four, nor twenty. Modified, or imperfect 
revaccination, therefore, in my estimation =o; they are worth 
nothing. They irritate the arm, and that is all—the constitution 
is uninfluenced by them. I may be wrong in this, and I am ready 
to correct the error if it can be shown to be an error; but all my 
experience goes to this. The doctrine of Proto and Deuto vaccina- 
tion will soon merge into that of Trito, and ultimately, as time 
creeps on, into Poly-vaccination. Will a man be perfectly safe, that 
is to say, who is vaccinated or subjected to vaccination every year?” 
Those who support the present fashionable theory and practice ot 
vaccination will please answer this question.—Braithwaites, Bart 
II., pp. 59. 
Dr. Ceeley’s investigations warrant the conclusion that “ cow pox 
and small pox are not bona fide dissimilar, but identical, and that 
the vaccine disease is not the preventive of small pox but the small 
pox itself;” and hence the protective power of the former is equal to 
that of the latter under like circumstances. 
Dr. Erasmus Wilson affirms : “Now, that which is true in regard 
to variola is equally true in regard to vaccinia; for variola and vac- 
cinia are, in their essential nature, one and the same disease.” 22 
Dr. Jenner asserted the same doctrine, and frequently tested the 
protective power of vaccination, by inoculating the same individuals, 
after longer or shorter intervals of time, with fresh variolous matter, 
without producing any decided effect—the system being unsuscepti- 
ble and impervious to small pox contagion. 
This doctrine is also confirmed by a very ancient Hindu docu- 
ment, which is to this effect, that when “ the small-pox is produced 
by the fluid from the udder of a cow,” by inocculation on man, 
“ there will then be no fear of small-pox as long as life endures.” 
The opinions of eminent medical men, who have given attention to 
the subject of vaccination, possess their value; but some points pre- 
sented by your committee are more difficult to controvert than mere 
opinion. If a person is susceptible to the disease of vaccinia more 
than once, it seems evident that he is also susceptible to more than 
one attack of small-pox, and that a person in whom such suscep- 
tibility cannot be overcome by one, dr two vaccinations, is beyond 
the reach of possible protection. It is generally conceded when a 
child under the age of puberty has had the measles, scarlet-fever, 
chicken-pox* or mumps, he may ever after feel a sense of security 
against the repetition of these diseases. If this be true in respect to 
the various ills named, why not also in respect to that of vaccinia, or 
small-pox ? Nevertheless, your committee would advise all who feel 
a sense of insecurity in consequence of the fact of having been vac- 
cinated but once, and that prior to the age of puberty, to satisfy 
then- apprehensions by a single repetition of the process, taking care 
o use only bovine lymph. 
CONCLUSION. 
In presenting this report, your committee will not affect to ignore 
the honest difference of opinion existing in the minds of conscien. 
tious medical men upon the subject of vaccination. Besides those 
who favor indiscriminate vaccination and re-vaccination “from arm 
to arm,” there are many who do not approve of vaccination at all. 
A much-esteemed member of your society, when interrogated re- 
specting bis views, thus replied, “ that he loathed the idea of infect- 
ing a healthy person with a foul disease to prevent the contracting 
of another ; that had physicians taken the pains to annihilate variola 
and its deadlier symptoms, that have been spent on the dissemina- 
tion of kine-pox, that scourge might, like the old plagues of Europe, 
have become only a matter of history. Ozone, chlorine and sulphur, 
all, or any one of them, will neutralize variolous poison, applied in 
proper conditions.” 
“ An English waiter,” continues this enemy of vaccination, “ has 
stated that there is really no kine-pox. That dirty grooms have 
diseased cows’ udders with a malady, the virus being imparted by 23 
their hands, which were foul from handling horses having phthisis 
pulmonalis. If such is the real parentage of Jennerism,” he further 
remarks, “ we may as well leave it to the old school, and to our 
homoeopathic friends who love to dabble in their ‘ similias.’ The 
only argument in regard to bovine lymph which would weigh much 
with me is this : We take on the morbid habitudes of those with 
whom we associate intimately; becoming consumptive, nervous, 
anaemic, &c. The using of their blood, or any of its emanations, or 
other outcomes, is a subtle but most potent means of transferring 
their peculiar biological and pathological conditions. The patient is 
liable to get more than he bargained for. The bovine virus has its 
objections ; but, on the whole, a good respectable cow is safer than 
ninety-nine one-hundredths of the human bull-heads on whom the 
doctors depend.” 
Please keep in mind that the foregoing is a quotation, and not the 
avowed opinion of your committee, excepting in so far as it recom- 
mends the use of bovine lymph over vaccination from arm to arm. 
Dr. Carl Both, editor of “Good Health,” Boston, ascribes the pre- 
disposition to small-pox to an undue proportion of albumenous to 
saline ingredients in the blood, and maintains that the keeping up of 
the proper balance would render the disease impossible. He claims 
that by acting upon this theory, not a single child under his care for 
the past fourteen years has been affected with small-pox, scarlet 
fever, measles, or other infectuous disease. Your committee does 
not vouch for the correctness of Dr. Both’s hypothesis, but would re ■ 
mark that it is not impossible that too little salt with too much albu 
men might result in the generation in the system of those germs with 
which animalculse, or poison of the atmosphere having the small-pox 
infection, might unite. But if this be so, the results of careful vac- 
cination would seem to prove that true vaccinia destroys forever the 
tendency for the formation of such germs, or properties when the 
proper proportion between the albumenous matter and the blood salts 
is disturbed. 
Some prominent homoeopaths hold that the best way to bring the 
system under the influence of vaccinia is to give vaccine by the 
mouth and stomach, instead of abrading the cuticle for its introduc- 
tion, and are practicing upon this plan, with what degree of success 
time must determine. 
Health Officer Cochrane, of Brooklyn, evidently entertains no sym_ 
pathy with this idea, for he has lately forbidden the inoculation of 
calves in that city for vaccinating purposes, because the meat of the 
cattle experimented upon finds its way into the market. If the 
homoeopathic doctrine is correct, then it would be manifestly better 
for physicians to feed their patients on just such veal. It really 
seems unaccountable from the standpoint of any “ pathy,” in the esti- 24 
mation of your committee, that any honest effort for the production 
of pure bovine lymph should be suppressed for such a reason, for 
kine-pox is common among cattle, and probably few beef-eaters have 
passed through life without having partaken of the flesh of cattle 
which have not at some period been under the influence of that 
disease. True, it is not a little shocking to aesthetic taste to contem- 
plate the use of the flesh of calves which have been butchered while 
then’ udders present the wounds of denuded kine-pox vesicles, but in 
view of the fact that we are all striving to become infected with this 
very disease, is the course taken by the health officer alluded to 
quite consistent 1 It would at least seem far better to encourage 
rather than discourage the effort of physicians to generate and dis- 
seminate pure bovine lymph, then put, if necessary, some restrictions 
upon the disposition of the cattle upon which they have experi- 
mented. 
In the present stage of investigation, your committee deems it un- 
wise to take any extreme position upon the subject of vaccination. 
The community is confronted with small-pox. It is pretty generally 
believed that careful vaccination will stay its ravages, and we are dis- 
posed to place ourselves among the unqualified supporters of this 
opinion. The committee, which reported to the Academy of Medi- 
cine, tells the profession and public that no danger need be apprehended 
as to the possibility of conveying other diseases by vaccination. This 
same committee has the good sense to throw doubt upon this posi 
tion before it concludes its report; your committee gives arguments 
and, what is better, facts, to prove that other diseases may be com- 
municated by impure or spurious vaccination. We have, therefore, 
felt it to be a duty, while not in any measure opposing the Jennerian 
system, to caution the profession against the too common plan of 
“ vaccinating from arm to arm.” What is necessary is the adoption 
of such means as will guarantee to the community the purest lymph, 
and the greatest safety in the process of protecting the human system 
from the liability to that terrible scourge—small-pox. To this end 
your committee would urge upon the Board of Health the establish- 
ment, in or near this city, of a vaccine institution, where, under com- 
petent management, the bovine lymph, in its purity, may be 
constantly generated, carefully preserved and liberally dispensed. 
The expense would be comparatively trivial, and such a sanitary 
measure is only second in importance to supplying the city with 
water and gas. The care of our pleasure grounds and skating ponds 
adds greatly to the health and pleasure of our citizens ; but, if vac- 
cination possesses the value so generally claimed for it, the produc- 
tion and dissemination of pure lymph is of more value than any of 
these. If, therefore, this report should result in causing reasonable fear 
in the minds of the people of becoming infected by impure virus, and the necessary caution in the professional practice of1 vaccinators ami 
physicians, in obtaining and preserving in its purity the true bovine 
lymph, your committee will feel itself abundantly rewarded for its 
labors in preparing this paper. 
Signed, 
E. WHITNEY, M. D., 
Chairman of Committee. 
EDWARD B. FOOTE, M. D., 
R. A. GUNN, M. D., 
Professor of Descriptive and Surgical Anatomy, Eclectic 
Medical College of the City of New York. 
J. DE MEYER, M. D. 
New York Eclectic Medical Society, March 20, 1872. 
FURTHER INTERESTING FACTS. 
This report gave rise to an animated discussion, which, however, 
ended with a unanimous vote in favor of its acceptance. A resolu- 
tion was also passed that this report should be in some way given to 
the public, and that it be offered to one or more of the metropolitan 
journals for publication. Many additional cases of spurious 
tion of a peculiar character, occuring in both this city and Brooklyn, 
were related, in one of which erysipelas was communicated to the 
children of several families by the virus taken from the arm of a 
child supposed to be healthy. Some of these victims died. In view 
of these startling facts it was unanimously conceded that the vaccina- 
ting from arm to arm process should be discountenanced and discon- 
tinued. It was said, and facts were brought to fully sustain the 
affirmation, that the pure bovine lymph can be easily obtained. Ac- 
cording to the observation of some of the members it would seem 
that pregnant women may better not be vaccinated at all. Instances 
were given wherein miscarriage had* resulted therefrom. In one 
case where a pregnant woman was vaccinated some weeks prior to 
confinement, the child at its birth was covered with kine-pox vesi- 
cles, which, however, disappeared in the course of a few days. This 
same mother has had children since, which at no time have been sub- 
ject to pustules of any kind, showing that the vaccination must have 
caused the vesicles affecting the first child. mam of smalh'ohts eras, 
E. WHITNEY, M. D. 
Therm is nothing extraordinary or unexpected in the continued 
prevalence of the loathsome disease termed variola, in this densely 
populated city, with its crowded tenements and noxious exhalations 
from its filthy streets. This general hygienic condition in its best 
aspect, is ever quite intolerable ; to which must be superadded other 
direct causes of no ordinary power in deteriorating the general 
health—such as the vast amount of swill-milk, stale and decaying 
vegetables, sickly and poisoned fish, diseased and putrid meats of 
various kinds, which are so abundantly and freely distributed and 
used throughout the city. These all are but poorly calculated to 
arrest the progress and suspend the prevalence of this, or any other 
contagious disease. 
General vaccination with impure and deteriorated virus, has, in 
many instances, proved insufficient and unprotective. Hence, for 
many years, variola has bad a firm foothold here, and occasionally 
appeared in different sections, with its accustomed virulence and 
fatality. 
It has often shown a decided tendency to become epidemic and 
uncontrollable; and has repeatedly created considerable alarm and 
called out vigorous efforts, apparently to arrest and limit its pre- 
valence, if not, indeed, “to stamp it out entirely” by a system of 
general vaccination. And still this desirable object is unaccomplished 
—the people, to a considerable extent, remain unprotected, and are 
as much exposed to the variola now as they have been at any time 
for many years past. 
THE VALUE OF GENUINE VACCINATION. 
Before proceeding with the discussion of this subject and the 
presentation of some facts touching the cause of its continued pre- 
valence—let me say—I have no sympathy with the opposers of 
genuine vaccination, nor with those who persist in the use of impure, 28 
vitiated and worthless virus, and carry on, under color of regular 
practice, an extended system of experimentation upon an innocent 
and confiding people. Nothing can be more objectionable, or more 
detract from the inestimable value of Dr. Jenner’s great discovery, 
than spurious vaccination, and its consequent lion-protective power. 
Nor can there be any Empericism, or fallacy, in medical practice 
much worse, or more detrimental and fatal, in a densely populated 
community. 
But, on the contrary, I am firm in the belief, and so advise and 
advocate, that every individual should be properly vaccinated at an 
early age with pure, genuine virus, which will secure complete pro- 
tection and immunity from the contagion of small-pox, on the same 
principle and to the same extent as having the original disease itself. 
The effect of the genuine vaccine disease engrafted upon the system, 
by vaccination, is the same, or similar to that of having the small- 
pox. If the one renders the system thereafter impervious to its 
contagion during life, so does the other, under like circumstances. 
HINDU LITERATURE ON THE SUBJECT. 
On this point there is some very ancient authority. It is found 
in a Hindu Medical Work on the subject of vaccination, which ante- 
dates even Jenner’s discovery and is supposed to have been written 
in the sixteenth century. A single paragraph, taken from that part 
giving directions and describing the way and manner of vaccination, 
will suffice, whose translation, as furnished by the London Lancet, 
reads thus : “ The small-pox produced by the fluid from the udder of 
a cow (gostany odakum), will be of the same gentle nature as the 
original disease, not attended by fear, not requiring medicine. The 
diet may be according to the pleasure of the patient, who may be 
inoculated once only, or two, three, four, five, or six times. The 
pock, when perfect, should be of a good color, filled with a clear 
liquid, and surrounded by a circle of red ; there will then be no fear 
of small-pox as long as life endures. When inoculated with the 
fluid from the udder of a cow, some will have a slight fever for one, 
two, or three days, and with the fever there will sometimes be a 
slight cold fit; the fever will also be attended by a round swelling 
in the arm-pits and the other symptoms of the small-pox, but all of 
a very mild nature. There will be no danger, and the whole will 
disappear in three days.” 
There is no doubt of the correctness of this ancient Hindu docu- 
ment in affirming that the disease engrafted upon the system by 
genuine vaccination with pure lymph, fresh from the kine, remains 
permanent in its protective power, and “ lasts as long as life endures.” 29 
THE PROTECTIVE POWER OF PURE LYMPH. 
“ As a general rule,” says the eminent Erasmus Wilson, “ small 
pox attacks but once in a life-time, but against this rule many excep- 
tions have been recorded. Instances have been observed in which 
the disease has invaded a second, a third, and even so often as a 
sixth time. 
“ Sometimes the subsequent attack is as severe as the first; but 
usually the recurrent affections are remarkable for mildness and 
rapidity of course.” * * * “ Now, that which is true in 
regard to variola is equally true in regard to vaccinia; for variola 
and vaccinia are, in their essential nature, one and the same disease.” 
Dr. Jenner, the acknowledged discoverer of vaccination and the 
reputed author of the practice originally instituted and established 
in Europe and America, firmly believed and advocated the same 
doctrine, and repeatedly sought opportunity of testing its protective 
power, after longer or shorter intervals of time, by inoculating the 
same patients with fresh variolous matter. In this he obtained no 
other than a negative effect—the system being rendered unsuscep- 
tible and impervious to its influence. Hence he recognized and 
confidently affirmed the great fact of its complete and permanent 
protective power, and very clearly and minutely defined the process 
by which it could be attained. Against any deviation or neglect of 
the essential principle which he had so clearly enunciated, he earnestly 
cautioned the profession ; for even in his day some had neglected a 
proper observance of the process, and had consequently introduced 
many worthless and spurious vaccinations, to the great detriment of 
the discovery, and imminent danger to the community. This he 
deeply regretted. For while spurious vaccinations proved compara- 
tively worthless, he showed conclusively that the time and genuine 
stood the most trying tests of subsequent exposure to the contagion 
of small-pox, limited its prevalence, and proved itself capable, when 
properly observed and carried out, not only of controlling the dis- 
ease, but of stamping it out entirely. In this respect his views have 
been fully and repeatedly confirmed. On this point numerous facts 
might be cited. Let one at present suffice. 
As late as the year 1839 the learned commission of vaccine on 
vaccination performed in France, after due investigation of the 
whole subject, affirm, “That the simultaneous vaccination of the 
mass instantly arrests the progress of the variolous epidemic.” 
Dr. Jenner also very clearly announces the fact that it was possible 
to propogate an affection by vaccination, conveying different degrees 
of security, according as that affection approached to, or receded 
from, the perfect normal standard of the kine-pox in its several pro- 
gressive stages, corresponding in some degree to the intensity or 30 
feebleness of the impression made upon the system by the engiafted 
disease, vaccinia. This might approach very near to the full and 
perfect standard of the genuine disease—and possess a good degree 
of protective power; or it might be so feeble and so far deviate 
from the correct and essential features and phenomena of the kine- 
pox as to possess no protective power at all; and that all such 
insufficient and spurious cases, however complicated and deleterious 
their character, were capable of producing their like, if the virus 
from such be taken and used to perpetuate the process; thus render- 
ing through a vitiated vinis subsequent vaccinations spurious and 
unreliable. 
In his tiact “ On the varieties and modifications of the vaccine 
Pustule occasioned by an Herpetic State of the Skin,” he says, “ I 
shall here just observe that the most careful testimonies now lie 
before me, supporting my opinion that the Herpetic and some other 
irritative eruptions are capable of rendering vai’iolous inoculation 
imperfect as well as the vaccine.” 
It is evident he recognized a two-fold objection extensively prevail- 
ing in his day to which he earnestly endeavored to direct attention. 
First—The insufficient protection afforded; and, second, the impurity 
of the vaccine, through which infectious and contagious eruptive 
diseases might be communicated. On this account he strenuously 
insisted on due watchfulness and care to prevent the utter failure and 
discontinuance of the great discovery, which may be regarded, when 
properly earned out, as one of the greatest achievements ever attained 
in the practice of medicine. 
It also appears from some of his last papers on the subject, that 
from the frequent failure of vaccination to afford due protection— 
the repeated communication of infectious and contagious diseases 
through the medium of impure and vitiated virus—and the occa- 
sional epidemics of small-pox, occurring in different sections of 
the country, he was induced to renew and protract his investigations, 
to watch with untiring vigilance every phase of development, and 
did examine thoroughly and vexy critically the varied causes of 
complaint as well as the numerous forms of deviation from the 
regular normal appearance of the vaccine pustule, affecting and ren- 
dering the affection impure and hurtful. In this effort, no pains, nor 
time, nor expense were spai*ed. His investigations were made in 
various sections and conducted with the most scrutinizing care and 
skill. No circumstance, however trivial, escaped his observation. 
Everything demanding attention received his special notice. By 
his diligence and perseverance the main causes of deviation and 
abnormal development were in most cases ascertained, and the 
errors which had arisen and resulted in such direful consequences so 
detrimental to the great discovery, and ruinous to the health of 31 
patients, were fully presented. During these protracted efforts he 
gave a minute account of various cases in which it was shown that 
the great cause of complaint arose mainly from defective virus, 
which was ever hurtful and mischievous, and he therefore insisted 
upon the necessity of vaccine of absolute purity, possessing the 
specific attribute of the kine-pox unimpaired, on which he had relied 
and had so repeatedly shown its safety and tested its protective 
power. These facts he strenuously urged for the consideration of 
those who should thereafter adopt and pui'sue the practice of vacci- 
nation. How far the profession have observed his suggestions— 
carried out his instructions—and have avoided the errors of which 
Dr. Jenner so early and so persistently complained, will appear 
from the facts and arguments in the sequel 
SPURIOUS VACCINATION. 
The disease vaccinia is peculiar, and makes an impression upon 
the human organism similar to that of the small-pox in a mild form 
—is equally as protective, and so remains during life. In its propa- 
gation pure fresh virus is indispensable. Dr. Wilson says, “ Recur- 
rence to the primary lymph from the cow appeal's to us to be the 
only objectionable method of improving the current lymph and cor- 
recting the deterioration which has arisen from neglect of the pre- 
cepts of Jenner. Lymph from this source must necessarily be pure, 
and its use should therefore be encorn-aged.” The Sanitary Superin- 
tendent, Dr. E. Harris, in referring to spurious vaccination in his 
report says, “ This experience of imperfect vaccination in a certain 
class of foreign residents has taught a remarkably important truth— 
the duty of good and the evil of imperfect, (spurious) vaccinations.” 
There can be little doubt, a large proportion of vaccinations, here as 
well as elsewhere, have been spurious for the last twenty-five or thirty 
years. This has arisen from the use of impure, deteriorated, or 
defective and worthless vims collected, as much of it is, at our dis- 
pensaries, where children from the cellars, garrets, and purlieus of 
the city, half-clothed, half-fed, half-starved, scorbutic, and often in a 
filthy condition, resort in great numbers for gratuitous vaccination. 
Can virus collected from the arms of such a multitude be in accord- 
ance with the precepts of Jenner? 
A BRIEF HISTORY OF VACCINATION. 
A brief reference to the history of vaccination and its result for 
the few years last past, as furnished by the Metropolitan Board 
of Health, will show to some extent the prevalence of various errors 
in the present system, and one at least of the fruitful sources of 
spurious vaccination. 32 
From the first annual report of the Metropolitan Board of Health, 
it appears there were thirty-five deaths from small-pox in New York 
and one in Brooklyn during the second and third quarters of the 
year 1866, which is believed to have been less than for any similar 
period for many years. This favorable result is attributed to the 
increased number of vaccinations and the determined effort of the 
people to obtain immunity from the dreaded contagion. 
“ The epidemic prevalence of this malady,” says the Sanitary 
Superintendent, “ during the winter of 1864-’65, swept through the 
city in such a manner as to induce a healthful mental determination 
of nearly the entire population to be vaccinated.” This purpose was 
pretty generally carried into effect. Previous vaccinations had in 
many instances signally failed. Many persons, excited and alarmed 
on account of the prevalence of small-pox in vaccinated subjects, 
sought, and obtained at that time, for themselves and families, the 
safer and better practice which consisted in employing pure vaccine 
derived directly from the kine. This was found to give complete 
and perfect protection—even under the severest and most trying 
degree of exposure to small-pox contagion. In several instances 
where one of a family had been taken down and prostrated by the 
disease, the others being vaccinated with pure vaccine derived from 
the kine, suffered no inconvenience from their continued exposure in 
nursing and caring for the sick—not one thus vaccinated is known 
to have suffered any symptoms of the disease even in its mildest 
form, termed varioloid. 
“ In the several chartered medical dispensaries for the poor in 
New York, in 1864-65, there were nearly seventy thousand vaccina, 
tions.” This is a very large number for the work of one season at 
these institutions, and is much larger than had been performed any 
one season prior to that time—and this multitude came up from the 
lower strata of society, for whose special benefit these institutions 
are established. In the higher classes probably an equal number, or 
more, were vaccinated by physicians in general practice, so that a 
large proportion of the population of the city in 1864-’65 received 
the benefit of some sort of vaccination. The closing part of this 
work was only finished a few months prior to the organization of the 
Metropolitan Board of Health and its commencement of operations 
in the early part of March, 1866. 
“The dispensaries of the city,” continues the Sanitary Superin- 
tendent, “ by virtue of their recognized responsibility for the medical 
care of the indigent classes, have been almost the sole conservatories 
of vaccine virus, not only for the Metropolitan District but for the 
State.” Dependence upon this impure source and fountain of vaccine 
is certainly very unwise ; for it is believed by many to be a medium 
of communicating varied forms of disease as well as a fruitful source 33 
of a vast amount of spurious vaccination which must ever tend to 
furnish material to extend and perpetuate epidemics of this noisome 
disease whenever once developed, or introduced into a densely popu 
lated community by the occurrence of some erratic case. To this 
impure quality of vaccine virus and spurious vaccination allusion Is 
made in the report in terms of decisive import. Such, however, 
44 is the importance to be attached to the quality and constancy of 
the supply of this prophylactic germ, that it must not be left to 
chance, nor even to the best charity alone. At best, as vaccination 
is now managed among the people, much is spurious, or needlessly 
worthless. The sooner the metropolitan district of this State pro- 
vides for the systematic conservation of virus in full power, and for 
the more general application of it, the better it will be for life and 
welfare in the community.” Such is the language of the report 
Such, too, was the purport of the language of the memorialists, 
remonstrating against the use of deteriorated impure and vitiated 
virus, collected from the arms of children, gratuitously vaccinated at 
the dispensaries, and praying for the establishment of an institution 
for collecting, conserving, and furnishing pure vaccine for city and 
State. Such an institution is imperatively demanded, yet it was 
deemed unnecessary by the Sanitary Committee, notwithstanding 
the numerous facts and arguments urged in its favor. 
In the report for 1867 it appears 44 that only nineteen deaths 
occurred from small-pox in New York, and but two in Brooklyn. 
This is the least number of fatal cases of small-pox that has occurred 
since 1829, and it includes all the cases that were sent from the ships 
in Quarantine to the Small-Pox Hospital on Blackwell’s Island. 
During the year twenty-eight ships arrived at Quarantine, having 
small-pox on board; and in London, Liverpool, and several other 
ports this contagion was unusually prevalent. The good l-esults of 
immediate domestic quarantine and disinfection have been abun- 
dantly witnessed in the numerous cases of varioloid and about one 
hundred cases of variola that have occurred in the city during the 
year.” 
From the report for the year 1868 it appears there were twenty- 
four deaths from small-pox—a slight increase on that of the preceding 
year. The number of cases that occurred during the year is not 
given. It, however, appears that the Board were not indifferent to 
the prevalence of this loathsome and fatal disease ; for “ on the 24th 
day of November, 1867, a resolution was adopted by the Metro- 
politan Board of Health as follows: 4 Resolved, That the Board of 
Education of the City of New York be respectfully requested to 
co-operate with this Board in securing a thorough system of vacci- 
nation in the public schools, and to facilitate the efforts of the Sani- 
tary Superintendent for that pur pose,’ ” 34 
On or about the same time the M. B. H. was memorialized by 
Drs. Carnochan and Whitney, who remonstrated against the use of 
impure, deteriorated, and worthless virus, collected, as most of it is, 
at our dispensaries from the arms of children coming from the under- 
ground tenements—the sinks and sewers of the city—half-clad, half- 
fed, half-starved, scorbutic, and full of every conceivable form of 
scrofula; and praying for the establishment of an institution in the 
city of New York, or vicinity, for the collection of pure, reliable 
vaccine virus from the kine, and for preserving and furnishing the 
same in sufficient quantities for use in city and country. 
The facts and arguments of that memorial were ignored—its 
prayer rejected—and assurance given that no better institution could 
be had than the dispensary system now in existence, which for more 
than thirty years has been vaccinating its thousands annually, and 
propagating its vaccine from arm to arm ; and has, in the estima- 
tion of the Sanitary Committee, established the superiority of this 
process over bovine vaccination. Of the truthfulness of this positive 
assurance and claim of superiority in practical results, let facts decide. 
THE INCREASE OF SMALL POX RESULTING FROM 
IMPERFECT AND IMPURE VACCINATION. 
During the year 1869, ending October 3rd, there occurred, as 
appears from the report, 593 cases of small-pox—and 107 deaths in 
New York—a large and rapid increase over the previous year. How 
many cases occurred in Brooklyn is not stated. There were, how- 
ever, during the same period, nineteen deaths in that city from the 
disease. From this it appears that prior to October 3d there had 
occurred in the city 593 cases of small pox which were distributed, 
according to the report, in 168 streets, and in no less than 410 dif- 
ferent houses, which had become even at that time centres of con- 
tagion for the spread of the disease in every direction. Hence, 
during the last quarter of the year, ending December 31st, 1869—• 
and consequently the second quarter after the general simultaneous 
vaccination of the people in June, 1869, there occurred 593 cases of 
small-pox, and 109 deaths in New York—-and 12 deaths in Brooklyn 
—thus making a total to December 31st of 1,186 cases in New 
York, and 238 deaths, including twenty-two deaths which occurred 
in Brooklyn. 
This surprising increase in the number of cases and the continued 
epidemic prevalence of the disease, under such peculiar and extraor- 
dinary circumstances, present no very high commendation of, nor 
any very favorable result in, the' great effort of the Board’s stamping 
out process. That the small-pox should prevail at all at this time is 
a very remarkable fact, occurring, as it does, so immediately after a 35 
simultaneous effort of general vaccination throughout the city, in 
which eighty Inspectors, “skilled experts," were employed, in 
addition to the dispensary physicians and the co-operation of some 
two thousand or more resident physicians in general practice. In a 
well-conducted effort, so extensive and thorough, it is not probable 
that many escaped the observation of resident physicians, or the 
vigilance of the four-score vaccinators, so that a sufficient number 
were left unvaccinated to perpetuate the multiplication and 
spread of the contagion of small pox within the limits of the city and 
its suburbs. If all the people, as intended, were in the main vacci- 
nated, protected and rendered impervious to the contagion of small- 
pox, how could the epidemic have continued and spread in this com 
munity ? If it be true that every district of the city was effectually 
canvassed, and the inmates of tenement houses carefully examined 
and each properly vaccinated whenever and wherever required—how 
is it possible the dreaded disease, small-pox, could find material on 
which to feed, extend, and multiply its noisome influence in a com- 
munity so thoroughly protected and fortified against its ravages? 
Yet the small pox prevails to an alarming extent in both this city 
and Brooklyn, where the Metropolitan Board of Health during the 
month of June, 1869, made a special, vigorous, and simultaneous 
effort to stamp it out entirely. “Nearly one hundred and seven 
thousand families and thirty thousand houses were visited—and not 
much less than half a million of the inhabitants of the city were 
brought under some sort of personal inspection or inquiry with refer- 
ence to the evidence of, or necessity for vaccination. Upward of 
30,000 persons were vaccinated,” in addition to the thousands vacci- 
nated at the dispensaries and by physicians in general practice. 
This was truly a great and noble work and ought to have given, if 
performed with pure and genuine virus, complete and permanent 
protection against small-pox contagion. 
But, strange as it may appear, this universal effort made from 
house to house by “skilled experts,” vaccinators, signally failed to 
arrest the progress of the variola, or to suspend its severity. In this 
result the Board were exceedingly disappointed and sought explana- 
tion in some unforeseen contingency without giving that considera- 
tion and scrutiny to the specific character of the virus used which 
the occasion demanded. It is well-known, and generally admitted, 
that deteriorated and defective virus will fail to afford due protec 
tion, or to arrest promptly the progress of the epidemic variola when- 
ever it has once gained a firm foothold in a locality densely populated. 
Hence, for some time past, it has been on the increase. According 
to the statistics on the subject, the aggregate number of cases occur- 
ring in New York for the year ending December 31st, 1870, is one 
thousand five hundred and eighty; and the number of deaths, two 36 
hundred and ninety-three, Avhich far exceeds that of any year since 
the epidemic Avhich prevailed in 1864-5. The number of cases 
occurring in Brooklyn for the same year, 1870, is ; and the 
number of deaths, . When the call was made at the Health 
Office in Brooklyn, the statistics on this subject Avere refused, and 
that, too, while every bed in the hospital was filled, and booths, or 
tents, Avere in process of erection for the accommodation of the 
rapidly increasing number of small-pox patients. Hence Ave are 
warranted in saying that this surely is a small pox record more 
appaling than any that has ever occurred in that city. From its 
continued prevalence, and the statistics of the year last past, it must 
be apparent that the people of that city as well as of New York have 
been and still remain, to a considerable extent, unprotected, and may 
continue to suffer repeated epidemics of this noisome and dreaded 
disease, despite the efforts now making to stamp it out. 
PERFECT IMMUNITY FROM SMALL-POX IS ATTAIN- 
ABLE. 
“ The habits of the contagion,” says the Sanitary Superintendent, 
“ remain unaltered, but vaccination has taken away its power to de- 
stroy, or to harm. It attacks only such persons as are unvaccinated, 
or imperfectly vaccinated. We speak of imperfect vaccination be- 
cause in each recurring epidemic the test of the protective power of 
vaccinia is so brought to bear as to prove: 1. That there is such a 
tiling as a standard vaccinial protection Avhich can abide the test 
of all degrees of exposure to small-pox contagion. 2. That there is, 
at the same time, a certain minority of vaccinated persons that cannot 
wholly resist the operation of the contagion.” 
According to this principle there is then such a thing as complete 
and perfect immunity from small-pox contagion, which can be at- 
tained by correct and proper vaccination. Pure and genuine virus, 
derived directly from the kine, possessing in full power the original 
specific attribute, is the one great essential in the production of the 
disease vaccinia, which is engrafted upon the system, or so infects 
the entire organism as to render it unimpressible and impervious to 
the small pox contagion. All else pertaining to the operation in a 
healthy subject is merely ncidental, and has nothing whatever to do 
with the character of the disease ; for vaccinia is the sole result and 
product of a specific virus, without which it never occurs. 
And there is, too, such a thing as imperfect, spurious vaccination, 
which affords little or no protection, and is the necessary and inevi- 
table result of the use of impure, deteriorated and worthless vaccine 
virus. Of this fact the preseut long continued epidemic of variola, 
flourishing as it has in vaccinated subjects, is abundant proof. Ob- 37 
servation has also confirmed repeatedly the same fact, and the bitter 
experience of thousands have attested to its truth. Yet thousands of 
vaccinations continue to be made from year to year* with virus, not 
only destitute of its original attribute of the kine -pox, but possessing, 
not unfrequently, an additional quality, the taint or germ of some 
eruptive or other loathsome disease. 
PERNICIOUS CONSEQUENCES OF VACCINATING FROM 
ARM TO ARM. 
While the vaccine virus furnished for general use is propagated 
from arm to arm and collected in great abundance at the dispensa- 
ries, from children coming up from the lowest strata of society, gen- 
erally scorbutic, and infected with some of the varied forms of disease 
there prevailing, how can any other than spurious vaccination be ex- 
pected ? Can the small-pox be stamped out and utterly suppressed 
by the use of such deteriorated and defective virus ? From the sta- 
tistics already referred to—the character and quality of the virus 
used—and the continued prevalence of the disease, must it not be in- 
ferred that a considerable proportion of the vaccinations for some time 
past have proved spurious and unprotective. To what else can the 
failure of the Metropolitan Board of Health to suppress the noisome 
disease be attributed ? 
The number of cases of variola, occuring in the vaccinated, com- 
pared with that of the unvaccinated, furnishes an exceedingly inter, 
esting and instructive fact, which very clearly exhibits the character 
of vaccinations that have been made in time past, and gives us the 
most decisive evidence of their non-protective power that can be ad- 
duced. In this city and vicinity for the twenty-five or thirty years 
last past, the vaccine virus generally used has been furnished by the 
dispensaries, mainly the Eastern—the great vaccine institution of the 
city—as already referred to—so that whatever imperfections may now 
exist, or may yet be discovered relative to the same, must be set 
down and charged to the defective quality of the virus from this 
source. On account of this defect, the charge has been not unfre- 
quently made that a large proportion of vaccinations of late years are 
spurious and unprotective, and this charge has as often and positively 
been denied. But in this epidemic the matter has been fully tested— 
and the question is intelligently and decisively settled. “ In the 
recent epidemic outbreaks of small-pox in New York,” says the Sani- 
tary Superintendent, “ no less than two out of every three of the pa- 
tients had been vaccinated.” Here, then, is a practical test of the 
character and value of vaccinations as they are, and have been per- 
formed in the City of New York. Compared with the whole num- 
ber of cases of small-pox, occuring during its recent epidemic 38 
prevalence in this city, the imperfect and spurious vaccinations in 
persons attacked with the disease were sixty-six and two-third per 
cent., according to the data furnished by the report of the Metropoli- 
tan Board of Health for 1869. Is not sixty-six and two-thirds a per- 
centage sufficiently large to satisfy the most incredulous as to the 
defective character of vaccinations performed by the use of deteriora- 
ted and worthless virus, collected, as most of it is, from the arms of 
children who frequent the dispensaries for gratuitous vaccination? 
This unnecessary and cruel exposure of life is justly chargeable to 
the present system as now managed and generally carried on under 
color of regular Jennerian practice. Of the three thousand and 
eighty-four cases of small-pox occurring in New York in 1871, there 
were eight hundred and five deaths. To what purpose all this suf- 
fering and this sacrifice of valuable lives, if genuine vaccination, as 
affirmed by the Sanitary Superintendent, “ takes away its power to 
destroy, or to harm.” 
THE FORCIBLE REMOVAL OF SMALL-POX PATIENTS 
FROM THEIR HOMES. 
And to all this suffering and loss there must be added another 
item, more cruel and unjustifiable—the invasion of families and the 
forcible removal of these unfortunate patients, which, from the veiy 
nature of the case, and the unfeeling and indifferent manner by 
which it is accomplished, must necessarily inflict an incalculable 
amount of suffering. How can the sick be forcibly taken from then* 
residences, where they are surrounded by sympathizing friends and 
all the endearments and comforts of home, to the filthy and loath- 
some hospital on Blackwell’s Island, without endangering life and 
diffusing by the process the small-pox contagion to a far greater ex- 
tent f To the sick how depressing and detrimental the effect, to be, 
like criminals, torn away from friends, deprived of their knidly 
offices, and exposed to the discomforts and dangers attending the 
transfer from the sick room to and across the ferry to the pest-house, 
without one solitary sympathizing friend to assuage their pains, or 
administer to their necessities. Under such circumstances, what 
solicitude and anxious forebodings must fill the minds of those thus 
rudely separated from loved ones, especially when they recall the fact 
that a large percentage of those patients forcibly removed from their 
homes to the pest-house never more return to greet their relatives. 
A few days, and, it may be, the last sad scenes are past, and the last 
sad rites performed. The story is told—mourning and desolation 
have come, like a thief in the night, to the survivors of that once 
happy home. And for what cause, and to what purpose, has all this 
sadness, sorrow and suffering been imposed upon an innocent and 39 
unoffending family ? Can any just cause be assigned, or any satisfac- 
tory excuse rendered, if the declaration of the Metropolitan Board of 
Health be sincere and truthful, which is unqualified, positive, and to 
the effect as follows: “ The small-pox contagion remains unaltered, 
but vaccination takes away its power to destroy, or to harm.” Accord- 
ing to this principle, the means of protection are ever at hand and 
can be promptly applied, so that the inmates of every household, 
where a case of small-pox may occur, can be entirely freed from dan- 
ger and secured from harm. And, again, we are assured that disin- 
fectants now in use possess the magic power of decomposing and 
neutralizing the contagious principle of disease, and- rendering it in- 
noxious and harmless, so that all danger which might otherwise arise 
to affect the surrounding community can be abated and the contagion 
can be controlled, limited and destroyed. There can then be no 
necessity for the invasion of families and the removal of small-pox 
patients, nor any advantage arising from it. The practice is ever at- 
tended with serious evils, and must, with our present knowledge on 
the subject, be considered unwarranted and mischievous. 
THE VIRUS NOT THE INSTRUMENT. 
But let us inquire again what is the cause assigned by the savans 
of the profession for the many serious evils arising primarily from 
imperfect, spurious vaccinations, which are being unnecessarily in- 
flicted on an innocent and unsuspecting people. The cause—though 
boldly and confidently assigned—is too frivolous, and would be un- 
worthy a moment’s consideration, were it not deceptive and intended 
to cover up the real source of evil from which come the most disas- 
trous results. The Sanitary Superintendent, quoting from a foreign 
document, says that “ Dr. Marson, after twenty years’ experience in 
the London Small Pox Hospital, reports that three thousand and 
ninety-four of his patients in that institution had previously been vac- 
cinated ; but that out of that number only two hundred and sixty 
eight presented good marks of their vaccinationand adds, “ that in 
many of these patients the vaccination had been performed by 
bungling operators.” Mark the language, “ bungling operators”— 
the scape-goats for the sins of the profession. But what has the 
manner, or the bungling operation of inserting the virus on the arm, 
or on the leg, or on any other part of the body, to do with the charac- 
ter and genuineness of the principle operative in the production of 
the engrafted disease vaccinia, on which the protective power of vac- 
cination depends. Can the lancet, the scalpel, the vaccinator, the 
knife, or any other instrument, affect the character and quality of 
the virus used in any given case so as to change, or vary its specific 
result? The character of vaccination, whether genuine or spurious, 40 
depends upon the quality of the virus used, and not upon the instru- 
ment employed in the operation, or the unskillful manner of its per- 
formance. Pure fresh virus, possessing in full power the specific at- 
tribute of the kine-pox, is the one great essential and indispensable 
requisite in successful vaccination. All else in healthy children is 
merely incidental and cannot alter or affect the result 
STAMPING OUT SMALL-POX WITH GOOD TOOLS AND 
DEFECTIVE VIRUS. 
To ensure success in stamping out the small-pox, and avoid such dis- 
astrous results as are already noticed, the Metropolitan Board of Health 
appointed four-score vaccinators—save one—“ skilled experts,” and 
furnished them with new and highly burnished instruments; and, in 
June, 1869, made a simultaneous effort of house-to-house vaccination 
throughout the city. What has been the result? The epidemic 
small-pox has followed in their trail, rioting and multiplying its vic- 
tims in vaccinated subjects, and has continued its ravages with in- 
creasing virulence some three years or more. Can any test be 
furnished more decisive in determining the character and value 
of vaccinations which have been, and are still being performed in 
New York and its suburbs ? Is it possible to have a more emphatic 
condemnation of the present system than the fact that the epidemic 
small-pox is not only prevailing, but affecting and embracing among 
its victims a large proportion of vaccinated subjects. Under such 
circumstances must it not be evident even to the most careless ob- 
server that the present system of practice has so degenerated and be- 
come so defective in its most essential attribute as to result in a wide 
and unpardonable departure from the correct principle and practice 
of vaccination. To the better and more correct system then a speedy 
return is imperatively demanded. To delay is criminal and must in- 
volve a fearful responsibility. The epidemic small-pox is prevailing 
not only here, but in many sections of our own and foreign countries, 
carrying off its thousands annually. And shall not the antidote to 
its devastating progress—the genuine lymph derived directly from 
the kine, in absolute purity, be properly applied to arrest its preva- 
lence and stay its ravages. 
DR. MORRIS ON THE SITUATION. 
Says the Sanitary Superintendent, Dr. Morris, referring to the ut- 
ter failure of the special efforts adopted to an-est its progress, “ upon 
a reinspection of the persons upon whom secondary vaccinations 
have been made, it seems worthy of remark that a very large propor- 41 
tion have proved successful; and, in this tact, may, perhaps, be found 
some explanation as to the cause of the recurrence of the present 
epidemic.” 
THE ADMISSION AND ITS LESSON. 
We have here a very frank and full admission of the primary cause 
of failure in the efforts which have been made in years and months 
past to control the epidemic and stamp out the disease entirely. 
This admission is made from a full survey of the whole subject and 
a clear conviction of the remarkable fact that “ a very large propor 
tion” of those who have been vaccinated are unprotected and subject 
to the impression of small-pox contagion. A more truthful remark, or 
a more important fact, drawn as it is from the accumulated evidence 
obtained from piactical results, could not be advanced. It gives a 
clear idea of the essential character of vaccinations as exhibited from 
actual results, and admits and verifies the declaration that a very 
large proportion are defective and spurious. Hence it may be ob- 
served that the objection to the present deteriorated and effete system 
of practice as exhibited in this discussion, is frankly admitted in the 
declaration that a very large proportion of vaccinations have proved 
spurious and unprotective, and are now assigned as the primary cause 
of the recurrence of the present epidemic. No other conclusion 
could be justly drawn from the facts herein cited. Nor can the 
present system, which, after repeated trials, has proved itself wanting 
in protective power, be conscientiously sustained and commended to the 
profession and the people on account of any “ superiority in practical 
results to bovine vaccination.” Nor can it be judged otherwise than 
extremely faulty and decidedly detrimental. From the facts and 
practical tests already adduced it will appear evident that its great 
superiority consists only in the dissemination of various evils which 
might and would be avoided in the adoption of a correct 
system of practice—a system, having for its base pure genuine virus, 
possessing in full power the specific attribute of the kine-pox that has 
proved effectual and is known to afford complete and permanent pro- 
tection. 
LET US RETURN TO THE GENUINE AND BETTER 
MODE OF PRACTICE. 
Such are some of the facts and considerations showing the necessity 
of superseding the present system by a return to a better mode of 
practice—the invariable use of pure and genuine vaccine derived 
from the kine, which has proved effectual and stood the severe test 
of subsequent small-pox inoculation without inconvenience, or 
harm. Such, too, are some of the considerations, showing the neces- 42 
'sity of establishing an institution in this city, or vicinity, for the special 
purpose of collecting, conserving, and furnishing pure genuine vac- 
cine from the kine in quantities sufficient for general use in city anti 
country. 
VIRGIN LYMPH—ITS EFFICIENCY —AND HOW 
OBTAINED. 
Bovine virus from the natural kine-pox—usually termed virgin 
lymph, is the one great essential and indispensable requisite in suc- 
cessful vaccination. This, in its specific attribute and effect on the 
human organism, differs very materially from that cow-pox virus, 
obtained by innoculating the cow with the worn-out, humanized 
vaccine, called retro-vaccination. Virus thus obtained is compara- 
tively worthless, and also from that cow-pox virus obtained 
by innoculating the cow with the small-pox matter, taken 
from the human subject. Virus obtained in this way is decidedly 
objectionable. We therefore speak of the natural kine-pox as it 
occurs spontaneously in the herd, the only true source of vaccine 
virus, which being kept alive and propagated by transmission from 
heifer to heifer, constitutes the true a)id genuine virgin lymph, the 
best preventive of small-pox. This, derived fresh from the kine, is 
essentially safe, reliable, and permanent in its influence. Its direct 
and only effect on the human organism is the production of the true 
and genuine disease, vaccinia, on which protective power depends. 
It never introduces or awakens any other disease to endanger the 
future health and well-being of the person vaccinated, and can be 
employed on all occasions when it is proper and safe to vaccinate 
either babe, child, or adult, without fear of abnormal, or distressing 
developments. 
From my observation and experience in its employment for some 
time past, I have not discovered, or known any other disease to 
follow. Says the eminent surgeon at the head of the Vaccine Insti- 
tution at Boston Highlands, Dr. H. A. Martin : “ There have been 
now, at least, 400,000 revaccinations made in this country with cow- 
pox (Beaugency) virus, and no case of death, no case of erysipelas, 
no case of post-vaccine variola, have been reported among them.” 
The “ Beaugency virus,” here referred to, is the natural kine-pox 
virus, pure and genuine, as the above results of its use clearly show. 
In an institution established for the purpose of collecting, conserv- 
ing, and furnishing pure vaccine it can be perpetuated from heifer 
to heifer and furnished as it may be needed in quantities sufficient to 
answer any demand in city or country. The supply can be made 
abundant and sufficient to vaccinate the world if desired. Such an institution is now in successful operation at Boston High- 
lands, and can supply every physician and vaccinator in the country 
with pure, fresh virgin lymph. Hence there is no necessity for con- 
tinuing the use of secondary, long humanized, deteriorated, and 
spurious virus on any occasion whatever. 
Let the course here suggested be adopted, and pure virgin lymph 
be invariably used, and all our children regularly vaccinated at 
an early age, and then we might hope to see the small-pox banished 
from among us, never more to return and prevail in an epidemic 
form. VACCINATION 
R A. GUNN, M. D. 
The question of vaccination is one which is, at the present time, 
occupying the attention of the people more than it has ever done 
before. The continuance and spread of small-pox, in spite of all the 
efforts that have been made to stamp it out by \raccination, have 
naturally caused many to inquire whether this process was really a 
prophylactic against small-pox or not. While, on the other hand, 
the injurious results that have so frequently followed vaccination 
have created serious alarm among the masses of the people who 
would rather remain unvaccinated than expose themselves and chil- 
dren to the danger of being innoculated with other diseases, which 
are, in many respects, far Avorse than small-pox itself. 
That the minds of the people have been exercised to no slight 
degree upon these points there can be no doubt ; and it therefore 
becomes the duty of the medical profession to deal Avith these vexed 
questions with promptness and candor. This is not an age of equivo- 
cation, and a simple denial of facts will not satisfy thinking minds. 
When any class of men announce that vaccination, as at present 
practised, does not communicate disease, and is a perfect prophy- 
lactic against small-pox, can the people accept then- assertions as 
correct, in the face of all the facts that have come to light even in 
this city during the past winter? No! they will tell us that facts 
are stubborn arguments, and they must have further proof to con- 
vince them. 
In a recent report of a committee to the Eclectic Medical Society 
of the City of New York this entire subject was considered, and 
given to the public in such a shape as was calculated to open their 
eyes to the fallacies that have so long pervaded the medical profes- 
sion. While that report contained sufficient evidence in support of 
the positions taken by the committee, many valuable facts were 
omitted for want of space. The object of this paper is, therefore, 46 
to add further evidence to that already furnished, and if possible to 
arouse the community to a proper sense of the dangerous and 
imperfect system of vaccination at present employed in all our large 
cities. 
EVIL RESULTS OF VACCINATION. 
The following summary of evidence (under oath), taken by a com- 
mittee of the British House of Commons in 1871 on the subject of 
vaccination, speaks for itself: 
Dr. Collins testifies—“ After twenty years’ experience as a vacci- 
nator, during six or seven small-pox epidemics, I have ceased to 
vaccinate ten or twelve years; and gave up at least £500 sterling a 
year by so doing. Consider vaccination not only useless but an evil. 
Have often seen children with syphilitic eruptions after vaccination 
whose parents were free from any taint. Have seen children hitherto 
healthy, with no trace of struma, after vaccination assume a scrofu- 
lous character, with every characteristic of a strumous habit. Ery- 
sipelas and phlegmanous ulcers are also by no means uncommon 
after vaccination. In a particular case I vaccinated an apparently 
healthy child with lymph from the National Vaccine Establishment, 
and on the 8th day, from a true Jennerian vesicle on its arm, I—at 
the request of the parents, friends of the first—vaccinated another 
healthy child; and three weeks after both children were brought to 
me, having decided syphilitic symptoms; when, on examination, it 
was found that the father of the first child had constitutional syph- 
ilis, and that his other children were born covered with syphilitic 
eruptions. The parents of the second child were perfectly healthy, 
but the syphilis had been conveyed to it by the vaccine lymph taken 
from the other. Was once consulted by some young ladies who had 
been vaccinated from their brother, who had been suckled by a syphili- 
tic nurse, and, on being discovered, it was found that her own child 
had the usual syphilitic symptoms. Mr. Liston and Mr. Morton both 
agreed with me that these ladies had true syphilis.” 
Dr. Pearce testifies—“ I have given special attention to the subject 
of vaccination for eighteen years. The reports of the Small Pox 
Hospital for sixteen years, ending 1851, show the proportion of 
vaccinated cases to total admissions to be 53 per cent; in 1851-2, 
66 per cent.; 1854-6, 71 per cent. ; 1859-60, 78 per cent.; 1861-6, 
81 per cent.; and in 1868, 84 per cent. Returns show a large increase 
of consumption. Know a lady and her elder brother, unvaccinated, 
the only survivors of ten children, the rest having been vacciiiated, 
five of whom died in childhood, and the remaining three at from 
fifteen to eighteen, of consumption. The mother always attributed 
the deaths of her eight younger children to vaccination. The ances 47 
tors on both sides for generations were all healthy country people. 
There was no defect of nutrition—no rebreathed air of workshops. 
When vaccinating as I formerly did extensively, I was astonished 
to find I had unwittingly transmitted syphilis from lymph supplied 
by the Jennerian Institution ; I had proved that no taint existed in 
the parents; had twenty or twenty-four such cases within four 
years at Northampton.” Referring to the 540 practitioners who 
are reported to have taken grounds against his position, he says: 
“They are chiefly surgeons of hospitals, who perhaps have never 
vaccinated or been in general practice ; the answers of such men are 
of no value.” “Mr. Whitehead, of Manchester, reports several 
instances of syphilitic taint, transferred from a true Jennerian vesicle. 
This is positive evidence, but men may say that they have never 
seen what they never have had an opportunity of seeing. Dr. Ballard 
has stated that a true Jennerian vesicle cannot be distinguished from 
a vesicle containing syphilis.” 
Dr. Garth Wilkinson testifies—“ I have vaccinated to within the 
last five years without thinking, about it. Vaccination is so entirely 
secundem artem the large majority cannot think about it. We are 
continually coming upon venerable fallacies; but on this question 
prestige and interest prevent investigation. Six positive cases are 
worth 10,000 negatives, which go for nothing.’ Dr. Siljestrom, a 
man of great scientific eminence, and a legislator in Sweden, says : 
“I have always felt that if vaccination does not stand against small- 
pox it is nil; if it does so stand, millions to one but what it imparts 
other and more powerful disorders into the system. My own coach- 
man’s child took erysipelas concurrently with vaccination, and both 
the child and its mother who was nursing it, who had had small- 
pox, died of the erysipelas. Knew a case of an eminent literary 
man, crippled with a skin affection, a kind of eczema of the leg, ever 
since being revaccinated four years since. Have often, almost daily, 
heard parents say, ‘ My children have never been the same since 
they were vaccinated.’” 
Mr. G. S. Gibson testifies—“ I attribute the large increase in infant 
mortality to their being poisoned in the first year of life, in a greater 
proportion than formerly, by vaccination. Constitutional diseases 
may be perpetuated in the same way, and the foundation laid for 
tuburcular disease of some kind.” Professor Ricord says (<Journal 
des Connaissances Medicates, 10th March, 1865): “At first I repulsed 
the idea that syphilis could be transmitted by vaccination, but to-day 
I hesitate no more to proclaim the reality.” 
Mr. Emery testifies—“ I have seen much suffering, ulcerous sores, 
etc., from vaccination. Vaccination is matter taken from the cow, 
put into the arm, and from arm to arm for thirty years ; and all 
manner of dirt is scraped out of one person’s arm and put into 48 
another. I had a healthy child, eleven weeks old, vaccinated in 
May, 1869. On the ninth day it became veiy ill, the arm, body, 
and legs swollen all over red and green, having no rest night or day 
till its death, a month after. Have since seen from 100 to 150 
healthy children suffering immediately after vaccination, and parents 
who have lost their children by it.” 
Mr. Covington mentions a case of a healthy child, twelve months 
old, in whom syphilitic appearances showed themselves five weeks 
after vaccination. His own child was taken ill immediately after 
vaccination, and suffered for nine months, and afterwards from 
abscesses, etc., for four years. In a third case, a child of four 
months immediately broke out with sores and died in the tenth 
month. Believes vaccination conveys consumption, syphilis, and 
many other like diseases. 
Mr. Addison deposes “that on the 8th September, 1870, he had a 
sound, pure, and healthy child, three months old, vaccinated against 
his will, to obey the law ; three days after it broke out in a fearful 
rash, which continued to increase for eight weeks, when it died.” 
Rev. Hume Rothery testifies—“I had a healthy child which 
suffered from a long series of veiy large boils, coming on three 
months after vaccination, which I believe to be the cause. Another 
case, a healty child, nine months old when vaccinated, was afterwards 
afflicted with sore eyes for many years, and they are still weak ; it 
being afterwards found that sore eyes prevailed in the family from 
which she was vaccinated. A third case, a fortnight after vaccina- 
tion (at nine months old) became covered with an offensive eruption all 
over the body ; is now three years old, and has seldom, since, been free 
from sores and scabs ; her elder brother, not vaccinated, father and 
mother, and families are remarkably healthy. A fourth case, now 
four years old, healthy before vaccination, has never since been so ; 
nine months after foul sores broke out, which continued, and appear 
likely to continue ; there is a hole in one hand, and the foot prob- 
ably crippled or life. In a fifth case, vaccinated when a babe, the 
family on all sides perfectly healthy, cancer appeared on the chin at 
eighteen months old, and she lost the left breast from cancer at 
thirteen; it was discovered, on inquiry by the doctor, that the 
mother of the child, from whom the lymph was taken, had a cancer 
of which she subsequently died. A sixth case, exceedingly well 
before vaccination, was never well afterwards ; its flesh rotted on the 
slightest scratch of a pin, and now and then broke out in scales and 
sores; it died when twenty months’ old. Six other children were 
vaccinated from this child, not one of whom survived. A seventh 
case, a healthy baby before vaccination, became ever after an inde- 
scribable sufferer, and died at nearly eight, his body being literally 
rotten; father, mother, and five other children all remarkably healthy. 49 
In an eighth case, a healthy boy, four months old, was vaccinated; 
three months afterwards the arm began to break out, the head was 
one mass of soi-es, which continued for twelve months; believe it was 
syphilis ; there had never been any disease in parents’ families. All 
the above cases wei-e in Middleton. Could mention a considei-able 
number of other cases, eight—all of deaths—from Rochdale; twelve 
from Smallbridge, many others in Scotland; all attested before magis- 
trates, with the understanding that they were to be laid before this 
committee. Could mention a number of other cases, but the suffer- 
ers are afi-aid to come forward. A child may appear healthy, but no 
one can say whei-e a latent taint exists. Dr. Nicholson, a pro-vaccina- 
tor, writes : “ If a case can be made out against vaccination, by all 
means let the law be repealedwhilst Dr. Blanc, also a vaccinatoi-, 
says : “ Persons who deny such ti*ansmission are greater foes to vac- 
cination than its declared advei-sai-ies.” 
Mi\ R. B. Gibbs refers to Mr. Hem-y Lee, a gi*eat authoi-ity on 
syphilitic diseases, who states that he could come to no other conclu- 
sion but that syphilis was communicated by vaccination in the 
Rivalta cases. 
Mr. Simon testifies : “ There is not the least doubt that syphilis 
has, on several occasions, been communicated on the continent by 
what was pm-ported to be vaccination. Lymph ought not to be taken 
from a subject who can be reasonably supposed syphilitic. A vac- 
cinator should assume that such would convey syphilis. Practically, 
we should expect lymph taken from a syphilitic child would be 
syphilitic, as the safe side to err on, without attaching importance to 
negative experiments.” 
Dr. Bakewell testifies: “ There is a very strong opinion among 
medical men in the West Indies that leprosy has been communicated 
by vaccination. They often apply to me for lymph from England, 
though there would be an equal chance of English lymph being con- 
taminated by syphilis : have seen several cases of leprosy, where vac. 
cination seemed to be the only explanation : have a case now, a child 
from India, a leper, both parents being English; saw another, a 
creole of Trinidad, also of English parents. Sir Ranald Martin 
agreed with me that the leprosy arose from vaccination. Have seen 
several cases of leprosy resulting from vaccination, arrived at the 
conclusion with reluctance in the face of difficulties. Have no doubt 
death resulted from syphilis, produced by vaccination, in the Rivalta 
cases. There are two hundred and fifty-eight such cases mentioned 
by Lancereaux as having occurred in France, Italy, and Germany. 
Think there are othex-s of which we have no knowledge.” 
Mr. Hutchinson testifies: “ I was asked by the medical man to ex- 
amine into the communication of syphilis to several adult servants 
and shopmen who were re-vaccinated, on the 7th of February last, 50 
from one child, lent to the operator from a public vaccinating sta- 
tion. Of thirteen so vaccinated, whom I saw on the 4th or 5th of 
April, eleven had on their arms sores characteristic of syphilis—the 
primary sore of syphilitic contagion ; the two who escaped were the 
first vaccinated. A few days later saw the child (six months old), 
from whom the lymph was taken, and though it appeared in good 
health, I should have no doubt it was the subject of inherited syphi- 
lis ; it had an eruption on the body, then very slight indeed, and 
probably not present at the time of vaccination.” 
If space would permit we could present a very large amount of ad- 
ditional testimony, compiled by Professor Joseph Jones, M. D., of 
Nashville, Tenn., and published in a large pamphlet in 1867. He 
gives the sworn testimonies of many prominent physicians in the 
Southern States, which go to prove, beyond doubt, that many hun- 
dreds of soldiers had suffered from syphilis caused by vaccination. 
These facts were proved by careful investigations, which revealed the 
presence of constitutional syphilis in the persons from whose arms 
the virus was taken. 
Even at the present time report after report comes to us of similar 
cases occurring in this city. One physician reports three cases of 
well-marked syphilitic inoculation by lymph taken from the arm of a 
child in the neighborhood, whom he supposed to be healthy. He 
had been the family physician of the child’s parents, and felt confi- 
dent that they had no such disease. On investigation, however, he 
found that another physician had treated both parents for syphilis, 
and that they were still suffering from the constitutional effects. The 
children he vaccinated from this child (his own child being one), 
were perfectly healthy, as were also their parents’ families. 
Another physician, of extensive experience, reports two cases of 
well-marked primary syphilitic sores on the arms of a lady and gen- 
tleman, who were vaccinated with lymph from a child, since found 
to be unhealthy, after the bovine virus failed to take. 
THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF VACCINATION NOT 
EFFICIENT. 
That vaccination, as at present performed, is not a prophylactic 
against the ravages of small-pox, is self-evident to every one who has 
examined the statistics on this subject. The history of the efforts to 
stamp out small-pox in this city, and their results, are given in full in 
the paper of Dr. Whitney, recently published. The reports of the 
Small-Pox Hospital of London, for the last thirty years, show that 
the proportion of vaccinated cases to the total admissions, ranged 
from fifty-three to eighty-four per cent., and that the mortality among 
the vaccinated was as great in proportion. In Sweden, in 1850-52, 51 
inclusive, five thousand three hundred and ninety-eight pei’sons died 
from small-pox, all vaccinated. Doctors Pearce, Wilkinson, Gibbs, 
and othei-s, testified to the same effect on this point before the British 
House of Commons’ Committee, heretofore mentioned. 
In addition to these facts, we may add that the large majority of 
adults contracting small-pox in this country have been vaccinated and 
re-vaccinated; for it is, and has been the fashion, in rural districts, 
as well as in large towns and cities, not only to vaccinate children, 
but also to re-vaccinate evexy five or seven years. 
DIFFERENCE OF OPINION AMONG MEDICAL MEN. 
It is only natural that medical men should hold different opinions 
upon questions that cannot be laid down as established facts, and yet 
we often find those in the profession who never have any opinions of 
their own, but rely with implicit faith upon the theories of their fore- 
fathers, without thinking of making an investigation for themselves. 
This class is larger than many would suppose, and they are always 
the first to cry down any effort at reform. Many of this class are 
found denying the possibility of communicating disease by vaccina- 
tion, and when they are asked to give a reason for the faith that is in 
them, they can only say that they have never seen such cases. 
Among the large number of physicians with whom I have conversed 
on this subject, I have found but very few, indeed, who have ever 
given the subject any attention. They have performed vaccinations 
because it was the fashion to do so, and they were paid for it. Many 
of them had never seen the case after introducing the virus into the 
arm. They have been taught that vaccination would prevent small- 
pox, and they concluded that such was the case. I feel convinced 
that those with whom I conversed are no exceptions to the general 
rule, and this is why so many are found to favor the negative argu- 
ments on this subject. A man has no right to deny the existence of 
a thing he has never seen, but should always be willing to investigate 
the truth. The evil results following vaccination, which are presented 
in the report of the committee to the Eclectic Medical Society of 
New York City, and those offered in this paper, present a sufficient 
amount of positive proof to establish the communicability of disease 
by vaccination, independent of all the negative i*esults that can be 
produced. While many of the English physicians took grounds 
against our present position, they all acknowledged that syphilis 
“ might possibly be communicated by vaccination,” but they had 
never seen such cases; and they further admitted that they would 
not, knowingly, vaccinate their own children with lymph from the 
arm of a syphilitic person. Here, then, is a candid admission that 52 
they have no faith in their own theory, and yet they will continue to 
inflict untold of misery upon thousands who have confidence in their 
honesty. 
The fallacies and inconsistencies of the report on this subject to the 
New York Academy of Medicine have already been criticised, and 
placed before the public; but, while on this point, I would ask, if the 
society that adopts that report would be willing to practice what 
they preach, and vaccinate their own families with lymph taken from 
the arms of syphilitic patients in Charity Hospital. 
Again, we find upon investigation, that many persons object to 
vaccination on the ground that it impairs the health, and induces 
scarlet-fever, measles, consumption, &c. All who hold this belief 
have arrived at the conclusion after investigation, where the process 
was carried on from arm to arm. That disease can be directly 
communicated by vaccination has, we think, been fully proven, and? 
with the investigations that have been made, we cannot but admit 
that the seeds of consumption may be sown, which may soon ripen 
and carry off its victim. In short, the conveying to the system of 
such taints, as we have already mentioned, must, inevitably, so re- 
duce the vital powers as to leave the system in such a weak con- 
dition that it becomes susceptible to all kinds of disease. 
Enough has been said on this subject to arouse the public to a due 
sense of the importance of caution, and, if we are correctly informed, 
these discussions have had a good effect upon the Metropolitan Board of 
Health, who have now detailed physicians to collect vaccine virus 
from none but perfectly healthy children. While this is another 
admission in favor of our position, yet more must be done if we wish 
for good results. We expect, however, that the public will have to 
suffer still more before any further admission is made by the 
“powers that be.” The same old fogyism pervades the medical pro- 
fession to-day that was manifested when Harvey announced his dis- 
covery of the circulation of the blood; the same reluctance to give up 
their long cherished, though false notions, of vaccination, as was 
shown when the reasonings of reformers, and the clamor of the out- 
raged people, compelled them to abandon the lancet; and, later, 
when Professor Bennett proved that mercury did not aot on the 
liver so as to increase the flow of bile. 
CAN YACCINATION BE MADE EFFECTIYE T 
In the face of all that has been said on this subject, and the con. 
tinued spread of small-pox in our midst, it is only natural that the 
people should ask this question. Yaccination, as practiced, has not 
been proof against small-pox, because in the passage from arm to 
arm the virus has become deteriorated. When introduced into the ttrm it often produces a local sore, without constitutional symptoms', 
and thus affords no protection, and often, when a constitutional 
effect is produced, it is the result of some inoculated poison. The re- 
port to the Eclectic Medical Society, and also Dr. Whitney’s paper, 
take up this.point in full. They take the rational ground that no 
vaccine virus should be used only that taken from the cow; that 
when the true symptoms of vaccinia were produced, the system 
would be as fully protected against small-pox as after small-pox 
itself; that one effectual vaccination was sufficient, and that re-vac- 
cinations were entirely useless. 
To those who object to this theory, we have only to say that it 
prevents the dangers of communicating diseases of a constitutional 
character, and must be more protective than the vitiated virus com- 
monly used. A large number of physicians in France, Italy, Ger- 
many, and in our own country, have been using the bovine virus of 
late, and all attest its great superiority over the humanized virus. 
We have in our possession many more important facts bearing on 
this subject, and, if necessary, will present them to the public at a 
future time. POMEROY’S DEMOCRAT 
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ECLECTIC MEDICAL BOOKS. 
SYME’S PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OE SURGERY. By James Syme, 
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AN ECEECTIC TREATISE ON TIIE DISEASES OF CHILDREN. By 
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THE ECLECTIC PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. By Robebt S. Newton, M.D. 
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