352 



MY LIFE 



[Chap 



to study the Reports of the Registrar- General myself, and to 

 draw out curves of small-pox mortality, and of other zymotic 

 diseases (the only way of showing the general course of a 

 disease as well as its annual inequalities), and then found that 

 the course of the former disease ran so generally parallel to 

 that of the latter as to disprove altogether any special protec- 

 tive effect of vaccination. 



As I could find no short and clear statement of the main 

 statistical facts adverse to vaccination, I wrote a short 

 pamphlet of thirty-eight pages, entitled " Forty-five Years of 

 Registration Statistics, proving Vaccination to be both Use- 

 less and Dangerous." This was published in 1885 at Mr. W. 

 Tebb's expense, and it had the effect of convincing many 

 persons, among whom were some of my personal friends. 



A few years later, when the Royal Commission on Vac- 

 cination was appointed, I was invited to become a member of 

 it, but declined, as I could not give up the necessary time, but 

 chiefly because I thought I could do more good as a witness. 

 I accordingly prepared a number of large diagrams, and stated 

 the arguments drawn from them, and in the year 1890 gave 

 my evidence during part of three days. As about half the 

 Commissioners were doctors, most of the others gave way to 

 them. I told them, at the beginning of my evidence, that I 

 knew nothing of medicine, but that, following the principle 

 laid down by Sir John Simon and Dr. Guy, that " the evidence 

 for the benefits of vaccination must now be statistical," I was 

 prepared to show the bearing of the best statistics only. Yet 

 they insisted on putting medical arguments and alleged 

 medical facts to me, asking me how I explained this, how I 

 accounted for that ; and though I stated again and again that 

 there were plenty of medical witnesses who would deal with 

 those points, they continually recurred to them ; and when I 

 said I had no answer to give, not having inquired into those 

 alleged facts, they seemed to think they had got the best of 

 it. Yet they were so ignorant of statistics and statistical 

 methods that one great doctor held out a diagram, showing 

 the same facts as one of mine, and asked me almost triumph- 

 antly how it was that mine was so different. After comparing 



