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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    dispute that he lias stated that; but it does not alter the per-centage. 985. At page 36 of your evidence of the 3rd of March, at the top of the page, you are very angry with the College of Physicians because they have stated, as you quote it, that the mor- tality in the vaccinated was less than one per cent.; was that what the College of Physicians stated?—Yes, I read it from “the Times” the other day. 986. I have before me the original letter of the College of Physicians, is not this what they stated, “ The mortality in those who have been properly vaccinated,” and so on?—They do not define what that means. 987. But you have not put it in properly ; the original says, “ Who have been properly vaccinated ” ?—I will put in the word “ pro- perly.” 988. Do not l)r. Marson’s statistics show that where they have been thoroughly vaccinated the mortality is three-fourths per cent., and that the College of Physicians were right?—No, I do not admit it. 989. Does not his table state that?—I do not think that that is the proper conclusion. 990. Is it not so in the table?—I think not; it does not say much for vaccination if all the rest died ; it does not alter the whole ratio of mortality in the vaccinated. 991. Do you believe in the general law of mor- tality by which all men die ?—That is not a law of mortality at all, that is a law of our being; mortality is a secondary affair. 992. Do you believe that all men die ?—Yes. 993. If there are a hundred men vaccinated, and one per cent, dies of small-pox, must not the other 99 die of something?—It has never been shown that in any population of 100 vaccinated persons only one died of small-pox. You may I say that they are properly vaccinated; but if | lonly those few are properly vaccinated, who Dr, E Marson says are properly vaccinated, there are i I not 10,000 in the kingdom who are properly I vaccinated. 994. But is it not the fact that Dr. Marson’s tables rightly or wrongly state that when per- I sons have four good marks, only three-fourths per cent, die?—He states that. 995. I have now come to a very important I theory which you have advanced, namely, that I there are a greater number of vaccinated in hos- pitals for small-pox than of unvaccinated; that is a fact to which you have drawn our attention, | is it not?—Yes. 996. You also, I think, stated that the Regis- I trar General’s returns show that at the present (time the deaths from small-pox are nearly as nu- merous among the vaccinated as among the un- 1 vaccinated ?—Yes; the Registrar General has i singularly omitted all account of that this week ; I do not know why. | 997. But the week before last they were i nearly equal, were they not?—Yes. 998. From that, [ think; you drew the conclu- I sion that vaccination was not a protection? — I From that and other reasons, I drew that con- clusion. 999. In fact, that vaccinated persons were ' equally liable to death with unvaccinated per- I sons?—No, I did not state that; I said that they I were more liable to attack, not that they were I equally liable to death. 1000. What conclusion, then, do you draw 0.37. from the fact that the week before last there were nearly as many amongst the small-pox deaths of vaccinated as of unvaccinated?—The conclusion that I draw is that vaccination is a delusion. 1001. And that the vaccinated people and the nnvaccinated people are equally liable to be killed by small-pox?—No, not equally liable; the vaccinated are more liable; and the proof of that is found in the fact of four-fifths of the patients admitted in Highgate Hospital having been vaccinated, showing that they are more liable to attack. 1002. Supposing that you were called upon to attend a school containing 100 children; sup- posing that 95 of those children were boys and five of those children were girls ; supposing that small-pox entered that school and killed eight, of whom four out of the five girls died, and four out of the 95 boys died, you have there an equal mortality amongst the boys and the girls, would you say that the girls were equally susceptible to death as the boys ?—It varies. 1003. But I am putting to you that particular case ?— I cannot tell what the case was, because we have testimony now from the hospitals that there is a difference, that whereas males are more subject in one epidemic, females are more subject in another. 1004. But I am speaking of this special case where there are 100 children in a school, 95 boys and five girls; eight die, four out of the five girls dying, and four out of the 95 boys dying ; does that show a similar susceptibility in those proportions in both boys and girls? — Certainly not. 1005. Are you not aware that instead of 50 per cent, being vaccinated as you have stated, amongst all the children in the national schools in this country, 97J per cent, are vaccinated ?— I beg to take exception to that; I think that the reports of the medical officers of the Privy Council and of the Poor Law Board show very different results. 1006. Of 53,000 children examined in the public examination of the national schools for this purpose, how many were vaccinated ?-—In the report of the Privy Council you will find Dr. Buchanan’s and Dr. Seaton’s returns, which show that in very many schools not 20 per cent, of the children were vaccinated. 1007. But were not 53,000 examined, of whom 49,570 had distinct marks of vaccination, and 508 had doubtful marks of vaccination, and is not that the general result of the whole ques- tion ?—I do not think it is ; I beg to say that that book from which you are quoting is not an authority ; the authority is in these books, and the proportion of vaccinated in schools was so small as to excite the attention not only of the Privy Coun- cil but of the Legislature, and it was discussed. 1008. I ask you simply whether that is nit stated upon authority; we can examine after- wards Dr. Seaton, the officer who made.that state- ment ; is not that stated as a fact in the table which I presented to you ?—That is very likely. 1009. Are you aware also that within this last week or two, similar examinations have been made in different schools in London, and that 95 per cent, of the children have been found to be vaccinated ?—That may be the case in some schools very likely, because 1 heard the other day in Marylebone that 100 children had been driven into a room and forcibly vaccinated by order n 4 of Mr. C. T. Pearce, m.d, io March 1871.3