Anti-vaccination : the statistics of the Medical Officers to the Leeds Small-pox Hospital exposed and refuted, in a letter to the Leeds Board of Guardians / by Jno. Pickering.
- Pickering, John
- Date:
- 1876
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Anti-vaccination : the statistics of the Medical Officers to the Leeds Small-pox Hospital exposed and refuted, in a letter to the Leeds Board of Guardians / by Jno. Pickering. Source: Wellcome Collection.
6/50 page 4
![On the 23rd August I wrote the following letter to the Clerk :— [Copy.] 8, South Parade, Leeds, 23rd August, 1875. Enquiry as to Medical Statistics on Vaccination. Dear Sir,—I ought to have been informed as to the powers entrusted to the Small-pox Committee by your Board. I presume they will hear and examine wit- nesses, and take such evidence as we shall offer—reporters being present. The Medical Officers will, of course, be there to give any information or explanation. I am, dear Sir, yours truly, JNO. PICKERING. Mr. Hy. Lainpen, Clerk to the Board of Guardians, Leeds. During the afternoon of the 23rd August, I received a verbal message from the Clerk, saying that the presence of Reporters would not be permitted. When the Committee were appointed to hear the evidence affecting the alleged incorrectness of the statistics on the above question, I very naturally expected that Reporters would be present. This vexata qucestio had become a matter of public interest, and I made up my mind that I would have nothing to do with an enquiry where Reporters were excluded; and when Mr. Lampen informed me that Reporters would not be admitted, I declined to appear before the Committee. I acted upon principle, and out of no dis- respect to the Guardians. The charge of a want of courtesy, urged by one of the Board, does not attach to me. As a rule, Reporters are not present at Committee Meetings, but this was not a Committee Meeting; the Board had put Mr. Ken worthy and myself upon our trial, and it was a manifest injustice to us to suppose that we should trust our case to any Committee, without the public having the means of knowing the character of the evidence upon which their report would be based. The refusal of the Board to hear evidence, in the presence of Reporters, betrays a want of confidence either in their officers or them- selves.* The Board should have said to their officers— Gentlemen, * On the 20th March, 1872, I attended, by appointment, before tho Board, and challenged the statistics of the Medical Officers, and I gave in a report with names and addresses of patients whoso names appeared among tho unvaccinatod, but who had been vaccinated. On that occasion tho Board dared not, and did not, act straightforwardly. They bad got before them a responsible man, and if they could have proved mo in error, they would have accomplished a great thing; but experience](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20410633_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
