74 Vaccination. ' " 



on any one who should fail to announce to the medical officer of 

 the district the appe.iraiice of the contagion of the Small Pox ; 

 and in every such case the person infected was to be carried to 

 the Small Pox Hospital, where every measure was adopted for 

 his being properly nursed ; and the same precautions have been 

 conthiued to the present time. 



It was long a question, Whether new-bom children could be 

 vaccinated with success, and whether the matter taken from them 

 might be employed with as much security as if taken from adults? 



This doubt has been altogether removed, and in the General 

 Lying-in Hospital in Stockholm all tlie children are now vac- 

 cinated within nine days from the time of their birth : so that, 

 by means of this progressive vaccination, fresh matter remains 

 constantly in existence. 



For the more eft'ectual encouragement of the practice of Vac- 

 cination, the King has been graciously pleased to appoint rewards 

 of two different kinds, pecuniary premiums and honorary medals. 

 The latter are distributed, commonly in silver, but sometimes in 

 gold, to those who have particularly distinguished themselves. In 

 all cases, those who have deserved rewards are humbly pointed 

 out to the King by the College of Health ; and His Majesty has 

 reserved to himself the right of assigning the proportions in which 

 these rewards shall be distributed. It is also in the King's name, 

 and with a certain degree of publicity, that these marks of his 

 approbation are bestowed. 



For the honour of the medical profession in Sweden, it must 

 not be forgotten, that although Inoculation for the Small Pox 

 was one of the most lucrative branches of their private practice, 

 and has been entirely superseded by the simple process of Vac- 

 cination, no one individual of the profession has raised any 

 obstacles against the Cow Pox ; but every one has contributed 

 to its advancement, by giving advice, information and assistance, 

 to the utmost of his ability. 



It may therefore be asserted, that the Small Pox, that equally 

 disgusting and destructive pestilence, which for many ages con- 

 tinued annually to send out of the vs^orld an immense number of 

 young children, is now, through the influence of Dr. .lenner's 

 inestimable discovery, so perfectly extirpated in Sweden, that it 

 never can become epidemic, even if at any time, notwithstanding 

 all the orders and all the vigilance employed for its exclusion, the 

 infection should make its appearance. Such, in the last twelve 

 years, has been the effect of the King's wise and humane attention, 

 of the unanimity and disinterestedness of the medical profession, 

 of the patriotic zeal of the clergy, of the good examples so 

 promptly exhibited by the upper classes, and of the progress of 

 information and civilization in the lower. 



On 



