And thus infant mortality is increased by the infliction of a disease of the brute creation, which in the “course of its evolution,” causes diarrhœa.
The medical press has lately teemed with articles calling attention to the prevalence of small-pox, in Paris, it is stated that small-pox prevails there because vaccination is not compulsory. While it is quite true that the Legislature of Prance has passed no such disgraceful and tyrannical vaccination acts, as those which exist in England,—yet vaccination is almost universally adopted. Mr. Smee, the surgeon to the Bank of England, and examiner of candidates for life assurance, lately, in a letter to the “Times” newspaper, stated that his large experience enabled him to state that to find a Frenchman unvaccinated was an exception. The 12th report of the medical officer of the Privy Council tells us that in France it has been decreed, under the direction of the Academy of Medicine, by ministers, that “No infant should enter an orphan asylum, an hospital, a primary school, a lyceum, or a government college without a certificate, of vaccination.”
The Army and Navy of France are vaccinated, and vaccination is enjoined, if not enforced, on all who hold government situations. Besides this, it is forced upon the poor by a rule that “those who refuse to have their children vaccinated, shall have no public assistance.”
The fact is, that vaccination has failed in Paris, as in every other city. Let the medical gentlemen opposite, look to the paper of Dr. Seaton, whose cooked statistics they have quoted to-night; the paper to which I have before alluded, presented to the Lords of the Privy Council in the 12th report of Mr. Simon, and at page 188, they will find the following passage:—
“Striking exemplification of the danger of confiding in animal vaccination during an outbreak of small-pox has been given during the present epidemic in Paris, no doubt a large share of the unsuccess which has notoriously attended the practice, has been due to the hurry, and other unfavorable conditions under which it has been carried on. But apart from this, and where the conditions have been favorable, THE FAILURES HAVE BEEN QUITE REMARKABLE.”
I unhesitatingly affirm that vaccination from whatever source, whether from the heifer direct or from arm to arm, or even the heel of the greasy horse, which Jenner defined to be the true source of protective matter, is not only a failure—it is a delusion, an imposture, and the law which enforces it at the bidding of the medical department of the Privy Council, is a disgrace to the Statute Book of England, and ought to be repealed. For the reasons I have given, after nearly twenty years of attention to this important subject, I support the resolution.
Mr. Glidden made a few observations in support of the medical men who had spoken in advocacy of vaccination, expressing his surprise at the want of modesty in the last speaker, who, as a member of a learned profession, spoke disparagingly of his medical brethren, and applied the term “cooked” to statistics on the other side, while he produced a multitude of statistics of his own.
The chairman here interposed stating that Dr. Pearce head only produced the official statistics of the Registrar General. The resolution was then put and carried with only four dissentients.
Mr. R. B. Gibbs, Hon. Sec. to the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League, moved “that a memorial be presented to the Lords of Her Majesty’s Privy Council, praying them to suspend the vaccination laws until the inquiry, promised by the Government, had been made,” and said, that similar requests had been made several times, and that so far back as 1856, the government had promised a committee of the House of Commons, which promise was evaded. Instead of a committee an exparte investigation was made by sending a string of questions to a number of interested doctors, who, of course upheld the system. This course was much the same as if the late Royal Commission on Trades Unions had written to the secretaries of the various unions, to enquire how they worked. If a question had been asked of Broadhead, respecting the Saw-Grinders’ Union, of course, he would have reported that it was working satisfactorily.
Mr. Gibbs said, that the League would be satisfied with nothing less than a full investigation of the Medical Trades Unions. He then adverted to the case of the Rev. H. J. Allen, who had appealed to the Court of Queen’s Bench against a second conviction, which conviction had been upheld by the Court, and Mr. Allen left to pay a lawyer’s bill of over £30. He trusted that the lovers of freedom would assist him in his difficulties. Mr. Gibbs then referred to the important testimony, lately adduced by medical gentlemen in Manchester and elsewhere, that the evil results of vaccination were often apparent after “successful” operations with “pure lymph,” and reminded the audience that it was from the effects of such an operation, that Sir Culling Eardley, and many others had died. In view of such uncertainties, Mr. Gibbs argued that it was cruel to enforce the prisoning of the community.