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
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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![case animal lymph is not procurable, with human lymph; provided the parent or guardian of such child has consented to have the child so vaccinated [with human lymph], or the Governor-General in Council has so directed by notification in the Gazette of India, and has fixed the period for which such mode of vaccination shall be adopted.” Nothing was said by the mover of the Bill as to the reasons which prompted him to insist on the universal use of animal lymph; but there seems to be a great prejudice in the minds of the native gentry against allowing lymph to be taken from their children’s arms, and the very next clause of the Bill (No. 14) forbids the taking of such lymph without the consent of the parent or guardian. I may here remark that the clause as to animal lymph, which the Honourable Sayyad Ahmad Khan would wish to apply to the whole of India, is already in force in the city of Bombay, under the provisions of Section 12 of the Bombay Vaccination Act of 1877. I am indebted to the kindness of Sir Louis Mallet for the pre- ceding facts, as also for the information which follows as to animal vaccination at Bombay. Sir Louis has indeed most courteously for- warded to me copies of the last reports on the vaccination operations in the whole of the presidencies and districts comprised in the Empire; but in none of these but Bombay does animal lymph seem to be used. At Bombay, animal vaccination was first started about 1869 by Dr. Ananta Chandroba, Superintendent of the Bombay Presidency Circle ; the lymph being brought from Europe by Dr. Blanc, who vouched for its origin and purity. At first, there were a good many failures; but soon better results were achieved. In 1872, a special report was presented to the Government by the Superintendent-General of Vaccination, much interest having been excited in the subject, and all the superin- tendents having previously come either to Bombay or Poona to learn animal vaccination. Meagre as Dr. Pinkerton felt to be the informa- tion which he had been able to collect together, he nevertheless re- ported that it was “entirely in favour of the protective power, purity, and trueness of the animal virus in use”. About this time, seventeen practitioners of Bombay, who were asked by Dr. Ananta if they had ever seen or heard of an undoubtedly authentic case of small-pox after vaccination with animal lymph, had to state that none of them could give the name of a single person. Dr. Ananta has devoted immense attention to the subject of animal vaccination, and every succeeding report records better results at his station. In 1872-3, 241 calves were inoculated: 233 with the animal lymph in general use, and 8 with lymph from Dr. Warlomont. Of inoculations with the former, 228, or 97.8 per cent., were successful; with the latter, 2, or 25 per cent. With 24 exceptions, all the revaccinations were performed with animal lymph. Of 14,940 primary vaccinations, 12,663 were performed with animal lymph, with success in 10,577 cases. Thus the proportion of success was 90.37 per cent. In 1S73-4, 205 heifers were inoculated, and 8,285 primary vaccinations were performed, with 7,130 successes, or 89.8 per cent. During 1S75-6, there was an epidemic of small-pox in Bombay; and at the beginning of the year it was found difficult to get calves to supply sufficient lymph to vaccinate the crowds of people who flocked to the station. The effect of this was to lower the percentage of successful vaccinations during part of the year. The number of cows inoculated was 372, and only 11 were unsuccessful. Of 19,259 primary operations, 16,853 were performed with calf-lymph, with a percentage of success of 92.65. All the revaccinations but 11 were done wilh calf-lymph, with what success is not stated. During](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2476520x_0020.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
