SWEDEN, DENMARK AND ICELAND.
Jenner was in the habit of pointing to Sweden and Ceylon as proofs
of what vaccination might accomplish. We have seen how badly Ceylon
answered to his reference; and I now proceed to inquire whether
Sweden served his purpose any better.
The decline of smallpox in some communities, contemporaneously
with the introduction of vaccination, might be ascribed to the
cessation of inoculation with smallpox--virtually the culture of
that disease; but in Sweden little had to be accounted for in
that way. Spite of strong recommendations, variolation was rarely
practised, and never became popular. The very year that vaccination
was introduced, Dr. Acksell, of Kalmer, stated in an official
report, dated 30th March, 1801, “that it is impossible to convince
the lower classes of the advantages of inoculation. Dr. Colliander
and I have had it announced to the people from the pulpit, that,
we were ready to give our services, gratis, in inoculating their
children, but not a single person applied.” And such undoubtedly
was the state of things throughout the kingdom.
Sweden last century was sorely afflicted with smallpox, and,
considering the repute of variolation in other lands, it is
surprising how the people refrained from its vaunted protection.
It is thought dreadful that in London one death in ten should have
been due to this disease, but in Sweden the ratio stood as high as
one in seven. To give some idea of the extent of the mischief at
its highest and its lowest, let us look at eighteen years in the
latter half of the century--
Year. Population. Total Deaths. From Smallpox.
1752 1,799,188 49,467 10,302
1757 1,870,372 55,829 10,241
1763 1,940,011 64,180 11,662
1768 2,006,790 54,751 10,650
1769 2,015,127 54,991 10,215
1773 1,972,407 105,139 12,130
1775 2,020,847 49,949 1,275
1776 2,041,289 45,692 1,503
1777 2,057,147 51,096 2,943
1778 2,073,396 55,028 16,607
1781 2,132,912 54,313 1,485
1784 2,145,213 63,792 12,453
1786 2,156,109 55,951 671
1787 2,163,862 51,998 1,771
1792 2,211,643 52,958 1,939
1797 2,322,814 55,036 1,733
1798 2,344,228 53,862 1,357
1800 2,347,303 73,928 12,032
In these figures we see how wide were the variations in smallpox
mortality prior to the introduction of vaccination; and also how
indifferent was its influence on the general mortality, much
smallpox not raising the death-rate, nor little smallpox lowering
it.
Among the factors of mortality in Sweden were scarcity and famine.
At this day, when the ends of the earth are drawn together, we
are apt to forget the struggle, the misery, and the sickness that
prevailed when a deficient harvest in one country, or parts of
the same country, could not be made good from the sufficiency of
others. Population in Northern Europe did little more than maintain
existence through several centuries against the severity of Nature,
with food scant and bad, and raiment and shelter inadequate. Of the
latter fifty years of last century, at least fifteen were years of
dearth in Sweden, and consequently of increased mortality.
The chief sufferers from deficient and unsuitable food are the
young, their suffering having form in various ailments, and among
them smallpox. I have repeatedly had to point out how smallpox is
especially an affection of childhood, and how in Scotland, for
instance, it used to be almost exclusively confined to the young,
like measles and whooping-cough. The like was true of Sweden; for
of the deaths from smallpox from 1774 to 1798--
8·19 per cent. were under one year of age;
21·90 ” between one and three;
31·77 ” ” three and five;
23·74 ” ” five and ten;
a total of 85·60 per cent, being mere children. Or, to put it
otherwise--
In 1778, when 16,607 perished, 13,096 were under ten.
1784 ” 12,453 ” 11,789 ”
1786 ” 671 ” 625 ”
1798 ” 1,357 ” 1,207 ”
and so on.
Now, whilst I have no wish to minimise the sadness and culpability
of the mortality of the young, I have yet to maintain that its
consequences are by no means so serious to the State as when the
heads of families and bread-winners are stricken down; and that
it is a gross exaggeration to compare the fatality of smallpox
with that of men slain in battle. Again, we have to recollect how
many of the young die from smallpox, so to say, needlessly, from
inattention and malpractice. This was clearly recognised in a Royal
Letter issued from Stockholm in 1763, recommending variolation,
in which the Medical Board was directed “to instruct the common
people how children should be treated when suffering from natural
smallpox,” assigning the cogent reason, “because many more children
die from want of care than from the disease.” The assertion may
be taken as indisputable; and, being true, it stands for the fact
that the mortality from smallpox might have been largely reduced
if parents had had the knowledge and the means to nurse their
offspring through their illness. They died less of smallpox than of
ignorant and defective treatment whilst under smallpox.
I have also to observe that smallpox in Sweden was steadily
declining toward the close of the century, and that the decline
continued into the present century. Taking the years in decades
from 1749 to 1868, and casting the average, we have these results--
Annual Annual
Deaths Death-rate Deaths from
Decade. Population. Annually. per 1,000. Smallpox.
1749-58 1,821,009 50,556 27·76 6,056
1759-68 1,946,258 53,288 27·38 5,309
1769-78 2,028,141 59,262 29·22 4,535
1779-88 2,140,315 56,766 26·52 5,179
1789-98 2,246,744 57,883 25·76 3,810
1799-08 2,394,432 63,365 26·46 3,282
1809-18 2,444,568 67,537 27·63 690
1819-28 2,787,025 63,121 22·60 373
1829-38 2,976,829 70,168 23·57 633
1839-48 3,255,604 68,080 20·91 299
1849-58 3,588,571 78,218 21·80 816
1859-68 4,016,690 79,033 19·68 861
With these details before us, we are in a position to appreciate
the claim made for vaccination, that it exterminated Smallpox in
Sweden.
Vaccination began to be practised in Sweden in the year 1801. It
was at first viewed with distrust by some of the leading medical
authorities, but grew so rapidly in favour, that the medical board
in 1803 ventured to make proposals for its general introduction.
By Royal Letters in 1804 and 1805 measures were decreed for the
encouragement of Vaccination; and in the almanacs for 1806,
information and advice were inserted concerning “the new and
certain means for the prevention and extirpation of Smallpox.”
Nevertheless, the practice made way but slowly into the confidence
of the common people, and not until 1812 did a committee of the
Diet go so far as to recommend its compulsory adoption. The
principle of compulsion was affirmed by the Diet in 1815, leading
to a Royal Decree of 6th March, 1816, whereby Vaccination was made
obligatory under penalty of fine and imprisonment.
Subsequently, the law was modified, but never relaxed. Whilst
the rite was obligatory, it was offered gratuitously, and public
vaccinators, usually parish clerks and midwives, were appointed
throughout the land, and stimulated to exertion by special rewards.
Vaccination was made a condition of admission to school, and was
placed by the clergy on a level with baptism and confirmation.
Wherefore, in course of time, it has come to pass that Sweden is
described as “the best vaccinated country in the world.”
To this result the recognised interest of the Swedish clergy
in medical practice largely contributed. They were not slow to
perceive a fresh line of business in vaccination. Archbishop
Lindblom, among others, was extremely zealous in promoting the
practice in his diocese, and from a correspondence between the
Consistory of Upsala and the Medical Board, it appears that the
competition between the physicians and the parsons was severe.
The Consistory complained that the rewards for vaccination energy
were more liberally bestowed on medical men than on the deserving
clergy, and that it was unfair to insist on the clergy taking out
a license to vaccinate, ending with the reproach that the mishaps
of some medical men had so alarmed the people in certain districts,
that very few were willing to avail themselves of the wonderful
prophylactic. The Board replied, that they were aware that mistakes
had occurred through the use of spurious cowpox, as proved by the
outbreak of smallpox afterwards; but, at the same time, what better
check could be devised on incompetent practitioners than a medical
license? The right of the clergy to vaccinate was not contested,
but only that they should possess some recognised qualification.
The extent of the ecclesiastical operations in cowpox appears from
the return of the Archbishopric of Upsala, which showed that from
1804 to the end of 1810 there were 33,298 persons vaccinated, of
whom 7,025 were inoculated by clergy, 20,000 by church officers,
and 6,273 by medical men and others. It was by the clergy and the
doctors that the project of compulsion was initiated. In a letter
from the Medical Board to the King in 1810, complaint was made
that “the public in Sweden do not in all places manifest the care
and zeal which might be expected from sensible and tender parents
in applying for, or allowing to be applied, the precious means
of salvation provided for their children’s good looks and future
health.” In 1814, the same Board wrote that “several of the Bishops
who take the deepest interest in the spread of vaccination, have
expressed their conviction that certain well-devised penalties
have become as necessary as regards the ignorant masses as
encouragements are useful”; and as late as 1815, the Board had to
testify against the “sluggishness and indifference prevalent among
the less enlightened classes.”
Compulsion was, therefore, enacted in 1816 to overcome the inertia
of the lower orders, the mass of the people who at all times yield
the largest crop of smallpox.
“Smallpox was exterminated in Sweden by vaccination,” is a common
saying. Moore, in his _History of Vaccination_, published in 1817,
after describing the various measures taken, observed--
It is superfluous to add, that by such a concurrence of virtuous
exertions, Smallpox was quickly suppressed in Sweden.
Ere proceeding to inquire whether smallpox was thus suppressed,
I would call attention to the hands by which vaccination was
administered in Sweden. It is the custom at this day to describe
vaccination as a delicate operation, and to attribute subsequent
smallpox to some irregularity or defect in its performance; and
yet here we are asked to contemplate a whole nation delivered
from smallpox, the vaccinators being chiefly priests, clerks, and
midwives. What does it mean? Is it that any sort of vaccination
is good when smallpox does not follow, and that any sort is bad
when smallpox does follow? If smallpox had not ceased out of the
land, would it then have been said, “What wonder, considering the
character of the vaccinators”?
To the assertion that smallpox in Sweden was exterminated by
vaccination, the answer is an unqualified contradiction. It is
not true; it is demonstrably untrue. Smallpox was declining in
Sweden before vaccination was heard of, and the fall continued
irrespective of its influence. Look at the figures. Here we have
the returns of smallpox mortality in Sweden during the last sixteen
years of the past, and the first sixteen years of the current
century, up to the time when vaccination was made compulsory--
Deaths Deaths
Year. from Year. from
Smallpox. Smallpox.
1785 5,077 1801 6,057
1786 671 1802 1,533
1787 1,771 1803 1,464
1788 5,462 1804 1,460
1789 6,764 1805 1,090
1790 5,893 1806 1,482
1791 3,101 1807 2,119
1792 1,939 1808 1,814
1793 2,103 1809 2,404
1794 3,964 1810 824
1795 6,740 1811 698
1796 4,503 1812 404
1797 1,733 1813 547
1798 1,357 1814 308
1799 3,756 1815 472
1800 12,032 1816 690
------ ------
Total, 66,866 Total 23,376
====== ======
Thus we see the process of subsidence, with alternations from year
to year, with the reduction of two-thirds, from 66,866 in the
former to 23,376 in the latter series of years.
It will be said, of course, that vaccination was introduced into
Sweden in 1801. True, but the introduction of vaccination was
one thing, and its diffusion over the nation another. It was a
section of the people least likely to be affected with smallpox
who welcomed and practised vaccination; and however energetic
and successful they might be in their promotion of the new rite,
their efforts were limited to thousands among millions. All the
while smallpox was declining, and they took the decline for
encouragement, and began to cry out, “See! see what we are doing!”
The enactment of compulsory and gratuitous vaccination in 1816 was
an open confession that the lower classes remained to be dealt
with, that is to say, the very people among whom smallpox had its
stronghold. There are tribes whose priests profess to bring rain,
and drive away sickness with their enchantments; but if showers had
begun to descend, and the sick to recover, ere their assistance
was invoked, it would be hard to convince even the credulous
that the desired relief was due to their subsequent magic. But it
is precisely in the subsequent magic of the vaccinators that we
are asked to believe when told that vaccination drove smallpox
out of Sweden. It was going out before vaccination was called in,
and kept going out all the same when the vaccinators plied their
enchantments. Happily, patient Nature holds her way unprovoked by
human quackeries. Not even to confute impostors does she reverse
for an instant her impartial operations.
But, although deaths from smallpox fell off so rapidly, there was
no correspondent improvement in the public health. Smallpox was
merely replaced by other forms of disease. Thus, the death-rate of
Sweden per 1,000 for seventy years, stands as follows--
Decade. Deaths. | Decade. Deaths.
|
1749-1758 27·76 | 1789-1798 25·56
1759-1768 27·38 | 1799-1808 26·46
1769-1778 29·22 | 1809-1818 27·63
1779-1788 26·52 |
Moreover, smallpox mortality, whilst rapidly decreasing before
the enactment of compulsory vaccination, has since been slowly
increasing. Thus--
Years before Average annual | Years after Average annual
Compulsion. smallpox | Compulsion. smallpox
mortality. | mortality.
1756-1775 5,480 | 1816-1835 450
1776-1795 4,617 | 1836-1855 577
1796-1815 2,303 | 1856-1875 1,031
We therefore see that while Jenner and his friends were boasting
of their achievements in Sweden, they had to account for the fall
in smallpox before their intervention, and for its continued
decline ere their intervention was operative; and, moreover, to
answer the question, What is the profit of salvation from smallpox
if death ensue from other causes? It is, however, to be observed
that such large considerations were outside the scope of Jenner’s
intelligence. _There was_ smallpox, and _there was_ vaccination,
_his_ invention, the infallible preventive of smallpox, and he saw
nothing beyond. His self-love was implicated in the defence of
vaccination, and any story in its favour was accepted as true, and
proclaimed abroad, whilst anything to its discredit was resented as
a personal affront, or denounced as wilful and diabolic falsehood.
As for statistics, he had no capacity. Baron says, “Neither Dr.
Jenner’s previous education nor his habits gave him a relish for
any of the branches of pure science; and he seemed to have a
peculiar horror of arithmetical questions, and was often jocular
on this defect in his nature.”[263] This inability to calculate
goes far to account for the absurdity of many of his statements
concerning the miraculous effects of vaccination among populations
where only two or three per cent. had been operated upon; and
who, therefore, must have vicariously delivered the remainder
from smallpox. To an intellect thus defective, the introduction
of vaccination to Sweden was the vaccination of the Swedes; the
decline of smallpox was its suppression; and its suppression was
the consequence of vaccination. But the excuse that is available
for Jenner does not serve those who cannot plead his congenital
defect, and are satisfied to repeat his preposterous assertions.
Smallpox kept declining in Sweden until the decade (1841-50)
when the annual average of deaths per million fell to 212. The
variations in the mortality in single years are remarkable. Here
are thirteen years when the deaths were under a hundred--
1821 37
1822 11
1823 39
1829 53
1842 58
1843 9
1844 6
1845 6
1846 2
1847 13
1848 71
1855 41
1856 52
On the other hand, here are eighteen years when the deaths were
over a thousand--
1825 1,243
1833 1,145
1834 1,049
1838 1,805
1839 1,934
1850 1,376
1851 2,488
1852 1,534
1858 1,289
1859 1,470
1865 1,336
1866 1,217
1867 1,061
1868 1,429
1869 1,474
1873 1,122
1874 4,063
1875 2,019
The death-rate from smallpox, which fell to 212 per million in
1841-50, rose to 862 per million in 1851-60, to 867 per million in
1861-70, and, owing to the epidemic of 1873-74, the worst in Sweden
since 1801, the last decade, 1871-80, will exhibit a higher average.
In presence of these statistics, it is fair to repeat the inquiry,
“Why was smallpox declining before vaccination was introduced; and
why has smallpox revived and increased in ‘the best vaccinated
country in Europe’?”
Again, too, I must call attention afresh to the fact of the
irrelevant influence of smallpox upon the national mortality. Mr.
P. A. Siljeström has published a diagram of the course of mortality
in Sweden from 1774 to 1878, with the part smallpox has played in
that mortality, from which it is manifest (to all who choose to
use their own eyes) that the action of smallpox as a destroyer of
life has been wildly exaggerated.[264] Bad years of smallpox are
not years of a high death-rate, nor are years with little smallpox
years of a low death-rate. When smallpox is prevalent it appears
to replace other forms of disease, and when not prevalent, to be
replaced by diseases of greater fatality. Wherefore, argues Mr.
Siljeström--
Of what use is it to the public that a smaller number of citizens
die annually from Smallpox (supposing that this result is brought
about by Vaccination), if an equally large number, nevertheless,
die from other diseases? We can see no farther advantage in it
than there would be in a battle, if none of the men fell before
the fire of the artillery, but all the more died from the fire of
the line. To the individual it may possibly be more agreeable to
die of any other disease than Smallpox, and it ought, therefore,
to be allowed to everyone to save himself, through Vaccination,
or any other lawful means, from an eventuality which he fears;
but this cannot possibly, in itself, be regarded as the business
of the State.
Sweden is a large country, and its diseases must be subject to many
local variations; but Stockholm, representing a compact population,
exhibits much the same phenomena. In some years of last century the
city was severely afflicted with smallpox, as the deaths in these
years show--
1778 639
1783 714
1784 411
1787 414
1795 447
1800 703
These years were the worst; there were variations such as these--
1780 14
1782 12
1785 20
1793 22
1797 13
1798 12
As in Sweden at large, so in Stockholm, a fall in smallpox had set
in, and was continued into the new century, until years appeared
without a single death; for which vaccination had the credit,
and the disease was proclaimed “stamped out,” none dreaming of
reverse ahead. By and by it began to revive, and deaths were thus
registered--
1857 319
1865 273
1866 157
1870 96
1871 113
1873 191
And then came the dreadful epidemic of 1874, when 1,191 perished,
and 317 in 1875.
Thus, in two years, 1,382 perished in a population of 150,000--a
death-rate of 7,916 per million--against 2,430 per million in
London during the memorable epidemic of 1871; the severest outbreak
of smallpox in the century in “the best and most vaccinated
population in Europe!”
Under examination, the case for vaccination in Sweden altogether
disappears. By Mr. P. A. Siljeström the examination has been
conducted with a precision, a thoroughness, and a judicial
temper that leave nothing to desire. His treatise was translated
into English by Miss Frederica Rowan, and published in 1875,
under the title of “The Vaccination Question: an Essay towards
determining the Boundaries within which a Scientific Theory may
rightfully claim to have effect given it by Legislation;” and a
skilful abridgment was produced by Prof. F. W. Newman; but the
original, which extends to no more than 104 pages, should be
studied by whoever is seriously interested in the vaccination
question. Sweden, through the possession of a long series of vital
statistics, offers special facilities for a comprehensive study of
the phenomena of smallpox; and in Mr. Siljeström’s treatise, we
have veracity with good sense, and science with philosophy, instead
of the inadequate and catchpenny stuff current in this country as
“truth about vaccination.”
In Finland, the story of vaccination is much the same as in
Sweden, with the difference that there was no natural subsidence
of smallpox to be placed to its credit. Wherefore, as concerns
Finland, it is the habit of vaccinators to preserve a discreet
silence, the facts not tending to edification in the Jennerian
faith.
A curious evidence of the simple trust with which the cowpox
revelation was received in certain countries, is found in an
ordinance issued in Finland constituting smallpox after vaccination
a proof of imposture on the part of the vaccinator. The ordinance
ran thus--
That the Inoculator or Vaccinator whose patients, within a
shorter or longer time after having by him been inoculated
or vaccinated, shall prove to have been attacked by natural
Smallpox, with deadly result or other serious consequence,
shall without pardon be declared unworthy of all further right
to reward or confidence, and moreover, be impeached for due
punishment on account of dishonest and unprofessional behaviour.
Under such a law (no severer than many which enact punishment
where the buyer does not obtain from the seller what he gives his
money for) how would it fare with the legion who now practise
vaccination? But I am reminded that vaccinators no longer undertake
to preserve their patients from smallpox, but only to keep it off
until it comes, and then to make it milder.
Vaccination was introduced to Denmark at the same time as Sweden,
and was made compulsory in 1810. As in Sweden, smallpox was
falling off, and, as in Sweden, the vaccinators were loud in
their outcry over their success; but their claim was absurd. The
population of Denmark in 1801 was 925,680, and up to 1810 no more
than 118,782 persons had been vaccinated, whilst the births during
the same period were 283,905. It was, therefore, assumed that the
vaccination of less than a tenth of the population in eight years
had reduced and extinguished smallpox among the unvaccinated
nine-tenths! Where there is a disposition to believe, anything may
pass for credible.
Subsequently to 1801 there was little smallpox in Copenhagen, and
from 1811 to 1823 not a death from the disease was recorded; but
in 1824 smallpox reappeared; and in 1835 there were 434 deaths in
the city; when it began to be admitted that vaccination did not
prevent smallpox, and that revaccination was necessary for complete
protection; but, if requisite, how was the miraculous extinction of
the disease by the primary vaccination of less than a tenth of the
population in the early years of the century to be accounted for?
Here we have the record of Copenhagen smallpox for seventy-five
years, 1801-75--
Years. Deaths. Annual
Average.
1801-10 639 64
1811-20 -- --
1821-30 119 12
1831-40 568 56
1841-50 245 24
1851-60 160 16
1861-70 168 16
1871-75 518 103
Thus the number of deaths in the five years, 1871-75, was nearly
equal to the deaths in the preceding thirty years, 1841-70;
whilst at the same time the more or less smallpox had no apparent
influence in raising or lowering the general mortality.
Iceland, as a dependency of Denmark, is often cited as evidence
for the virtue of vaccination. Speaking in the House of Commons
recently, Mr. T. W. Evans proclaimed, “Vaccination has extinguished
smallpox in Iceland! There has not been a case in the island for
thirty years.” Could aught be more conclusive? and the assertion is
re-asserted with triumph: yet, under examination, we shall see the
statement and the inference vanish like smoke.
First, the absence of smallpox from Iceland for series of years
was nothing uncommon. Iceland’s history is singularly copious and
accurate; and from Schleisner’s _Iceland from the point of view of
Medical Science_, Copenhagen, 1849, we have the following list of
smallpox epidemics during five hundred years--
1347--A great epidemic.
1380--Ditto.
1430--Terrible epidemic--8000 deaths.
1511--A great epidemic.
1555--Ditto.
1574--Ditto.
1580--A kind of variolous disease.
1590--Smallpox epidemic.
1616-17--Ditto by importation.
1632--Smallpox epidemic.
1636--Ditto.
1655--Ditto.
1658--Ditto.
1670-1--Varioloid and Smallpox.
1707-9--A dreadful epidemic by importation--18,000 died.
1742--A small epidemic from case brought in Dutch vessel.
1762-3--A mild epidemic.
1785--A small epidemic--73 deaths.
1786--Epidemic--1237 deaths.
1787--Epidemic--113 deaths.
1839-40--Smallpox again brought to Iceland, but prevented from
spreading by strict quarantine.
From this list it will be seen that for centuries Iceland has had
long terms of immunity from smallpox. Thus--
Dates. Immunity.
1347 to 1380 33 years.
1380 ” 1430 50 ”
1430 ” 1511 81 ”
1511 ” 1555 44 ”
1671 to 1707 36 years.
1709 ” 1742 33 ”
1787 ” 1839 52 ”
Inasmuch then as vaccination could have nothing to do with the
years of immunity in former times, on what ground of reason can
vaccination be set forth as the cause of immunity at this day?
Schleisner observes--
Since 1306 Smallpox has been epidemic in Iceland nineteen times,
and has always been brought in either by French, English, Dutch,
or Danish ships. In early times it frequently caused a terrible
mortality, as in 1707, when 18,000 out of a population of 50,000
perished; and in 1430, when 8000 are said to have died. In
later years its violence has diminished _in consequence of the
introduction of Vaccination_. In 1785-6-7, its last attack in the
eighteenth century, only 1425 persons died.
Very good; but in 1785-87, vaccination was unknown; and as the
epidemics of 1742 and 1762 are recorded by Schleisner as “small”
and “mild” respectively, while so early as 1580 one is described
as “a kind of variolous disease,” it is evident that vaccination
could have as little to do with making “smallpox milder” as with
the long terms of immunity which Iceland has enjoyed.
In an appeal by Mr. William Morris on behalf of the Icelanders,
threatened with famine in 1882 he observed--
Lastly, the Measles, which has not been in Iceland for thirty-six
years, and which falling on a people not used to it, is a deadly
and not a trivial disease, has attacked Reykjavik, where half
the people are down with it, and many have died, and it is now
spreading over the island.
Measles absent from Iceland for thirty-six years! Supposing there
were some dodge against measles corresponding to vaccination
against smallpox, would not the exemption in every year up to the
thirty-sixth have been ascribed to its efficacy?
Dr. Garth Wilkinson relates that in 1866 when standing on the
Lawrock, where the Althing was held, Dr. Hjaltalin, Medical
Inspector of Iceland, told him--
When, in 1000 A.D., Christianity was first introduced into
Iceland, the heathen party in the Althing credited the wrath
of their gods with a volcanic eruption which broke out on a
neighbouring farm. Snorri, the great Icelandic historian, being
present, asked, “What then was it that made the gods angry when
the older lava was on fire?” It clearly was not Christianity
then. He carried the day against the gods by this common-sense
question, and Christianity became the law of the land.
Somewhat parallel with this history is the claim made for the
extirpation of Smallpox by Vaccination in Iceland. It is a
case of _ante hoc_ pricking the windbag of _post hoc_, and, _a
fortiori_, of _propter hoc_.[265]
Whilst thus the Icelandic Vaccination Bubble is burst, it remains
to be observed that if vaccination had saved the Icelanders from
smallpox it could only have been vicariously--as in so many
instances of similar salvation; for during the first half of the
present century no more than 17,072 vaccinations were effected in a
population of between fifty and sixty thousand in the flux of birth
and death. The vaccinations are thus recorded--
YEARS--1804-15 VACCINATIONS-- 1345
” 1816-30 ” 10,386
” 1831-37 ” None.
” 1838-50 ” 5341
------
Total, 17,072[266]
There is much of the like order of “facts in favour of vaccination”
current concerning other European populations, which only pass
muster because they are rarely subjected to criticism; because
vaccination is considered such a benign invention that to question
its credentials is wicked; and because it is held that if even some
of the claims made for it are touched with fable, yet their effect
on the popular mind is so clearly for good in inspiring confidence
and overwhelming occasional mishaps, that it is inexpedient to be
over-scrupulous. But, however instructive and wholesome may be
the exposure of such sophistications, it is necessary to restrain
ourselves, and for the remainder of my Story we shall keep to
English ground.
From the preceding details we see how far vaccination in Sweden,
Denmark and Iceland fell short of the claims made for it by Jenner
and his successors. Jenner, it is true, died in 1823, before the
more pronounced refutations of his assertions had been evolved,
but, as said, it is questionable whether he ever realised that the
names of countries stood for millions of men, women and children
whose vaccination could only be overtaken by organised exertion in
the process of years. His various boasts, therefore, of vaccinated
nations and exterminated smallpox are to be taken as proofs of
defective arithmetical capacity and of that scientific imagination
which runs with possibility and matter-of-fact.
FOOTNOTES:
[263] Baron’s _Life of Jenner_, vol. ii. p. 293.
[264] _Tables relative to Vaccination in Sweden, 1774-1778._ London
Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination.
[265] _Vaccination Tracts_, Part III. No. 14. London, 1878.
[266] _Report on the Vaccination Act (1867) from the Select
Committee of the House of Commons_, 1871. P. 414.