VACCINATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 3, Issue 65, 9 February 1883, Page 2

VACCINATION.

(10 IHE EDITOR OF THE STANDARD.)

Sir, — A. very rpmarkablw and learned lecture was delivered a considerable time ago m Germany by one of the most eminent and successful German medical men of that tirnp. The lecturer proved from statistical tables^ that according to the experience and testimony of many celebrated medical men m England, France, Austria, and Germany, vaccination as generally practised, has done .incalculable mischief. Of course such a statement would naturally create a sensation, especially as people have been wont to consider inoculation an infallible remedy against small-pox. The lecturer was Dr Arthur Lutze, who at that time enjoyed an immense popularity as a medical practitioner m Germany. As I happen to possess the lecture m original German, I have tcken the trouble to translate it into English, m order to deliver it to English audiences, and this principally on account of the importance of tb« subject with respect to the public health, and also on account of the interest I take m the progress of medical science I intend to deliver the lecture shortly m Palmer*, ston. Not very long ago I read m a Danish paper a statement, whtoh really seems to make good Dr Lutze's assertion that m oculation is productive of mischief, The paper is dated 26th of July 1878, and : has the following : — "In Lebns at Frankfort, on the Oder, 26 schoolgirls 12 years of aoe.have b jen infected with the venereal disease through vaccination. As kn »wn, may also other diseases be transmitted, so tbere is reason to be on the look out."

Your are aware sir, that there is a strong anti-vaccination party m England at present, and I have no doubt that not a few intellectual persons m this colony have their grave suspicion about the inoculation of vaccine < amongst our children. If I might be permitted to make a suggestion 1 m .this matter, I should say, that I believe it would be most desirable that -medical men of tbis colony, who are or ought to be the natural guardians of the public health, should institute true scientific investigations into this very important subject. 1 think sir, that the public have a right to demand enlightenment from their medical advisers on this matter. If it can be satisfactorily proved, what Dr Lutze asserts, that whole generations may be poisoned by the inoculation of vaccine, the sooner the present vaccination-law be abolished, the better.— l am, &c, Christopher Gaustad.