EXTRACT XVIII. 

 ON VACCINATION. 



VACCINATION the title of the following remarks has, 

 from familiarity, come to be mentioned by a somewhat 

 large number of the lay population, and a very small 

 number of the members of the medical profession of these 

 Islands, with contempt, and the subject by them has 

 obtained a sinister character, which necessitates its removal 

 from the list of the "resources of civilisation." 



That it has been possible for this to occur in the country 

 where, more than a century ago, the great and philan- 

 thropic Jenner observed and formulated, and where the 

 strength of his convictions enabled him to form and sway 

 a public opinion which initiated and established the greatest 

 movement in the preservation of the public health of the 

 world that had hitherto been witnessed, is one of the 

 greatest enigmas of our time, and an occurrence which 

 brings a "blush to the cheeks" of his countrymen, when 

 they hear and see with what reverence his memory is 

 cherished in every country of the globe which has entered 

 on the race of hygienic advancement and the solution of 

 the great problem of preserving the lives and health of 

 its people. 



As the explanation of this enigma becomes clearer, 

 perhaps it will be found that its causes have been com- 

 paratively insignificant and quite removable, and that it 

 behoves the nation which first demonstrated the nature 

 and value of vaccination to cling to it and to vindicate 

 its claims to retention on the statute book of the state 



