VACCINATION IN NEW YORK. 331 



vaccination law, which opens up all the old issues and aiiords oppor- 

 tunity for sending broadcast statements of the most sensational and 

 mischievous character. These have recently been collected by a well- 

 known litterateur and forwarded as a newspaper letter to this country, 

 where, on account of their startling and sensational character, they 

 have been somewhat widely copied. 

 It is charged in these statements — 



1. That several terrible diseases, such as syphilis, cancer, consump- 

 tion, and scrofulous diseases generally are Avidely scattered and com- 

 municated by vaccination. One vaccinator of twelve years' experience 

 is made to say, " If I had the desire to describe one third of the vic- 

 tims ruined by vaccination, the blood would stand still in your veins." 

 Another, "I have seen hundreds of children killed by it." A medical 

 journal is quoted as saying that consumption has widely spread since 

 the introduction of vaccination ; which is very likely also true as 

 regards lawn-mowers and pedestrian matches. A physician to the 

 London Cancer Hospital declares that many of the cases of cancer 

 treated at that institution originated with vaccination ! A physician 

 testifies before a Parliamentary committee that eleven out of thirteen 

 children whom he vaccinated became syphilitic. Another declares 

 that a large proportion of apparently inherited syphilis is really im- 

 parted through vaccination. A large number of cases of various kinds 

 are cited with full and harrowing details, some of which have been 

 subjects of discussion in medical circles during the past twelve or four- 

 teen years. 



2. It is charged that vaccination does not protect its subjects from 

 small-pox. It is pronounced " not only an illusion but a curse to 

 humanity" ; "The greatest mistake and delusion in the science of 

 medicine " ; "A fanciful illusion in the mind of the discoverer, devoid 

 of scientific foundation." It states that, out of 22,000 cases of small- 

 pox treated in five London hospitals in five years, 17,000 had been vac- 

 cinated ; and, furthermore, that, since compulsory vaccination had been 

 established, the death-rate from small-pox had more than doubled. 

 Such, in brief, according to these very remarkable statements, have 

 been the results of vaccination in England, and it is in contrast with 

 these statements that the results of vaccination as j^racticed in the city 

 of Xew York are here presented. 



Previous to the epidemic of small-pox in 1874-'75, vaccination had 

 been fairly practiced, but in the same loose and unsystematic manner 

 as was formerly the custom everywhere. Some physicians vaccinated 

 the children of the families in which they were medical attendants 

 and some did not. Vaccination was performed free to those who 

 desired it at all the dispensaries, but no special care was taken to see 

 that all the children in the several districts were vaccinated. Some 

 physicians exercised skill and judgment in collecting the virus and 

 doing the work of vaccination, while others were careless and slovenly. 



