( 54 ) 
[Aug. !, 
PROCEEDINGS OF PUBLIC SOCIETIES. 
——S 
REPORT of the ROYAL COLLEGE of PHYSI- 
CIANS of LONDON on VACCINATION, 
Presented to the 1ouse of COMMONS. 
ae Royal College of Physicians of 
London, having received his Ma- 
Jesty’s commands, i in compliance with an 
address from the House of Commons “ to 
Inquire into the state of vaccine imuocu- 
lation im the United Kingdom, to report 
their opinion and observations upon that 
practice, upon the evidence which has 
been adduced in its support, aud upon the 
causes whica have hitherto retarded its 
general adoption;” have appiied them- 
selves diligently to the business referred 
to them. 
Deeply impressed with the importance 
of an inquiry which equally involves the 
lives of individuals, and the public prospe- 
Tity, they have made every exertion to in- 
vestigate the subject fully and impartially. 
In aid of the knowledge and experience 
of the members of their own body, they 
have applied separately to each of the 
hcentiates of the College; they have cor- 
yesponded with the Colleges of Physicians 
of Dublin and Edinburgh ; with the Col- 
leges of Surgeons of Londen, Edinburgh, 
aud Dublin; they have called upon the 
Societies established for Vaccination, for 
an account of their practice, to what ex- 
tent it has been carried on, and what has 
been the result of their experience ; and 
they have, by public notice, invited indi- 
viduals to contribute whatever informa~ 
tion they had severally collected. They 
have in consequence been furnished with 
a mass of evidence communicated with 
the greatest readiness ag candour, which 
em to speak with confidence 
é principal ; points -referred to 
: e merit eight years which have 
elapsed since Dr. Jenner made his disco- 
very public, the progress of vaccination 
has becn rapid, uot ply in all parts of 
the United King ode om, butin every quarter 
ef the civilized world, In the British 
islands some -hunilred thousands lave 
been vaccinated, 1p qur possessions in the 
East Indies upwards of 800,000, and 
among the nations of Europe the practice 
has become general, Protessional men 
have submitted it to the fairest trials, and 
the public have, for the most part, re- 
ceived it without prejed: ce, A tew indeed 
have stood forth the adversaries of vacci- 
nation, ou the same grounds as their pre- 
decessors who oppused the imoculation 
for the small pox, falsely led by hypo- 
thetical reasoning in the investigation of 
a subject which must be supported, or re- 
jected, upon facts and observation only. 
With these few exceptions, the testimony 
in favour of vaccination has been most 
strong and SARE OL aud the practice 
of it, though it has received a check in 
some quarters, appears still to be upon 
the increase in most parts of the United 
Kingdom. 
2. The College ef Physicians, in give 
ing their obser vations and opinions on the 
practice of vaccination, think it right to 
premise, that they advance nothing but 
what is supported by the multiplied and 
unequivocal evidence which has been 
brought before them, and they have not 
considered any facts as proved but what 
have been stated from actual observa- 
tion. 
Vaccination appears to be in gencral 
perfectly safe; the imstances to the con~ 
trary being extremely rare. The discase_ 
excited by it is slight, and seldom pre- 
vents those under it from following their 
ordinary occupations. It has been com- 
municated with safety to pregnant wo- 
men, to children during dentition, and in 
rst earliest infancy ;_ in all which re= 
spects it possesses material advantages 
over inoculation for the small pox; 
which, though productive of a disease 
generally mild, yet sometimes occasions 
alarming symptoms, and is in a few cases 
fatal. 
The security derived from vaccination 
agaist the small pox, ifnot absolutely per 
fect, is as nearly so as ‘can perhaps be ex- 
pected from any human discovery; for 
amongst several hundred thousand cases, 
with the results of which the College 
have been made acquainted, the number 
of alieged failures has been surprizingly 
smal], so much so, as to form certainly 
no reasonable objection to the general, 
adoption of vaccination; for it appears 
that there are not nearly so many failures, 
in a zy en umber of vaccinated persons, 
as there are deaths in an equal number 
of persons incculated-fur the small pox. 
Nothing can more clearly demonstrate 
the superiority of vaccination over the 
inoculation of the smali pox, than. this 
consideration ; and it is a most import- 
ant fact, which has been confirmed in 
the course of this inquiry, that in almost 
every case, where the small pox has suc- 
ceeded vaccination, whether by inocula- 
ton 
