VACCINATION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 105, 27 January 1908, Page 9

VACCINATION.

"A DENTAL HALFACIEOT.'', " AN INTERESTING I'AI'KR, : ■>' (By EDWIN COX, • L.D.S!,- England, Presi- -■ dent of tho New 'Zealand Anti-Yr.ccina- , tion League.) . • 'i ■ : • ■ ' No. 'I, '• • "After a residerieo of nineteen yours in a largo Lancashire toivn, I became So painfull}' impressed with the.deplorable denial eondi,tion of, ;tho cotton and'.of'other classy of the community; thnt Fdevotnd tlio leisure of a prolungod convalescence to reconsider, : !ind to publish what appeared to hit) its.actual causes, and what- tho moot projiiisiiig ttraoliorfltions' and preventives of that condition.' Its causes Wore generalised 1 as violations: of' tlio natural laws "of lilo and health, It was maintained that civilisation. So-called, is honey-combed with such violations, and that sineo there \is a vital cbhn notion: and-sympathy Ixstwien tho habits iiul social conditions oi: a conihuiiiity and its dental condition, it surely followed that ill proportion as- simplicity of tastes and puro normal conditions ( nro forsaken and liTo becomes artificial, scdtnUiry 'and intensive, •dental dis«aso' obtains and extends.

' Vaccination .wis', briefly exposed as a,repulsive although commonly unsuspected dental malfseiont. Hut 1" did nor. then apprehond—was perhaps .-.unprepared to ~bolloyo—how intensely. virulent, how incalculably disastrous, its influence. . . Much has happened siiico tlion. • A thirty years vaccination contest, pro and'con,. has intervened. It. forms a .unique and ignoble chapter in Enjglioh history. . To outlines it's strange even tail course is beyond -tlio scopo •>H this paper. • "Ill' view;' howor, of tlio fact that an Gshaustivo enquiry of tlio whole question or the offsets of vaccination," wrote .. the |i>ha.rman, 'was concluded as recently as : 18DG by Commission appointed for tlio purpose, tho committee do not feel theril--8olTc4'ealI«l upon to discuss' axioms of pub--10 health .'which aro part and parcel of-tho law of the land." (I) . /. . As a matter of fact the committee attributed tho deterioration of tlio teeth to improper, or dofectivo focicl, and mado uo on-, quity into tho., question, - "Is. vaccination a clentid - malfaoiontK" Tho Royal Commission had olosod before tho almost- world— wide dovastatidii of tho teeth had awaltenOd publift attention and, alarm ; , and it is at least suggestive of a common origin,,; that' the sams startlod cry was heard,,and at- the. same time, over, tho ravages.of tuberculosis! Do wo not hear across tho ages, tlio pathetic appeal: Is thcro no balm in Gilead? Is thero 110 physician thorel ; : ; Why, 'then,. ;is u >'!>"<!s tjjo daughter of my'peoplo not hoalod? •fthy? i Because they liavo, been given over to believe tho Jeinnorian falsonooa^— to- put their trust ,in tho .priests who uphold the Worship and enforce the deadly and degrading feUsli; the greatest delusion of ! tho nineteenth century!

l'ifst, then, vaccination stands, convicted by indirect evidenco—by; its '.pathological results—as being of all dental fflalfaeients the moat Biibtlo ami "malicious. This implies, ouvionely, tho homogeneity, the pathological isympathy of tho'toeth; it implios that no organ can perform, it*. function independently or tho others, and therefore ho. Organ can lie ■impaired- without involving tho wholo sysr torn, or, in . Simpler words,. that' "tvhon ol }*> member suffers all tho mombers suffer W!th it.. Vaccination,'is itself a systematic disturbance; ,ati acute, disease. ' Tho wit.of .vaccination . officials, ■ such as' Dr. : I!nHard and Dr. 'Acland, and tho resistless ..testimony of exporicnc6, havo dispelled tho impression that it is but a trivial operation. .&»• James Paget, e.g., admits that, vaccina'--tioii probably effects a permanent change in the components of the bodyj and Mr. Herbert' .Spcnccr,. olio of''-thos'6' "rash and ignorant, ;tnimtiqs:;-.,who object.' to vaccination, 1 car-' ,ricd tliis,,admission .to. tho enquiry, whether' ' W)®an-.bo. alter,oi, in .relation jta, one; mvadmr'ageht and .roinftiii un'eh'tiiigei iii..fogard to all others? ... And ho finds ovidencp. of morbific:. debilitating influence in tho inprpasp'd, Severity .and incidence of such' dis-'.-.on'Sfs . a's measles. and influenza, and i;i i'tlio:> ■ lack that in eight ; diseases in specified .quinquennial, periods,. infantile mortality,has lticrnasod) directly or indircctly, from 20,924. to 41,353 ppr million birtho. Ho also finds. in,; vaccination tho explanation of the pre-. Vttilinrnbnormal conditions of tho tooth and eyesight. Confirmatory evidcnco- of tho pathological,sympathy of.-.tho teeth with, iiystmiintie disturbance ■ abounds in tho • archives of dentistry. But ). would not omit tlio evidcnco gleaned from tho report of Dr. Makuna s Medical Committeo of Enquiry instituted shortly before tho Royal Commission of J,889. Tho object of this Com-' mitten. Was to resssufo the public 4s to tho iimocehco of-vaccination'. In this it signally failed. , Four thousand medical practitioners wore circularised on tho subject, i ho question which concerns us asked :—- "What diseases tho witness had, 'in his experience; known to result from vaccination?" 1# tbisthero were only 370 answers, and it is a fair assumption'.that those roadi'ost to reply would bo those who had least to testify against Vaccination. Nevertheless wore than-10 dilferent "diseases worn men-'' tinned,.including 126. oases of erysipelas, G4 of eczema, sft of syphiiis(l) 22 of erythema,' nine of. scroiiila, afi well a3,cases of osincor convulsions, blindness, abscesses,''toils, tuberculosis, paralysis, meningitis, diseased boiiM, and many others. (Vido '"Is Vaccination a Disastrous Delusion P" by Ernest Mac.Cor?rn V W " fcm ' r,istw - Roviow," August ISM). Jheso reported eases wouki naturally ho tlio most seriolis and unmistakable, and' selected from an untold, r.umbor of minor disasters. It was .voluntary evidence, too witnessing not only to the:diro results of vaccination, but to tho variance of medical opinion, and to tho certainty of its utter disintegration onco tho iron bonds of Parliamentary law wero broken. lint there is a volumo of ovidonCe equally damnatory, drawn lrom more distinguished but-unwilling wit-' nesses—tlio majority members of tlio' Royal Commission. How this ovidonco was constrained by .force of stubborn fact presents tho most-interesting .as it is tho .most important , aspect of. tho work of tlio Commission. It is most; notable that this Commission, set for tlio defence of vaccination—■ assuming at the outset its prophylactic Vll'tUO, pro-vaccinist by training and tradition, by committal ami professional esprit docorps—was compelled to retreat from ono assumption and another,- to surrender ciaim alter e.aim, and to admit by incontestable evidcnco that vaccination mnv under somo Circumstances be special I v risky, may involve injuries am! dentil, orysioolas" and scrolnlous outbreaks, and even the revolting disease, syphilis. Cautious and reluctant as these admissions are, each One is a. retraction. a confession of error and defeat. Kucli one carried chagrin and disappointment into tho btato" Vaccination list a Wish men t, but gave satisfaction and rejoicing of hope to Anfi-\ nccinists. To form any adequate ideiv of tlio volumo of pathological ondcnco prtv soiilw] to tlio Commission it is ucco-visurv to study tlio roport—by preference tho Minoritv lieport of tho Commission. Hut tho deathroll from vaccination has novor been and never oiui bo completed. Mr. Alfred Milnos a statistician who has paid special attention to tlio subject, estimates ,that by this cruel Tito over 600 children and adults aro annually killed in the United Kingdom alone. (Vido ') aceination a Delusion," by Dr. A. li. Wallace, p. 19). 'IVro is another volumo of ovidonco accumulating in Magistrates' Courts, tho corroborative cvidenco of "a great cloud of witnesses ' applications for exemption certificate):. Mark how despotism is blind, as it is cruel. State vaccinists, furious that the report and recommendation of tlio Hoyal Commission had foiled their policy of compulsion ami had secured ill the Act of 180& an exemption clause, set themselves tohediro round its. attainment with difficulties and by perversion ol' tho letter and spirit, of the law to mako it of "none effect." Theysmit to all magistrates thoir exposition of tlio Act, with their own peremptory instructions. A magistrate must be "satisfied" as to the reasonableness and sinceritv of tho objections made and tho grounds of the claim; lie may demand in anv case a medical certificate, and the penalties or the Act must bo uniformly inflicted. They boldlv usurped control of the vaccination' odii'ers, and directed them 1.0 prosecute with or without th« of the Board of Guardians. Nemesis lay hid in their own injunctions. Tho

injustice of compelling fathers'and mothers ro appear before magistrate gave thefl): the' unsought opportunity eloxpOKingthe tfts.istious and fata! elteets of vaccination: Their testimony was irresistible—it was that of; experience, ■- of faotsi'r/t The, hauteur and- insolenceof.'m"a]*TstraYes provokod tin) public : lovo of "justice and freedom, deepuried sympathy --.with th«v parents" oil tliß 0110 liaild, alid antipathy to vaccina*' t-ionon tho other. »t revolution to those novel' thought and never read about vneeiuution. ; Hero m Old Lnglaud, tlio land--- of' Iwastwl-Ivberlvi within h Yo venrs,—from 1898 .to- 1902jiWtti-" riusno-no hum than 10,380 pirsonj lnd been proceeded agauint uudor. Alcm, unrJ oh thirst 1 , 5882 liari'been eonvicVcd ■ and jniiiibhcfl, .cithot- )>y fines' by eomlsestihii' of, goods, ior: l)v ' Every s I tisal of a certificate- of; 'exemption;' • Wery' i miigistei i,\| ( bu]fyin|{ > and insult,-,, evory-vppn- ; all), .struck a blow at , medical prestige, i; lowered Ui o sovereignty .or -law. shooli...Qio", ambiJit.v ot- tlm: great:' impWinl idol.'-'-tw" u « "Vaccinia,' ,J W>n u'lwsfepcd^til 1)1. Hadntn—that true friend:,,, alld = bl'ftW> . pnysicifln. of G !ouo^i<?r—Jias • .1 vv-.a^vnt^v^ u i L lron ' ,Cll n "d ' CIK ' on, the, rock .for, ovtir - >n J. ho most gigailtio piece of ovor exploited among a civilmed p<»i.)]o." - If "it iu-ro possiblo to-survey,. or to' .vividly boil'-' ' cone, tho \\orld wide disislrons ind f'itJ.l results, the criires md orliijlties of this blihj idolatiy, v,o hliould add _ tor-thivinscrm- ■ tion ; "and tho most gmlty." Hofo'LlUvo baielv mdictted bow \nst lh o ihr ,uid bow crowded with victims '4hw-"'Jottitewfi i ? ,, ic51l' i ,i duno " ind imporfcotlv" 1 Irtit siuccrofv 1 te&ti jiod that by tho-laiv unity >ind 1 homogeneity ihero is not ono. of tliose svs- ; ; teniiiLie pathological , reralts-'-thardoes not ■ *"?!<»»: "gainst vaccination as a "dental nulniucnt" 1