Preliminary report : an investigation of the results of vaccination from the calf in the various countries of Europe, in India, and America ; with proposals for the establishment of a central government establishment for continuous supply of fresh calf lymph to public vaccinators in Great Britain. Presented for the use of the conference on animal vaccination, held Dec. 4, 1879, at the rooms of the Medical Society of London / by Ernest Hart.

  • Hart, Ernest.
Date:
1879
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Preliminary report : an investigation of the results of vaccination from the calf in the various countries of Europe, in India, and America ; with proposals for the establishment of a central government establishment for continuous supply of fresh calf lymph to public vaccinators in Great Britain. Presented for the use of the conference on animal vaccination, held Dec. 4, 1879, at the rooms of the Medical Society of London / by Ernest Hart. 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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    instance of an attack of small-pox; and the same absolute immunity from that disease was enjoyed by the far greater number of revaccinated persons living under similar conditions.* Animal lymph is also used for the vaccinations performed under the direction of the Brussels Board of Health. This lymph comes from Milan in quills, and is highly spoken of by Dr. Janssens, the Chief of the Health Department in Brussels. Holland.—In Holland, the practice of animal vaccination is very largely developed. At the present time, there are four permanent institutes, at Rotterdam (founded in 1868), at Amsterdam (1869), The Hague (1871), Utrecht (1S72) ; besides three temporary stations, work- ing only in summer, at Kampen, Haarlem, and Groningen. In the Netherlands, it is customary to make ten punctures; and if, after five days, there be fewer than four pocks, a few punctures more are made with the lymph of the same child [auto-revaccination]. Dutch experi- ence is the same as that of other countries, that apimal lymph in tubes cannot be kept so long as human lymph; in fact, that it loses its efficacy from day to day.t It is found that lymph mixed with glycerine has the same effect. In Rotterdam, tubes are employed; but, in Amster- dam and Utrecht, glass plates, closed with sealing-wax or soldered, have been used. The use of these latter is, however, very properly, being more and more abandoned. At the Hague, pure lymph has been found more efficacious after a time than that mixed with glycerine. Calf-lymph is largely exported from Holland to its colonies, etc.; and some sent to the East Indies in 1876 came back without any impair- ment of its efficiency. The transport of the lymph is undertaken by the Government, and it is carriage free throughout the kingdom. The calculation has been made that an establishment where two calves are inoculated per week would cost four thousand francs a year, excluding the vaccinator’s fees. All the Dutch stations are open once a week for gratis vaccination, and once a month for vaccinations which are paid for. The number of the latter is very inconsiderable, almost the whole popu- lation availing themselves of free vaccination. The deficit at all the stations is covered more or less by the State or the Province. Dr. Carsten stated at Geneva in 1877, that, after nine years of expe- rience in animal vaccination, they had arrived in Holland at such per- fection that they could compete in every respect with the best institutes vaccinating with human lymph. As in other places, the results were at first disappointing; but this has now been completely changed. From a valuable table compiled by Dr. Carsten with regard to the statistics of the four permanent stations, I take the following facts. The percentage of failures has gradually dwindled from 18.5 in 1869 to 8, 4.6, 1.6, 1.2, 1.3, 1.0, 0.8, and 0.09, in subsequent years, ending in 1877. During the ten years 1868-77, a total of 22,810 humanised vaccinations and re vaccinations, and 39,864 animal vaccinations and revaccinations, were performed. Of the 29,465 animal vaccinations, 28,862 were successful, and 603 were unsuccessful. In 1877, the number of animal vaccinations was, at Rotterdam, 2,383; at Amsterdam, 2,905; and at the Plague, 2,454. The table shows very clearly the very large decline in vaccinations performed with humanised lymph year by year since the introduction of animal vaccination ; the relative numbers * Com file Rendu du Congris Periodique International des Sciences Medicates, 4ine Session, a Bruxelles. 1875. t See Dr. Carsten at the Geneva International Congress, 1877.