[CHAPTER XXXI.]
SWEDEN, DENMARK AND ICELAND.
Jenner was in the habit of pointing to Sweden and Ceylon as proofs of what vaccination might accomplish. We have seen how badly Ceylon answered to his reference; and I now proceed to inquire whether Sweden served his purpose any better.
The decline of smallpox in some communities, contemporaneously with the introduction of vaccination, might be ascribed to the cessation of inoculation with smallpox—virtually the culture of that disease; but in Sweden little had to be accounted for in that way. Spite of strong recommendations, variolation was rarely practised, and never became popular. The very year that vaccination was introduced, Dr. Acksell, of Kalmer, stated in an official report, dated 30th March, 1801, “that it is impossible to convince the lower classes of the advantages of inoculation. Dr. Colliander and I have had it announced to the people from the pulpit, that, we were ready to give our services, gratis, in inoculating their children, but not a single person applied.” And such undoubtedly was the state of things throughout the kingdom.
Sweden last century was sorely afflicted with smallpox, and, considering the repute of variolation in other lands, it is surprising how the people refrained from its vaunted protection. It is thought dreadful that in London one death in ten should have been due to this disease, but in Sweden the ratio stood as high as one in seven. To give some idea of the extent of the mischief at its highest and its lowest, let us look at eighteen years in the latter half of the century—
| Year. | Population. | Total Deaths. | From Smallpox. |
| 1752 | 1,799,188 | 49,467 | 10,302 |
| 1757 | 1,870,372 | 55,829 | 10,241 |
| 1763 | 1,940,011 | 64,180 | 11,662 |
| 1768 | 2,006,790 | 54,751 | 10,650 |
| 1769 | 2,015,127 | 54,991 | 10,215 |
| 1773 | 1,972,407 | 105,139 | 12,130 |
| 1775 | 2,020,847 | 49,949 | 1,275 |
| 1776 | 2,041,289 | 45,692 | 1,503 |
| 1777 | 2,057,147 | 51,096 | 2,943 |
| 1778 | 2,073,396 | 55,028 | 16,607 |
| 1781 | 2,132,912 | 54,313 | 1,485 |
| 1784 | 2,145,213 | 63,792 | 12,453 |
| 1786 | 2,156,109 | 55,951 | 671 |
| 1787 | 2,163,862 | 51,998 | 1,771 |
| 1792 | 2,211,643 | 52,958 | 1,939 |
| 1797 | 2,322,814 | 55,036 | 1,733 |
| 1798 | 2,344,228 | 53,862 | 1,357 |
| 1800 | 2,347,303 | 73,928 | 12,032 |
In these figures we see how wide were the variations in smallpox mortality prior to the introduction of vaccination; and also how indifferent was its influence on the general mortality, much smallpox not raising the death-rate, nor little smallpox lowering it.
Among the factors of mortality in Sweden were scarcity and famine. At this day, when the ends of the earth are drawn together, we are apt to forget the struggle, the misery, and the sickness that prevailed when a deficient harvest in one country, or parts of the same country, could not be made good from the sufficiency of others. Population in Northern Europe did little more than maintain existence through several centuries against the severity of Nature, with food scant and bad, and raiment and shelter inadequate. Of the latter fifty years of last century, at least fifteen were years of dearth in Sweden, and consequently of increased mortality.