Vaccination considered in relation to the public health : with inquiries and suggestions thereon. A letter addressed to the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Morpeth, First Commissioner of Her Majesty's Woods & Forests. / By John Marshall.

  • Marshall, John, 1818-1891.
Date:
MDCCCXLVII
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vaccination considered in relation to the public health : with inquiries and suggestions thereon. A letter addressed to the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Morpeth, First Commissioner of Her Majesty's Woods & Forests. / By John Marshall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Nevertheless, it may very properly be asked, whether vacci¬ nation is as generally practised as it might be, and whether its protective influence is as widely and evenly spread over the people as could be desired. So dreadful, indeed, are the ravages of unmitigated and unchecked small-pox, so loathsome is it in its nature, so disfiguring in its effects, so surely infec¬ tious in its character, and so fearfully fatal in its results, that, at any time, questions such as these possess a serious interest to a populous and town-dwelling community. But at the present period, when comprehensive measures relating to the public health have just been brought forward by the Govern¬ ment, they acquire peculiar claims for thoughtful re-considera¬ tion. Having entirely prohibited the practice of inoculation, the legislature has thereby very justly declared vaccination to be the only legal means of giving security against natural small-pox ; and it therefore seems more than ever incumbent upon it to inquire, wdiether the present amount of state inter¬ ference is adequate to accomplish all the good that can possibly be obtained from vaccination. Since, too, the appointment of officers of health forms a part of the enactments now in con¬ templation, it is not unwise to consider how far the services of such officers may be rendered available for supervising, extend¬ ing, and maintaining this useful and indispensable practice. The amount of evil still inflicted upon society by small-pox, in the shape of sickness, suffering, disfigurement, blindness, or death, and the heavy pecuniary losses connected therewith, may be estimated by ascertaining the mortality occasioned by that disease. A comparison of the number of deaths from this cause, occurring before and since the passing of the Vaccination Act, although it shows a large amount of benefit due in some measure to the operation of that Act, indicates with equal distinctness the serious mischief still entailed upon the com¬ munity from the havoc committed by this frightful disorder. The deaths registered in England and Wales, from small¬ pox, in the three years preceding the operation of the Vaccina¬ tion Act were, in 18-38, 16,268; in 1839, 9131 ; and in 1840, 10,434,—giving an annual average of nearly 12,000, In the two years succeeding the introduction of the measure, the