VACCINATION

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 239, 15 July 1872, Page 3

VACCINATION

We (Cross) have much pleasure in drawing attention to the following letter upon the subject of vaccination, from Dr. Day, which is especially valuable at this time:— To the Editor :—Hir, —At a time when the demand for vaccine lymph is so great in Auckland that it is scarcely possible to supply it to the settlers scattered in the country and who are of course most anxious to obtain it, allow me through your columns to give publicity to the fact which few appear to be aware of, that the crusts or scabs which fall or are easily separated from the arm of vho vaccinated on the eighteenth or twentieth d.-.y are just as efficacious for the purpose of vaccination as the flesh lymph itself, whether in tubes or ori ivory points; indeed more so, for the crusts if kept wrapped up in oiled paper retain their power for a long time. Tim mode of using the crust is as follows: Break off a small piece, crush it with tinpoint of a penknife, end, moistening it with a very little water, make it into a paste. A little of this rubbed into the scratches made with a sharp needle on the a>m will answer all the purpose of Hie opera 'on as generally performed. I am anxious o direct special attention to tin’s method at the present crisis, for in no other way can the wants of our country set tiers lie supplied. Lymph from the heifer does not keep when enclosed in tubes more than a few days, and is not at all so easily transmissible by post ns the vaccine crust. These crusts are usually suffered to drop unnoticed: let them be carefully preserved and sent by post to the country districts from one friend to another. Uf the value of these crusts I have had ample p.unf, having been supplied with them by the Royal Vaccine Institution in 1838. when leaving London in charge of the emigrant ship ‘Coromandel,'on noard of wiiicli sma 1 pox broke out on the fourth day after losing sight of laud. Out of 300 persons on board, 34 were attacked; four unvaccinated died; the remainder, vaccinated, all recovered. Koine person writing in the Herald of yesterday under the signature of “ Arm- to-ami” ridicules agaiust using the tymph from a re-vaccinated person, and blames you for giving newspaper countenance to such nonsense.” The cobbler should stick to his last and not meddle with tilings too high for him. The caution has emanated from the highest authorities in Great Britain. 1 have never yet seen a “ normal vesicle,” as the result of re-vaccination, from which should I feel justified in vaccinating, and such is the universal experience of those whose opinion ought to be relied on. “Arin-to arm” should have given us his name, especially when he makes such unworthy insinuations against the medical practitioners of Auckland : we should then have known wUat his opinions were worth. In conclusion, I would strongly recommend the general employment of re- vaccination; the great-number of imperfect vaccinations, as shown by the faint impression remaining on Hie arm, prove the necessity of this.—l am, &c., Richard Day, M. D., Formerly Public Vaccinator for Auckland. Beresford-street, July 10, 1872. P.S.—Since writing the above I have seen that i>i the leading article of this morning’s Herald , the Government is the Govneriimeiit is. strongly censured for not having, in deference to the late D-. Stratford’s wishes, long ago supplied “ heifer lymph to the community.” Why should our Government be censured for not doing vvliat the British Government has not thought it necessary to do ? Dr Stratford’s opinions on this subject were extreme So far as I am aware, not one of Dr Stratford’s medical brethren agreed with him in the matter : and when arguing the question -with him he acknowledged to me that he had never seen the evil consequences, with which he terrified the

public, follow nrm-to-nrm vaccination in a single instance. The lenewal of this agitation is, mirier prevseut circumstances, greatly to be deprecated. No other than “ arm-to-arm” vaccination is, I believe, now practised in Great Britain. R.D.