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NATURE 



{March 22, 1888 



under the common order of zymotic diseases : is it 

 wonderful that in some things they agree ? The thistle 

 and the sunflower both belong to the same natural order 

 in botany, but are they identical ? Dr. Creighton entirely 

 suppresses every point in which the dissimilarity of the 

 two diseases appears ; but he insists upon nearly all those 

 in which the similarity shows itself. In fact, his whole 

 work is a piece of special pleading which anybody but a 

 lawyerr ought to be ashamed of. 



It is easy enough to find some sort of resemblance 

 between two inoculable diseases, and arguments of the 

 kind found in Dr. Creighton's book might be multiplied 

 greatly. We present him with another which we should 

 have thought too good for him to have missed, but 

 we will not promise him it will satisfy his readers 

 more than those which he has himself adduced. 



When the virus of the great-pox is taken early in the 

 disease it will communicate its own specific characters, 

 and will for a certain time render the individual to whom 

 it is communicated immune from further contamination 

 by the disease ; but if the virus is taken in its later stages 

 it will produce in the individual who is inoculated a 

 sore which has often a tendency to ulcerate, to phagedena, 

 &c., and this sore does not convey the constitutional 

 symptoms of syphilis, nor does it render the individual 

 immune from further manifestations of its own peculiari- 

 ties. This similarity of the two poxes might, in Dr. 

 Creighton's fashion, be shown in the behaviour of vaccinia, 

 for if vaccine lymph is taken early it produces a consti- 

 tutional disease of short duration which protects the indi- 

 vidual from further vaccination for a time at least, and 

 also from small-pox ; but if the vaccine is taken late it 

 produces a sore that has a tendency to ulcerate, to phage- 

 dena, &c., and which does not convey immunity to the 

 individual against further vaccination or against small- 

 pox. While referring to this point we may observe that 

 all the bad results collected by Dr. Creighton following 

 vaccination were from lymph taken at a too late stage, and 

 the evils produced must be attributable to the ignorance 

 of the vaccinator rather than the innate virulence of the 

 lymph, or more fancifully still to any reversion to type. 



Some of the points of dissimilarity he does not mention 

 are these : — 



Firstly, vaccination protects from small-pox when its 

 virus is taken at the proper time, but it does not protect 

 us against the great-pox. 



Secondly, the microscopical appearances of a true 

 chancre of early date are quite distinct from those of 

 a vaccine vesicle. 



Thirdly, the incubatory periods of the two diseases are 

 utterly different. 



It is easy to find points of similarity if we only look at 

 the points of likeness. Thus with no great difficulty we 

 might compare a man and a monkey, and it would not 

 be difficult to argue that at a remote period of time they 

 may have had a common ancestor ; but now no one in 

 his senses, except perhaps Dr. Creighton himself, would 

 say that they are identical species. 



Dr. McVail's book is altogether different. It is one of 

 the most thoughtful works of the kind we have seen. We 

 would commend it to everyone who is anxious to learn 

 the truth about vaccination, especially to Members of 

 Parliament and others who have a voice in the govern- 



ment of this great country, also to all medical men who 

 neither have the time or inclination to dig deep into anti- 

 vaccination literature. They will find complete answers 

 to all the assumed evils of vaccination, as well as the 

 evidences of the value of vaccination as a prophylactic 

 against small-pox. There is also set forth what a fearful 

 disease small- pox used to be, and how it has been robbed 

 of its sting by vaccination. 



Dr. Wallace's writing on this subject, whom we are 

 ashamed as scientific men to find in the anti-vaccination 

 ranks, are especially shown up and gibbeted. We may 

 quote two passages in support of this assertion ; they 

 occur on pp. 70 and 87. Speaking of the possible errors 

 in registration. Dr. Wallace instances three cases ; of one 

 of these Dr. McVail writes : — 



'' It is pitiful to think of Dr. Wallace as being driven to 

 appeal for one of his three instances of incorrect registra- 

 tion to such ravings as those of Mr. Pickering. But the 

 abuse of vaccination is so largely buttressed by the rela- 

 tion of ' cases,' that the examination of these samples 

 specially selected by so able an author seems not without 

 use as illustrating the character of the whole class." 



And on p. Z"] Dr. McVail says after careful reading : 

 " I have been further forced to the conclusion that, in this 

 matter, when Dr. Wallace says 'the point in question 

 has been entirely overlooked,' the statement is a misstate- 

 ment, and that when he says 'it is nevertheless a fact,' 

 then it is not a fact" The book is throughout so carefully 

 and faithfully written, and deals so well with the tactics 

 of the anti-vaccinators, that it ought to have a wide 

 circulation among those interested in the question. 

 Many are interested in seeing conjuring tricks, and in 

 witnessing optical delusions. So long as the tricks are not 

 understood, there is an inclination in the minds of some 

 to regard these tricks as more difficult of performance 

 than they really are, and some may even attribute them 

 to supernatural agency. The same kind of tricks are 

 played by such men as Dr. Wallace on our literary 

 pursuits. Dr. McVail's book may be taken as exposing 

 the tricks, and showing the mechanism by which they 

 are done. Robt. Cory. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Animal Biology. An Elementary Textbook. By C. Lloyd 



Morgan. With Illustrations. (London : Rivingtons, 



1887.) 

 This volume has been written to meet the requirements 

 of those reading for the London Intermediate and Pre- 

 liminary Scientific Examinations, as well as for the 

 Oxford and Cambridge Local. In it special attention 

 has been paid to embryology, and there can be little 

 doubt that the information in this volume would enable 

 the attentive student, with some preliminary assistance, 

 to make very considerable progress in the study of both 

 anatomy and physiology. 



The author treats of the anatomy and physiology of 

 the vertebrates as exemplified by the frog, the pigeon or 

 fowl, and the rabbit, with occasional references to other 

 types ; and of the invertebrate types, the crayfish, cock- 

 roach, earthworm, snail, fresh-water mussel, liver-fluke, 

 tapeworm, hydra, vorticella, and amoeba, are selected. 



The illustrations have been engraved after original 

 outline sketches of the author's, chiefly from dissections 

 or preparations made in the biological laboratory of 

 University College, Bristol. They are all the better for 



