272 On Facci?iatio?u ' [ApMii^ 



convulsions wlilcli carried o(F an infant^ the death of whom is 

 ascribed to vaccination by M. Chappon, and those which carried 

 off another on the 6th day of a pernicious fever ? Are fevers 

 and conviilsions so rare among children, that when they happen 

 to occur during the developement of the cow-pox, or soon after^ 

 we oughtj without farther proof^ to ascribe them to the influence 

 of vaccination? 



We find likewise in the work of M. Chappon the case of a 

 child of M. Goupy, a ch,ild covered with a scurvy eruption 

 (gourme), which suppurated abundantly, f During the course 

 of the cow-pox the eruption was mixed with a great manV pocks. 

 It assumed a character of extreme acridity and putrefaction, 

 occasioned violent pain, and produced convulsions which termi- 

 Bated in death. 



Though the consequences drawn from this case appeared very 

 equivocal, we thought ourselves obliged to apply to M. Lafisse^ 

 a physician of known merit, under whose eyes the patient was. 

 He gave us the following answer : — 



" The child of M, Goupy^ about whom you inquire, had 

 been vaccinated without my knowledge. She had her head 

 covered with a scab {gourfne), and her humours very much 

 vitiated. Her father requested me to visit her on the J)th or 

 lUh day of her disease, which had commenced soon after her 

 vaccination. I found her labouring under a severe typhous 

 fever, under which she sunk two days after, in spite of the 

 blisters and the bark which I instantly prescribed. Besides the 

 cow-pocks at the places where the virus had been introduced^ 

 several others had appeared on her head, and on other parts of 

 her body. I believe that the fever had nothing to do with the 

 vaccination ; that the vaccination may perhaps have contributed 

 to determine it, but to which she had a strong previous disposi- 

 tion. The only reproach is that the cow-pox was introduced 

 in circumstances so unfavourable. This is all I can say about 

 that accident, of which I vi^as a melancholy witness." 



We shall add nothing to these reflections of M. Lafisse, the 

 justice of which appears evident to us. A similar example, but 

 terminating less fatally, has been mentioned to us by a person 

 worthy of confidence, ' We endeavoured to verify it, and we 

 found that the fact was only attested by false reports, by means 

 of which that person had been deceived. 



It is evident, then, that in none of the cases of which we have- 

 spoken can the fatal result be ascribed to the influence of the 

 cow-pox virus. We shall now notice the facts furnished by the 

 correspondence of the society of Paris, and those which the 

 authors of the Bibliotheque Britannique have published relative 



* Chappon, p. 108, 109. 



i Ibid. p. 102. 



