A letter in reply to the report of the surgeons of the Vaccine Institution, Edinburgh : with an appendix, containing a variety of interesting letters on the subject of vaccination, and including a correspondence with Dr. Duncan, Dr. Lee, and Mr. Bryce : from which also the public will be able to appreciate the authority of the surgeons of the Vaccine Institution, and to form a correct opinion of the whole subject / by Thomas Brown.

Date:
1809
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter in reply to the report of the surgeons of the Vaccine Institution, Edinburgh : with an appendix, containing a variety of interesting letters on the subject of vaccination, and including a correspondence with Dr. Duncan, Dr. Lee, and Mr. Bryce : from which also the public will be able to appreciate the authority of the surgeons of the Vaccine Institution, and to form a correct opinion of the whole subject / by Thomas Brown. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    of the variolous Qoidagion for communicaiing the disease. I have no hesitation in asserting, that the same deficiency of strength, and activifj/, zcill i^e found to attend the vaccine scab, and that it zcill vcrif freqiientli) fail, unless the mode of introduction is much more severe ; it icill also only produce a vesicle, slow in its pro~ gress, s?nallcr in its size, and with a veri/ small, arid feeble ring- like injlummation. Upon the zchole, I think zee are warranted to conclude, that, if the vaccine scab, or crust, really possesses the poker of imparting the complete effect of vaccination to the sys- tern, to the same extent with the limpid virus, it is not only in direct contradiction to general experience, and analogy, but also clearly evinces the imperfection, and incoiisisteiicy of the whole subject.—Vide Brown's Inquirj, from page 100 to 117. IV. The Test.—On this subject, Gentlemen, you observe, Mr Brown has mentioned Mr Bryce as con- tending, that all the variety of vesicles have been found capable of giving the constitutional security. Now, one great object of Mr Bryce's book on the cow-pox has been, to maintain the contrary in the most parti- cular manner, Mr Brown goes on to state, in the same page: ' Besides, he (Mr Bryce) apprehends, that a * test can be obtained, by which it may be uniformly ' ascertained, whether or not the vaccine vesicle has ' exerted its antivariolous powers upon the system; ' and, therefore, as we are no longer dependent upon ' the phenomeiia attending the progress of the vesicle^ * all its different appearances may he disregarded.* This is quite contrary to the doctrine stated in Mr Bryce's book, and shews Mr Brown to be totally ig- norant of the nature of the test of perfect vaccination proposed by Mr Bryce ; for it is only by particular at- tention to the appearances of the vesicles, so as to be able to contrast the progress of them with each other, that any advantage is to be obtained by performing this test. Before proceeding, Gentlemen, to shew that I have stated, in the most correct manner, what not only really is, but must be the sum of Mr Bryce's statements an,d B