Sixth report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the subject of vaccination; with minutes of evidence and appendices.
- Great Britain. Royal Commission on Vaccination.
- Date:
- 1897
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Sixth report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the subject of vaccination; with minutes of evidence and appendices. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![copy of the Statute of 1836, which was intended to supply the place of that of 1810. The repealing of the Act of 1810, and making the duty of vaccination a permissive one, was afterward believed to be a hasty and unwise measure, as you will notice by the comments of the Sanitary Commission of 1850, a copy of whose report I have also procured for you. (The reference may be found on page 180.) The date of tbe present Law on Vaccination was 1856. (Chapter 414.) Respectfully yours, Samuel W. Abbott, Bret Ince, Esq., _ Secretary. Secretary of Royal Commission on Vaccination. Oommonwealth of Massachusetts. (Revised Statutes of Anp No 18 1836.) —■ Massa- Eevised Statutes, 1836, Chapter 21, Section 45 : chusetis. Each town may, at any meeting, make suitable provision for the inoculation of the inhabitants with the cow-pox, under the direction of the Board of Health of each town, or of a committee chosen for that purpose; and they shall raise all necessary sums of money, to defray the expenses of such inoculation, in the same manner as other town charges are made. (Enclosure No. 1.) Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (Statutes of 1809 and 1810.) Chapter CXVI. An Act to diffuse the benefits of inoculation for the Cow-pox. Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same:— That it shall be the duty of every town, district, and plantation within this Commonwealth wherein no board of health shall be established by law, at their annual meetings in the months of March and April, annually, to chose, in the manner in which other town officers are by law chosen, three or more suitable persons, whose duty it shall be to superintend the in- oculation of the inhabitants of such town, district, or plantation, with the cow-pox. Section 2. Beit further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the inhabitants of any town, district, or plantation, at any of their said annual meetings, to provide for the inoculation of the inhabitants of such town, district, or plantation, with the cow-pox, under the direction and control of said superintendents, or a board of healthy where such board is established ; and to raise all necessary sums to defray the expense of such inoculation, or such part thereof as they may deem proper, in the same way and manner that other town charges are by law defrayed. [This Act passed March 6th, 1810.] (^Enclosure No. 2.) Commonwealth of Massachnetts (Statutes of 1836.) Chapter VII. An Act to repeal expressly all the Acts which are consolidated in the Revised Statutes. _ Be it enacted ly the Senate and House of Representa- tives, in General Court assembled, and by the Authority of the Same, as follows :— Section 1. The Acts repealed and intended to be repealed by the one hundred and forty-sixth Chapter of the Revised Statutes, are, and shall be considered those which are herein-after mentioned and described' that is to say : ' folhwing°f°^ ^ ^^^^ o/.4c<s repealed, among which is the An Act to diffuse the benefits of inoculation for the cow-pox. (Enclosu/re No. 3.) Report of a General Plan for the Promotion of Public and Personal Health, devised, prepared, and recom- mended by the Commissioners appointed under a Resolve of the Legislature of Massachusetts, relating to a Sanitary Survey of the State : presented April 25th, 1860. [Containing, at pages 179-81, the following sec- tion as to vaccination:] XXVIL We eecommend that every city and totvn in the State 6e required to provide means for the periodical vaccination of the inhabitants. The small-pox is a terrific disease ; but it is almost entirely shorn of its terrors by the preventive remedy of vaccination. If a person is not vaccinated, there is more than two chances to one that, if exposed, he will take the disease; but, if properly vaccinated, there is scarcely one chance in five hundred. Hence the im- portance of this preventive measure, and the guilt of neglecting it. Dr. Waterhouse, of Cambridge, vaccinated his son in July 1800; and this was the first person ever vacci- nated in America. In 1810 an Act was passed in this State, providing that it shall be the duty of every '' town to choose persons to superintend the inocula- tion of the inhabitants with the cow-pox. This law was repealed in 1836 ; and the Revised Statutes provide that each town may make provision for the inocula- tion of the inhabitants. This substitution of the word may for shall left it optional with towns to do or not to do it; and it has probably caused the loss of many lives. Under the operation of the old law many towns were accustomed, once in five or more years, to have a general vaccination of the inhabitants ; but this custom, as far as our knowledge extends, has been generally discontinued, and the inhabitants have thus been left liable to the disease from every new exposure. Boston has provided thab no child shall be admitted into the public schools without a certificate from some physician that it has been vaccinated. It has also pro- vided for the gratuitous vaccination of the poor who may choose to go to the ofiice of the city physician for that purpose. These excellent regulations should be adopted in every place. And local Boards of Health should be required to provide for a general vaccination of the inhabitants at least as often as once in five years. Since the repeal, in 1837, of the salutary laws of the State relating to small-pox, no more restraint has been laid upon persons sick with this than with any other disease, and it has consequently seldom been absent from the large cities. During more than 30 years, prior to 1837, the disease caused the death, in Boston, of 37 persons only ; and most of these were at Rains- ford's Island. It seldom occurred in the city proper. During the 12 years ending December 31, 1849, since the repeal, it caused the death of 533 persons ! And in the first six months of 1850, one hundred and forty-six have died ! These were unnecessary deaths,—/7ie?/ might and ought to have been prevented ! And so should the thousands of cases of sickness by the same disease Which did not terminate fatally. The plan of house-to- house visitation, described in our twenty-fourth recom- mendation, might have been adopted. The city might hare been divided into small districts, to each of which E .3](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21361320_0885.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
