That the Institution was formed for the purpose of a full and satisfactory investigation of the benefits or dangers of the Vaccine Practice, and that this was the reason why Dr. Jenner could not be admitted as one of the conductors of it, as the public would not have the same confidence in their proceedings as if the Board were left to their own judgment in doubtful cases.
This is the sum and substance of the communication—
What do we know of Vaccination?
We know nothing of Vaccination!
Alas! poor Vaccinia, how art thou degraded!
You intimated something of this sort to me some time since, and now I get it from the fountain head. An institution founded on the principle of inquiry seven or eight years ago, would have been worthy of the British nation; but now, after the whole world bears testimony to the safety and efficacy of the Vaccine Practice, I do think it a most extraordinary proceeding. It is one that must necessarily degrade me, and cannot exalt the framers of it in the eyes of common-sense. I shall now stick closely to my own Institution, which I have the pride and vanity to think is paramount to all others, as its extent and benefits are boundless. Of this I am the real and not the nominal Director. I have conducted the whole concern for no inconsiderable number of years, single-handed, and have spread Vaccination round the globe. This convinces me that simplicity in this, as in all effective machinery, is best.[141]
In the discussion in the House of Commons it was stated by his friend, Lord Henry Petty, that one of the objects of the Establishment would be investigation, and it was absurd for Jenner to pretend that the fact came upon him as a revelation; and, unless completely blinded by conceit, he must have recognised that the general faith in Vaccination exhibited in 1801 had been much shaken by the experience of the succeeding seven years. But it is idle to argue the matter. When Jenner could say that he single-handed had conducted the whole concern for years and spread Vaccination round the globe, he could assert anything. The letter is interesting chiefly as an exhibition of character.
We shall return to the National Vaccine Establishment and its management—a curious story. Suffice it for the present to observe, that its immediate effects were adverse to Vaccination. The annual endowment was consumed in salaries, and many ceased to subscribe to the Cowpox Societies since Vaccination was so well provided for. The essential mischief consisted in the recognition of the evil practice by the State, whereby it has been perpetuated to the common injury to our own day.
THE ORIGINAL VACCINE POCK INSTITUTION.
The national endowment of Vaccination afforded a convenient pretext for closing this Institution, founded by Dr. Pearson and his friends in 1799; but some said the true reason was involved in the following resolutions—