Mr. Elbert Hubbard on vaccination : a critical examination : a special article / [Kenneth W. Millican].
- Millican, Kenneth William, 1853-1915.
- Date:
- [1907]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Mr. Elbert Hubbard on vaccination : a critical examination : a special article / [Kenneth W. Millican]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![The explanation of this changed attitude of a certain part of “public opinion on this sub- ject is thus admirably expressed by the Lancet in the editorial article before referred to: “'The prevailing delusions concerning the value of unskilled opinion, and especially of unskilled opin- ion in relation to medical and scientific subjects, are very largely fostered and maintained by a certain section of the press, which of recent years has be- gun to assume a tone of authority and knowledge concerning every question submitted to the public, and, as a rule, to display an equal and impartial ignorance concerning them all.” Mr. Hubbard is, we believe, a great admir- er of Mr. Bernard Shaw, whom he regards as an apostle of enlightenment for the present age. The Lancet fortunately quotes Mr. Shaw’s opinion as to the qualifications of sci- entifically untrained writers on scientific sub- jects, as follows: “Mr. Bernard Shaw has lately given to the world a sufficiently graphic description of the casual staff of ‘Dick Swivellers’ by whom many paragraphs and articles on scientific subjects are presumably com- posed. We fear he is correct in his belief that the majority of readers prefer Dick Swiveller, ‘because his hiedi spirits are amusing, his slovenly collo- quialism [e. g., “Henry .the Ate,” p. 13] is familiar and intelligible, and his inveterate inaccuracy and illiteracy are matters of indifference.’ ” Vaccination has got to go along with black cat salve for itch, sheep-nanny tea for mumps and that gentle assumption that we must all take sulphur and molasses in the spring. Opinion merely, to which Mr. Hubbard is entitled and welcome, if it makes him any hap- pier. 1 he word “opinion is used in the sense, formerly given in the quotation from the Lancet, viz., ‘a conclusion resting upon ?4](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2247982x_0026.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
