Memorial of Josiah Meigs, and others : for an act of incorporation of a national vaccine institution for the United States of America. January 5, 1820. Read, and referred to a select committee.
- Josiah Meigs
- Date:
- 1820
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Memorial of Josiah Meigs, and others : for an act of incorporation of a national vaccine institution for the United States of America. January 5, 1820. Read, and referred to a select committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![[29] To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, the memorial of the undersigned respectfully represents: That, at a late meeting of a number of gentlemen, friendly to vacci- nation, held in this city, in pursuance of a public notice given for that purpose, your memorialists were chosen a board of managers, in con- junction with Dr. James Smith, the agent appointed by the President, under authority of the act of Congress, entitled, An act to encou- rage Vaccination, to organize a national vaccine institution for the United States of America, agreeably to a plan which had been previ- ously proposed by him, and for the support of which considerable sums have been subscribed. It has therefore become the duty of your memorialists to solicit your serious attention to this important sub- ject, and if the views of our association fully meet with your appro- bation, we most respectfully petition and pray, that you will grant us an actof incorporation, to enable us with more certainty to carry into effect the plan which has been adopted by the society we represent, to secure the preservation and distribution of the true vaccine mat- ter for the use and benefit of the citizens of the United States. Your memorialists do not deem it necessary to enter into any detail of facts to prove to you the necessity which exists of your giving greater encouragement to vaccination; nor yet to demonstrate the many ad- vantages, which the public may reasonably expect to derive from the institution now proposed to be established for this purpose. But, in an undertaking, which appears to us to be so intimately connected with the convenience, health, and general welfare of our fellow citi- zens in every part of the United States, it becomes us to submit, for your consideration, some of the most prominent reasons which have induced us to engage in it. ' First The small pox, which is a contagious disease, and one ot the most fatal and destructive plagues that ever afflicted the human race, yet exists in our country, and annually destroys the lives of many of our fellow citizens. The rich and the poor, the old and the young, arc alike liable to take this disease. It is not confined to any parti- cular place, but pervades alike our cities and villages; and, searching every where for its victims, penetrates within our inmost and most](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21140595_0007.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
