Vaccinæ vindicia; or, defence of vaccination : containing a refutation of the cases, and reasonings on the same, in Dr. Rowley's and Dr. Moseley's late extraordinary pamphlets against vaccination. In two letters to Dr. Moseley. With the Report of the Medical Council of the Royal Jennerian Society. And the debate in the House of Commons (July 2, 1806) on a motion by Lord Henry Petty, for enlightening the people of England on the subject of vaccination, [&c] / By Robert John Thornton.

Robert John Thornton

Date:: 1806

Credit: Vaccinæ vindicia; or, defence of vaccination : containing a refutation of the cases, and reasonings on the same, in Dr. Rowley's and Dr. Moseley's late extraordinary pamphlets against vaccination. In two letters to Dr. Moseley. With the Report of the Medical Council of the Royal Jennerian Society. And the debate in the House of Commons (July 2, 1806) on a motion by Lord Henry Petty, for enlightening the people of England on the subject of vaccination, [&c] / By Robert John Thornton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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^' I only threw out these Mnts^ as I think it is a thing which gentlemen ought to hold in their minds.* abandoned. All exertions to protect them are thought ridicu- lous, because they have been hitherto deemed impossible. If it were generally known that we had the power, we should not long want the inclination to help these wretched sufferers. Our sentiments of commiseration, and acts of beneficence would not solely be moved by the description of others; we may behold miserable objects, in sufficient numbers, with our own eyes. These emotions need not solely be excited by the inhabitants of the remote regions of the earth, but by our neighbours and fellow citizens; not by the most guilty, but the most innocent; not by objects of disgust, but of beauty, tenderness, and love. * Though the plague is the most mortal disorder to which humanity is liable; though its visitations are attended with the most destructive havoc; yet we may be convinced, by com- paring the history of their progress, that the Small-pox has been fatal to infinitely greater numbers of mankind. The plague has probably existed from remote antiquity, and, at times, has excited a general alarm among civilized nations, but its ravages have been temporary and partial. Whereas the Smali-pox has universally, with very few exceptions, and constantly, for above a thousand years, spread destruction over the whole habitable world. During this period, we cannot form a probable com- putation of their comparative devastations ; but we ma]?^ reason- ably conjecture that the past and present mortality by the Small- pox is many thousand degrees greater than by the plague. On what principle of reason, or of humanity, do we then nourish and protect the most fatal enemy of mankind ? We are astonished the folly and the superstition of the.Turks, whose principles of predestination foster the plague among them, though the cause of so much misery and mortality. Yet, with

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