Report from the Select Committee on the Vaccination Act (1867) : together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, appendix and index.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Vaccination Act (1867)
Date:
1871
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report from the Select Committee on the Vaccination Act (1867) : together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, appendix and index. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    Report, 1871—continued. Pearce, Charles Thomas, m.d. (Analysis of his Evidence)—continued. Hunter having condemned the theory of Jenner, as regards inoculation with equine or porcine matter, 695, 696. Grounds for the conclusion that vaccination is not prophylactic against small-pox; error into which Dr. Jenner had fallen on this point, 697-704 ’Comment upon ihe security attached officially to vaccination, whilst at the same time re-vaccination is strongly recommended during the present epidemic. 697 Statement as to Prince Arthur having caught the small-pox in Scotland, notwithstanding that he had been vaccinated, 697-701. Statistics of the Highgate Small-pox Hospital adverted to, as showing that there has been a marked increase in the per-centage of vaccinated cases admitted to the hospital in different epidemics since 1851 ; 701, 702 Mortality of eleven per cent, of vaccinated cases in the Small-pox Hospital from 1836 to 1851 ; 702 Comment upon a circular recently issued by the College of Physicians, stating that the mortality in vaccinated cases was less than one per cent., 702-704. Investigation of certain reports by Dr. Greave of the Small-pox Hospital, with refer- ence to the relative mortality in vaccinated and unvaccinated cases which have passed through the hospital ; inaccuracy of the figures arrived at by Dr. Greave, 703 Com- ment upon a statement by Dr. Greave as to the constitution having been vitiated of those who died, having been vaccinated, ib. Statement showing that by the increase of small-pox in London, there is, on the whole, a saving on the general mortality, 703, 7°4- [Second Examination.]—Evidence in support of the proposition that the natural liability to small-pox in adult life diminishes in the unvacciuated whilst it increases in the vaccinated, 706- Statistics, and argument founded thereon, to the effect that re- vaccination predisposes to small-pox in adult life, and that it is highly dangerous to resort to it during the prevalence of an epidemic, ib. Reference to witness’s pro- fessional experience at Northampton as illustrating the disadvantages of vaccination, ib. Proposition that all other diseases than small-pox are more severe and fatal in the vaccinated than in the unvaccinated ; evidence in support of this conclusion, 706 Statement to the effect that measles are more severe and fatal by reason of previous vaccination, ib. Similar statement as regards scarlatina, ib. Also as regards diarrhoea, ib. Also as regards erysipelas, this disease being in fact directly produced by vaccination; statement by Jenner to this effect, ib. Increased mortality also from phthisis and bronchitis in consequence of previous vaccination, ib. Increase of the general death-rate in England, and of the death-rate of infants in the thirteen years since the Compulsory Vaccination Act, as compared with the thirteen years previous theieto, 706 Statistics in support of the proposition that the general mortality is not diminished by vaccination, 707 et seq. Comment upon certain statistics as unreliable, though used for the purpose of justifying compulsory legislation, 709-722. Further statement in proof of the proposition that when small-pox is present the death- rate is low, 722 Much less mortality in 1838 when there was an epidemic of small- pox than in 1840, when there was an epidemic of scarlatina, 722-726 Operation of compulsory vaccination at Prague adverted to, as having had no sensible effect upon the general death-rate, though it appeared to reduce immensely the mortality from small- pox, 726-728. Consideration of the statistics of mortality in Sweden, in which country compulsory vaccination is very strictly carried out; conclusion that concurrently with a decrease of deaths from small-pox there has been no decrease, but rather an increase of the general mortality, 728-750 Much lower death-rate in England than in Sweden, notwith- standing the exceeding stringency of the vaccination law of the latter country, 745, 746 Circumstance of the total mortality in England during the cholera epidemic of 1866-67, having been less than the mortality in the two previous years, 750. Evidence in support of the proposition that the practice of vaccination is fraught with danger to health and life, 750-764 Experience of witness at Nottingham adverted to, as showing that syphilis is sometimes transferred in the vaccine lymph, 751-758 Very little value attached to statements by hospital surgeons in regard to syphilis, 8tc., not being conveyed in the lymph, 761-763 Positive statement by Mr. Whitehead of Manchester, as to the transference of the syphilitic taint through the medium of vaccination, 763. [Third Examination.]—Further statement as to one at least of the nurses at the Small-p<>x Hospital having already had the small-pox, 895-897 Explanation in con- nection with the Small-pox Hospital returns, which profess to show that vaccination is a great protection to persons attacked with the small-pox, 898-907 Argument that the only test of successful vaccination is the protection thereafter of the patient; denial that the question of success can be properly tested by the number of marks on the arm, 901- 904. 976-994.