FAILURE OF VACCINATION.

VARIOLOUS INFECTION AN ILLUSION; VACCINATION AN IN-JURY TO HEALTH AND A DANGER TO LIFE, AND AS A

PROTECTION AGAINST SMALL-POX, A VANITY.

CARL SPINZIG, M. D.

(Read before tlie St. Louis Medical Society, January 16, 1881.)

Reprint from the St. Louis Clinical Record for February and March, 1881.

FAILURE OF VACCINATIONCARL SPINZIG, M. D.

Prognostication: —“Small-pox is eradicated!”—Aug. Friedr. Hecker, 1803(f).Experience :—“ Ars medendi non nisi tardo pede progreditur.”—Htinrich Rehl/a, 1879.

Within the compass of this but chancedessay it might have appeared sufficient onlyto prove by statistics the truth of the propo-sitions enunciated in the heading, but asstatistical data generally, and those of vac-cination in particular, admit of any desiredflexibility, either to sustain arguments in itsfavor or totally to condemn it, it is essen-tial primarily to obtain a correct under-standing of the nature of small-pox, of thepatho-chemical processes, and of the physi-cal laws that determine its occurrence.

The phrase, the “variolous poison is aspecific entity, sui generis ,” has, at thepresent state of physiological science, noother significance than being a contradictioin adjecto , having no other means of sup-port as an established truth, except anindiscriminating credulity, or interestedmotives identified with the spoils of vac-cination.

In harmony with the doctrine of specificinfection, nothing is required to be knownof the nature of variola.

The mysterious “ poison of infection ” isbeyond the limits of physical analysis, andits action on the human organism is henceregarded also beyond explanation. It is,therefore, essential, in this “ enlightenedmystery,” to employ another mystery, viz :

vaccination, as the intellectual antidote,(analogous to the principles of homoeo-pathy—similia similibus, etc.) which, bymeans of dilution, is claimed to be posses-sed of the requisite ability" to afford protec-tion. With gossip of this kind the multi-tude is then lulled into dormancy-, but alas,of a deceiving surity ! Vaccination appearsequaled by the “ thirty-second dilution” ofHahnnemann’s wisdom, for, its claimed

preventive power over the “small-poxpoison ” in its properly diluted state whenapplied to a perfectly healthy person, com-pares, in proportion, to an inflammationexcited by the prick of a pin in the cutisintended to prevent e.g. pneumonia.

The “ scientific proof ” of the infectiousnature of variola, controlable by vaccina-tion, is then submitted in form of tabulatedevidence, and intended to exhibit the “ ad-vantages ” (here already advantage in lieuof protection) manifested by those who hadtaken, small-pox and were previously vac-cinated, over those who also had takensmall-pox and never had been vaccinated.Pursuant to some reports (Philadelphia,Berlin, etc.), the vaccinated cases exhibita rate of mortality only of one againstthree of those unvaccinated, and that inproportion to the number of plain and fullvaccination marks the severity of small-pox slides from the maximum to the mini-mum. But such statistics are liable tohave recorded incidentalities, and are opento numerous other and grave objections, yetthe convenience thereby- afforded spares thetrying efforts of the scientific investigationof physiologic© or patho-chemical andphysical research.

Ultimately, after the originally claimed“protection,” the controlling influence ofvaccination over small-pox is, even statisti-cally, not sustained. Refuge is then takenin another assertion, that vaccination (re-vaccination and frequent repetitions or sub-sequent vaccination) exercises a mitigatinginfluence over the intensity of small-pox,and thus, it is asserted, small-pox epi-demics, at the present (t. e., in the latterdecades) have been but light and of less

FAILURE OF VACCINATION4

frequent occurrence.* In substance, thisdernier pretext is literally crashed by theweight of the evidence from the destruc-tive epidemics that devastated Europe andAmerica in 1870, 1871-72. Moreover, thearguments in its favor are partly invalidatedby the facts that the social state and thehygienic conditions of those suffering fromsmall-pox are of marked difference, andprove in favor of those vaccinated (demon-strated by the records of Philadelphia,Berlin and Vienna), for the suffering prole-tary contributed most extensively to therate of mortality, and among whom vaccin-ation, as a rule, is usually neglected.

In correct inquiry, in medical science,the nature of the object, here small-pox,must be understood before remedial meas-

ures can be recommended with propriety;the study, therefore, of the nature of small-pox, and, eo ipso, of “infection,” must befirst in order.

In consequence of the facts derived fromthe morbid anatomy in variola, especiallywhen the period of development of themorbid structural changes is compared withthe space of time allotted to it by the doc-trine of specific infection, the “infectious”origin and “specific” nature of small-poxmust unceremoniously be rejected. The

lesions, revealed by the autopsy, can notassume the degree of morbid alterationspresented during the period of “incuba-tion ” and duration of the disease to dateof death, a period of about two to threeweeks,* the grave forms, lardaceous degen-eration and disintegration of the glandular-tissue, require, by far, a longer period.Thus the true nature of the small-pox pro-cess can only be comprehended after imag-inary morbid causes are excluded fromconsideration, and the elements engagedtherein are recognized as physiologicalcomponent parts of the human organism,changed by the surrounding physical influ-ences into pathological compounds.

* Compare author’s pamphlet on Variola, etc.,1878, p. 38.

To indicate, in chronological succession,the stages of these processes and the spaceof time elapsing for the completion of each,would, in this place, be only a repetition ofwhat has been submitted in extenso in ourpamphlet on Variola, of 1878. Here itmay suffice once more to state the fact,since corroborated, that the eruptive charac-ter of small-pox is the outward manifesta-tion of a process of decomposition of theblood, produced by the disproportionatequantity (from an excess of .05 to .08 percent.) of urea.

By reliable chemical analysis in physio-logical research, ,extending over a period ofmore than two decades, the fact is nowfairly established, as is stated by mosteminent that normal humanblood does not contain more than .01 to .02per cent of urea, but variolous blood .08 percent, and over.-j- The accumulation of ureain the blood is owing to structural changesof the glands of secretion (kidneys, etc.),which thus fail properly to functionate, andfrom decomposed nitrogenized and albu-minous matter throughout the human organ-ism. I Its immediate augmentation is due,in a great measure, to the proneness to de-composition, which is effected by even aslight increase of individualcaloric, therebyevolving gases (carbonic acid, carburettedhydrogen and ammonia), some of which arehighly expansible and unduly increase thepressure of the blood, particularly in the

*Gorup-Besauez, Physiologische Chemie.fCoze etFeltz, Maladies infectieuses.t A healthy man voids about half an ounce ofurea in twenty four hours.—Golding Bird, Uri-

nary Deposits, p. 77.Urea is also derived from the decomposition of

uric acid, which already takes place at 680 Fahr.Here is the equation:

Uric AcidC. N. H. O.10 4 8 16

cleaving into two atoms of urea; and six of€O2, viz:

C. N. H. O.4 4 8 46 12C. N. H. O.10 4 8 16Compare Preyer, Pflueger’s Archiv, 1868, p. 424,

and Golding Bird, 1. c. p. 87.

FAILURE OF VACCINATION 5

capillary circulation. Thus the functionsof the kidneys are greatly interrupted anda high degree of a uraemic (azoturic) pois-oning of the blood will be the result. It isobvious, and, in this connection, perhaps,proper to observe that, in the winter season,merely limited meteorological fluctuationsare sufficient to promote such processes inthe human organism, and which, in theiroutward reaction, produce exanthematousmanifestations. Moreover, by the degreeof intensity of the meteorological variationsand by the potency of uraemic reaction, thespecies of the eruption is determined, asthis regressive action is analogous to thatproduced by fibrinous fermenting matter(fibrinfermente—Koehler) which from theenergetic absorption of oxygen lead, in thereaction of small-pox, to the formation ofvesicles upon those surfaces to which atmos-pheric air ha? uninterrupted access.

Small-pox, like scarlatina and rubeola,according to their etiology, appertain tothat class of diseases which prevail in thewintry season, when, from the intensity ofthe variations of meteorological influences,an epidemic prevalence results.*

* Most convincing evidence, in behalf of thesepropositions, occurred h re in St. Louis, some fewweeks since. Within one week, three daughtersin one family died of scarlatina that could not betraced to infection ; the residence of the family islocated healthfully and conforms with ordinarysanitary regulations. The first daughter, aged fiveyears and three months, died Nov. 27th; the sec-ond, aged seventeen years and two months, diedon the 28th of November; the third, aged twoyears and eleven months, died Dec. 1, 1880.

Now it may be borne in mind that the wintryweather here set in on the 6th of November andcontinued, with only quotidian interruptions untilthe 12th of December, and from then until now.The above mortality coincided with the period ofthe greatest meteoiological fluctuation, viz: whenthe barometrical ranges were equaling those ex-tending over a period of an entire year. And in■conformity with the barometrical fluctuation, thetemperature fluctuated as a matter of consequence.The meteorological records are as follows :

Barometer. Degree. Time.Maximum 30 786 Nov. 22, 7a. m.Minimum 29 329 Dec. 4, 11 p. m.

Range, in thirteen days, 1.457 inches.Thermometer- Degree. Time.

Minimum 10 F. Nov. 22, 7 a. m.Maximum 60 F. Dec. 4 11 p. m.

Fluctuation, in thirteen days, 50 deg. F.

These facts, relating to the natural his-tory of variola, grow in importance whenwe remember that urea is found in thehuman system in a higher per centage inthe winter than in summer, and that it ismore predominant in the male than in thefemale ; in the child more than in the adult,but in the aged less than in either.* More-over, we should remember the clinical factthat males are more numerously affected bysmall-pox than females, children more thanadults, and the aged the least of all.fFurther, that in geographical distributionthe same law is found in operation, viz : inhot regions, small-pox prevails chiefly inhigh elevations (from six to ten thousandfeet) and in the plains it nearly disappears.These facts of observation are chief!}7 no-ticed in Mexico, Central America, SouthAmerica and Africa (Egypt). \ It is, hence,fully evident, from the general facts andstatistical data adduced, that the law isestablished, and as these facts precisely

* Compare Gorup-Besanez. 1. c., pp 587 and 690.fTo corroborate this clinical fact, the following

tabular statements of mortality, which is a fairindex of the percentage of morbidity, of sex andage, may here be reproduced :

. /Males, 56 83 per cent./Females, 43.17 “

Tears. Per cent. Tears. Per cent.0-10 47.27 50-60 2.36

10-20 15.01 60-70 1 3220-30 19 15 70-80 0.3130-40 8 98 80-90 0.0440-50.......... 5.20

Of 175 children under ten years of age, 97 weremales and 78 females. Ot 588 deaths from small-pox, the age is represented in the following table:Tears. Number. Tears. Number.0- 1 157 35-40 211- 5 226 40-45 55-10 65 45-50 5

10-15 14 50-55 315-20 20 55 60 520-25 28 60-65 425-30 20 65-90 030-35 15

The first two tables are copied from the AnnualReport of the Board of Health, Philadelphia forthe year 1872, and the third one from the Jahres-bericht des Wiener Stadt Fysikates, for 1879.

J Compare Lombard, Climatologie medicale,Yol. 111, pp. 357 to 389 and 560; also Muehry,Klimatologische Untersuchungen, p. 277. In Mo-rocco, where nothing but filth is met with, and atotal absence of medical knowledge, small-pox isnot destructive, owing to the mild climate (G.Rohlfs, Arch. Yol. I, p, 190).

6 FAILURE OF VACCINATION

correspond in elucidating a fundamentaltruth, that the nature of small-pox isfoundin the reaction of urea on the blood , andthat small-pox will occur and prevail whenand where the reaction of urea is intensifiedby the nature of physical surroundings.

From the physical nature of urea weknow that it is readily dissolved by thewarm animal fluids (warm water dissolvesit in any proportion), and thus, from itsproneness to decomposition, it acts on theblood corpuscles as a deoxidizing (reduc-ing) agent.*

Oxygen is then at first attracted in theformation ef septic matter, as a matter ofconsequence, and which again energeticallyabsorbs additional oxygen from the atmos-phere, analogous to “fibrinous ferments,”and thereby the capillary vessels of thosesurfaces to which atmospheric oxygen ismost readily accessible, are infiltrated withseptic matter, and there terminate, by wayof diapedesis, into the formation of the con-tents of the subsequent small-pox vesicles,which, in their phases, constitute septicabscesses on a small scale.

In the study of the etiology of variola,and if the theory of infection is admitted,the belief appears to be entertained thatthe morbid alterations of the blood cor-puscles, as the peculiarities are found onmicroscopic examination, are a direct dem-onstration of the presence and form of the“ specific poison of infection.” But, in thelimited compass of that mode of inquiry,the actual state of the facts is not realized.Those visible changes can be produced arti-ficialty by exposing healthy blood to thereaction of a solution of urea. This sub-ject is of uncommon interest, and it may,hence, not appear improper to allude to ithere in detail.

The lithographic representations of cor-puscles of variolous blood submitted byCoze et Feltz (Op. Cit., plate iv, fig. vii),

f Urea reacts intensely on the blood corpuscles.—Rollet, vide Strieker, Lehre von den Geweben,page 290.

are intended to exhibit the “small-poxpoison,” and which is supposed to be bac-terii and bacteridii that have entered thesystem from without, as by injecting bloodfronvvariolous patients, either in the liquidor dried state, the same kind of bodies aresubsequently visible on microscopic exam-ination. Many of the rabbits thus experi-mented on died soon afterward.

But similar, if not identical, effects areproduced by mixing blood from healthyrabbits with a solution of chemically pureurea, and keeping the mixture in a warmroom (65° to 70° F.) for eight or twelvehours. A great many of the blood cor-puscles have then become granular, andhave serrated or thorny edges. The liquorsanguinis contains large numbers of “danc-ing” granules of urea wduch resemble mostperfectly micrococci and shreddy bacterii.The spectroscopic analysis of variolousblood, executed by Coze et Feltz, provealso nearly identical with those of Prof.Preyer (compare Pflueger’s Archiv, Vol. I),with uric acid on hsemoglobin. In bothexaminations the haemoglobin impressionshad vanished.

With the view that small-pox neveroriginated except by conveyance or “infec-tion,” and that the supposed “infecting”agent is a form representation of the lowestdegree of organic development (similar tothe also supposed “ malarial poison”), it isintimated that atmospheric ozone, whenacting in the normal mean, or even in anexcess, would be the natural antidote alsoto variola, as the fact is well establishedthat intermittent and remittent fevers dis-appear when ozone is predominant. But,as we know, variola can not be classifiedwith fevers that originate and prevail in thesummer and autumnal season when urea inthe blood is reduced to the minimum,and glycogenic matter predominates. Thepathogeny of those fevers is influenced byozone, as by this agent it is reconvertedinto cheraico-physiological processes thatare curative of the fevers. In variola.

FAILTRE OF VACCINATION 7

urea is in excess and glycogonic matter isalmost entirely missing; ozone, therefore,does not influence the pathogeny of variola,and variola is, hence, found to prevailwhen ozone exists in the air even in markedexcess. A direct proof is afforded by therecords of Vienna, of the year 1877, whenthat place was subject to a rather light epi-demic of variola, and the monthly meansof atmospheric ozone were in excess, asrecorded in ihe following table (AnnualReport d. Stadtfysikates for 1877) :

Month. Per cent. Month. Per cent.Jan 4.6 July 8.2Febr 7.2 Aug 7.6March 7.5 Sept 7.9April 8.8 Oct 7.4May 8.4 Nov 6.1June 7.8 Dec 6.7

Annual mean 7.35To learn the approximate normal monthly

and yearly means of ozone at Vienna, therates for 1854 and 1855 are here repro-duced :

Month. Per cent. Month. Per cent.Jan 5.23 July 5.23Feb 7.90 Aug 3.60March 5.71 Sept 2.70April 4.25 Oct 5.01May 4.30 Nov 2.90June.. 3.75 Dec 3.90

Annual mean 4.06But of the meteorological fluctuations

which are essential to the origin and preva-lence of variola, ihe following variationsare recorded at Vienna for the year 1877 :

BAROMETER.Month. Variation. Month. Variation.Jan —0.5 July —0.5Feb —4.1 Aug —0.9March —5.5 Sept —0.7April —5.1 Oct + 1.1May —2.3 Nov —1.7June. +2.1 Dec ~..+0.2

Annual mean —1.5THERMOMETER.

Month. Variation. Month. Variation.Jan + 1.3 July + 19.2Feb + 2.7 Aug +21.0March + 3.7 Sept +1.2.7April + 8.1 Oct + 8.0May +11.9 Nov 4.8June + 19.7 Dec + 0.1

Annual mean 9.4

RELATIVE HUMIDITY.Month. Variation. Month. Variation.Jan -f-4.5 July + 2.7Feb —3.1 Aug + 7.4March —0.5 Sept +16.6April +6.1 Oct 0.2May +5.2 Nov .+ 4.3June —2.4 Dec + 4.4Annual mean + 4.6Annual mean rain-fall, var...—19.0 m. m.

It will be seen that these variations areextreme. In their fluctuations and inten-sity of reaction, during the season in whichthey were irregular, is to be found thecause of the morbid phenomenon hereunder consideration.

In order to compare the law of causationwith the results of morbidity and mortalityof variola, the following two tables are ofgreat interest. They illustrate the verifiedfact that variola, in its occurrence and fataleffects, is on a parallel with the meteoro-logical seasonal influences, and that its pre-dominance is in a ratio with the intensityof reaction of their irregularities.

Morbidity of variola at Vienna in theyear 1877:Month. No. cases. Month. No. cases.Jan 233 July 78Feb 191 Aug 60March 287 Sept 46April 198 Oct 91May 158 Nov 129June 94 Dec 184

Total for the year 1,749Mortality of variola at Vienna in the

year 1877:Month. Male. Female. Total.January 47 38 85February 36 33 69March 44 41 85April 38 37 75May 23 25 48June 23 18 41July., 14 21 35August 13 10 23September 9 8 17October 11 16 27November 23 21 44December 20 19 39

Totals 301 287 588The meteorological variations at Vienna

8 FAILURE OF VACCINATION,

for 1877 compare fairly with those of Phila-delphia at the time of the great epidemic of1871-72. At both places, low borometri-cal pressure, high rates of temperature,also high rates of relative humidity and de-ficiency of rain-fall, are noted. But it maynot be necessary here to represent the man-ner in which these influences react on thehuman organism. This has been, to someextent, already indicated, and is elucidatedby the study of biology andHere it is only requisite to direct attentionto their preexistence and co-existence withthe occurrence and prevalence of small-pox.

The existence of the supposed agent ofinfection, the “ infectious X” is, under thefocus of scientific inquiry, consequently,nowhere to be discovered, and the agency *

active in the causation of epidemics, cannot be admitted to be the asserted ‘ ‘ impor-tation ” and “ transmissibility from personto person or by things,” but can only berecognized according to the .evidence thatwe have produced, viz : that the nature ofsurrounding physical influences determinesthe line of demarcation of healthful ormorbid action, and by the potency of theirshadings, in the respective season and atthe respective station, specialize the typeof the prevailing epidemic.

In the presence of these facts, the ques-tion suggests itself: what is to be under-stood by the nature of the supposed“poison of infection?” Although variousefforts have been made, ai different periods,to demonstrate the nature and character ofthe “infectious agent,” yet so far as theresults of inquiry are brought to generalknowledge, nothing of a definite characteror “ specific nature” can be demonstrated.Organic forms of the lower and lowest typeof organization, whose nature is identifiedwith that of retrogressive metamorphosis,were regarded as the true cause or theagents of several, at least, of the epidemic

* These terms are here employed upon a classi-cal definition of Dr. J. E. Tefft, Springfield; Mo.,kindly suggested in a private letter.

diseases, and their subtile modes of diffu-sion have, by infectionists, been designatedthe source of the propagation. But fromthe ‘ ‘ cylindrotsenium” to the ‘ ‘ globulatedbacterii,” “ shreddy bacterii ” and “ bacte-ridii,” the entire series is now known asmere products of the process of decomposi-tion, forming the patho-chemical basis ofone or the other epidemic disease.

The fermentative process supposed to beproduced by virtue of one or anotherfungoid growth, which, in consequence of itsspecial characteristics, determines the re-spective form of any of the ‘ ‘ zymotic dis-eases,” is now demonstrated to be simply aprocess of oxidation, as “zymogen,” anon-fermenting substance of the pancreaticsecretions, is converted into “ trypsine,” ahighly fermentable substance, the in-crease of its equivalent proportion of oxy-gen ; and that “trypsine” is as readilyreducible to “zymogen” by diminishingthe quantity of its oxygen to the originalchemical standard (Compare L. Hermann,Handbuch der Physiologie, Vol. V, p. 189).Whatever form representative of retrogres-sive growths is observed in fermentationcan, hence, not be recognized as the cause,but only as a product of this process, ofwhich oxygen is the agent and thesegrowths, as material, only form a part ofthe agency for inducing an augmentation offermentation. This fact is well founded inmycology by direct observation (Karsten,Hallier), and was abundantly corroboratedby the late Dr. Theodore Hilgard, of thiscity, viz; the access of atmospheric airand the composition of the substrata ornutrient matter upon which the fungus iscultivated, determine its form representa-tion (Eidam, Mycologie, p. 187).

Owing to these cardinal points in naturalhistory, the hjqjothesis of the ‘ ‘ specificnature of the “germs of infection” as thecause of diseases occurring epidemically,naturally proved contradictory in the ex-planation of the origin and diffusion ofthose diseases, and the proof supposed to

FAILURE OF VACCINATION, 9

be at hand in sustaining “ infection” as toorigin and portability, or the mode of diffu-sion, was exploded as a fact of experienceafter every epidemic. But efforts are notyet spared to revive the theory of specificinfection. It is suggested by the “germdoctrine,” although it is the ultimate rescue,that what are termed ‘ ‘ the Pasteur discov-eries” are direct evidence in its behalf.

Although the statements of Prof. Pasteur,made before the of Science, atParis, during the year 1880, have, in thiscity, been accessible onty in fragments, yetthe evidence is fully obtained that the exis-tence of a contagium vivum is admitted, bywhich the endeavor is made to explain theorigin and propagation of epidemic diseases(small-pox as one of them). For cholerathe microhion is claimed to be the “ choleraorganism;” for anthrax micrococcus , spor-ules, bacterii, etc., etc., (according toSamuel, bacillus anthracis) to be the infect-ing poison ; for small-pox, as of old, theunknown “X,” and therefore it is, by Prof.Pasteur, confidently believed that variolaand vaccine virus will prove to be identical(of which, however, there has of late beenno more dispute). It is thus further inti-mated, that in the attenuation of the virus,vaccinating, small-pox and cholera(?), willbe found the prophylactic power against thetrue disease, in conformity with the doc-trine, in the case of small-pox that an indi-vidual can be infected but once.

If science lacks better information, clini-cal history alone could produce facts provingthe contrary. That “attenuation” (i. e.,“ vaccination ” or “ inoculation ”), is fol-lowed by a signal failure, may be learnedfrom the fact that, in Paris, as early as1756, inoculation was practiced, and that asmall-pox epidemic devastated that city in1763. Those inoculated contracted thedisease as well as those who have been vac-cinated at the present day, and that LouisXV suffered from small-pox when fourteenyr ears of age and died of the same diseasein 1774, at the age of sixty-four years.

Inoculation (attenuation) was then aband-oned (Compare the Vaccination Inquirer ,

Nov. 1879, p. 105).However, all of these assertion can not

be claimed as “Pasteur’s discoveries,”nearly the entire series have formed thebasis of the nosolog}' of infection for sev-eral decades, and the doctrine upon whichvaccination is based, has been in vogue,following similar ideas, for more than acentury.

Neither is the supposition of Prof. Pas-teur strictly original as expressed in regardto the “anthrax poison ;” that from buriedanimals, the poison wouldbe brought to thesurface again by the earth worms. It isstated that the bacterii would adhere to thesurface of those worms, and would, in thatmanner, be brought again upon the surfaceof the earth, subsequently these being driedand carried off by air currents and thus begenerally diffused for another infection.Prof. Pettenkofer claims to have first ex-pressed such ideas respecting the diffusionof cholera, based on a similar supposition.This writer was of the opinion more thanfifteen years ago, that deposits from cholerapatients, containing the “poison,” wereabsorbed by the ground, from thence againemitted into the air, and there generallydiffused, and thus causing new infections.But at the present day this hypothesis isregarded as entirely obsolete even by radi-cal infectionists.

To prove the illusion of Prof. Pasteur’ssupposition in regard to the revivificationand diffusion of the “anthrax poison,” asan illustration of infection, attention isinvited to the fact that bacterii, bacteridii,sporules, micrococci, etc., etc., are foundin myriads in the cesspools drained fromdung piles; in ichorous fluids of decom-posed animal substance, and in manure.Now, mostly all over the earth’s surface,these substances are taken to the fields asfertilizers, particularly in close proximit}l-- most populous cities (here at St. Louis,for instance, by the gardeners), and the

FAILURE OF VACCINATION10

augmented crop, thus harvested in return,is there consumed without extermination ofman and beast, as logically the result oughtto be in accordance with the views of infec-tion potentializcd as suggested by the“Pasteur discoveries.” To illustrate fur-ther the illusion attending that doctrine, thecity of Croyden(?), England, may be citedhere, where all dejections, slops, and foulwater are conveyed by sewerage to meadowsunder irrigation, for fertilizing, the crop ofhay harvested in consequence thereof isincreased many fold, and the live-stock isfed with that hr.y ; and now the butter andmilk obtained from the stock and the meatof it is consumed by the inhabitants, yet itis not known that the}7 are subject to morefrequent or more intense epidemics thanthe inhabitants of other English cities.Those abortive bodies, the supposed agentsof “infection” as we know are of thelowest form representations in the regres-sive metamorphosis, and many of themhave not even the power to propagate theirown species. In “fermentation” they con-tribute to the augmentation of decomposi-tion. Through warmth and moisture, theyenergetically absorb oxygen and cause thatprocess to take a more rapid and intensifiedcourse. In their reaction, in the process offermentation, they are analogous to lepto-thrix cells, and in regressive actions of thehuman organism, if injected directly intothe blood, to urea; they are agents accom-panying the fermentative processes, and bymeans of which they disintegrate. Theirrecurrence from decay and putrefactionproves, consequently, that they pertain tothe products of these processes. Accord-ing to Karsten, “ they neither appertainto the animal nor to the vegetable world,their mission being only to contribute tothe promotion of putrefaction and disin-tegration, like all septic bodies. Theyare only the constant companions ofdeath” (compare Eidam, Mycologie, p.186), hence they are totally devoid ofspecific quality.

The view that they are to be recognized asthe source of “specific infection” must,therefore, be rejected, from the known factsof their natural history.

They are not the seeds of fructification inthe development of special diseases, but theysimply constitute material which, in com-bination with other fermentable substances,undergo septic (regressive) actions, analo-gous to urea in combination with albumin-ates or plasma.

Adverting now to vaccination, and bear-ing in mind the identity of vaccine lymphwith that of the variola pustule, or thatboth contain merely the elements of pus(perhaps a higher percentage of urates re-spectively), the danger must be compre-hensible to every one conversant withphysiological chemistry, to which a per-son is exposed, particularly in early child-hood, by being inoculated (i. e., vaccin-ated) with such material of decay; andthe vanity of the “protective power” of“vaccine” matter over the fancied “poisonof the specific infection” of small-pox isobvious.

By the masterly and most exhaustivetreatise of Keber* on vaccine lymph, andby the thorough investigations microscopi-cally, chemically and spectroscopically, ofvariolous blood, variola and vaccine lymph,by Coze et Feltz (L. C. p. 179), the iden-tity of vaccine and variola lymph is fullyestablished; also by the inquiry of theauthor, submitted in his treatise on variola(published in 1878), in which the resultsof extensive and careful personal examina-tions of variolous lymph are narrated andthe facts indicated of its identity with vac-cine lymph. Both contain the elements ofcommon pus, and the origin of which isidentical with that of the latter, accordingto the observations of Cohnheim (Entzuen-dung, pp. 66 and 67, Embol. Proc., p. 102).

Now these substances of disintegration,*tleber die mikroscopisheu Bestandtheile der

Pocken Lymphe, Virchow’s Archiv, Vol. XLII,.p. 112, etc.

FAILURE OF VACCINATION 11

if applied in a diluted form (attenuation),namely, by vaccination, it is asserted, infavor of vaccination, will “protect” againstan influence of which the “ specific” natureand mode of action is, in harmony with thespecific infection theory, also a supposition,and if the hypothetical “ specific” materiesmorbi of small-pox would thereby not becounteracted, a modifying effect would, atany rate, be the result. Pursuant to thesesuppositions, it is therefore suggested thattwo like processes can not transpire simul-taneously in our systems.

It is surprising, as this doctrine is quiteidentical with the nosological views ofHahn-nemann and the actions of his therapeutics,that it could be (and is yet) endorsed bythe “regular” profession. Moreover, as itis thereby admitted that homogenious sub-stances (humanized vaccine and variolalymph or pus) exercise a specific protec-tion for a number of years * (siviilia sim-ilibus).

But, remembering that the ofsmall-pox rests primarily in the prevalenceof physical influences, which cause auraemic patho-chemical reaction in our or-ganism, and that urea reacts on the bloodanalogous to septic matter—in case of itsabsence, or if not exceeding the normalproportion—the general effects of vaccina-tion, either from injecting minimum quanti-ties of septic matter into the blood currentor introducing it in the usual way under the

*ln this connection it is important to be awarethat in the human organism (at least) nothing is atrest, “dormant” or “latent,” there is a continualprogression (constructive metamorphosis, and re-gression (regressive metamorphosis) in ail its ele-ments and tissues. According to Mole schott, manhas, on an average, about 24 pounds of blood, andthe oxygen which is taken up in four to five days,by means of respiration, would be sufficient to oxi-dize all carbon and hydrogen of those 24 poundsof blood into carbonic acid and water, hence, theblood, being about one-fifth part of a grown person,if it were consumed (metamorphosed) within fivedays the entire body ought to be transformed infive times five (25) days. Artificially colored bloodcorpuscles of the sheep, introduced in large quan-tities into the circulation of a frog, disappeared onthe seventeenth day entirely. Compare Dr. H.Rohlfs, Deutsches Archiv. fuer Gescbichte derMedician etc., Band I, Heft 1; pp. 120-121.

epidermis by the operation designated vac-cination. and thus producing a slight septicpoisoning, would not survive the ordinarycourse of morphological rotation.

Admitting, for the sake of argument*that bv such septic poisoning the “ suscep-tibility ” to small-pox would be suspended{i. e., for the time being), its reaction onthe blood, however, would in a veryshort period (within three or four weeks)be completely overcome, unless structuralchanges of other vital organs had followed.Thus the “ protection,” even if it be ad-mitted, would be but ephemeral. But onthe contrary, is the system in such conditionthat an already uremic reaction may havematured, and its grave effects are ignitedby access of septic matter from vaccinna-tion, either, as frequently is the case, ageneral and grave variolous eruption fol-lows, or a septic decomposition of the blood,ending in the death of the patient.

Whenever vaccination remains a merelocal irritation, which is fortunate to thosevaccinated, its effects are cast off againwithout having affected the constitution.No general impression is made, as no ab-sorption has taken place beyond the localsphere of the gangrenous inflammation.But when constitutional symptoms follow,septic inflammatory fever and derangedfunctions of the organs of secretion, inconsequence of ensuing structural altera-tions, the danger is imminent that pulmo-nary tubercular deposits will also takeplace, fiom the morbid products which arenot cast off by the cuticular local sores andare circulating through the system. Theybecome in part arrested in the pulmonarycapillaries, leading there to the formationof thrombi or embolisms, and finally, inconsequence of chronic inflammatory irrita-tion, to tubercular nodules.*

These facts are verified directly by experi-ments in the physiological laboratory, by

* Compare Yirehow, Cell Pathol ,4th Edition,

pp. 261 and 245. Hueter Klin. Vortraege, No. 49,p. 288. Gerhardt, ibid. No. 91. Cless, Impfungund Pccken, pp. 10 and 11.

12 FAILURE OF VACCINATION

clinical observation, and by occasionaldeaths from vaccination.*

The maximum of tubercular mortality isfound recorded for all localities where vac-cination is performed in the extreme, andthe minimum where vaccination is alsoobseiwed in a minimum degree, or isomitted,f

To facilitate a comparison on these pre-eminently important facts, the followinglist of localities, representing in the firstcolumn those of the maximum, and in thesecond those of the minimum, is here re-produced :

Algiers,Berlin, Braunschweig, (city)Geneva, France, (in cities)London, Genoa,New York, Naples,Philadelphia, Rome,St, Louis, Turin,New Orleans, Venice,Richmond, Va., St. Helena,Baltimore, Ireland.Cincinnati.Since the nature of variola and the eti-

ology of this dire malady is no longer amystery, the causes demonstrable uponwhich an epidemic occurrence is dependent,

* Statistical data of the injuries from vaccina-tion have mostly, everywhere, been excluded fromthe records ; but since the agitation against vac-cination has become universal, at Berlin the factscould no longer be suppressed, that vaccination isfollowed by injurious results. Professor Finkeln-burg, member of the German “Reichs Gesund-heitsamt” (National Board of Health), had toacknowledge, lately, as stated by Dr. H. Rohlfs,1. c., p. 127, that twenty-five officially confirmedcases were brought to notice. On this continent,in San Francisco, Cal.; quite recently, a boy, agethirteen j ears, died from the effects of vacination.The points of vaccination had become a largesloughing sore, from which absorbtion of putridmatter had taken place. The patient was greatlyemaciated, and died with symptoms of convulsioncomplicated with trismus. The lymph employedwas obtained from the San Francisco Health De-partment.—Amerika, St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 15, ’BO.

fExtreme heights; such as 15,000 feet altitude inthe Andes, where pulmonary tuberculosis is saidnot to prevail (Muehry, Lombard), are here notconsidered.

%In the year 1877, at Vienna, four hundredmore died of pulmonary tuberculosis than iri theyear previous, an increase of eight per cent. ( Vide“ Jahresbericht;” etc , 1877, pp. 176-77).

and the modus operandi determining thevesicular eruption is understood, the phan-tom “infection” has lost its significance;also the presumed value of the hithertoemployed prophylactic, vaccination. And,if statistics had been computed correctly,vaccination, at the present day, would bedoomed to oblivion. Reliable statistics,long ago, have proved it to be utterly futile,which, naturally, could not be otherwise.

But as vaccination is a convenient meas-ure for tyrannical police regulation, andsimultaneously offers many opportunitiesfor pecuniary aims (in England $1,500,000are annually expended for it), a clamorousadherence for its maintenance is manifestedby those who are interested, and utter-ances : “We have reduced even small-poxto human control ” * are purposely ven-tured and circulated. Faulty statistics aretherefore submitted by the “ authorities.”

However,' vaccination had to be acknowl-edged as without scientific basis, and itspractice to be simply an empiricism, by themost believers in it. It is there-fore evident, as there are only statisticaldata to be appealed to in its behalf, andwhich prove to be inadmissible as evidence,as they record mere convenient incidentali-ties, the claimed “protective power” ofvaccination against small-pox is fictitious—-na}r, it is a vanity ! Is it not, then, humili-ating, that after the proclamation :

“ evensmall-pox is brought under human control ”

by vaccination and revaccination, to seedevastating epidemics of small-pox return-ing, befalling the vaccinated, revaccinated,and those who in addition had survived oneor more attacks of variola? Thus provingsuch assertions gratuitous gossip.

In the agony of the contradicting evidencewhich exhibits more than a two-third plu-rality of the “ protected” to take small-pox

* Compare Plumbers and Sanitary Engineer, N.Y., March 1. 1880, page 127. Further, Becker,Handbuch der Vaccinationslehre, p. 113, where isenigmatically stated; “Der Mensch hatte dasPockencontagium sich dienstbar gemacht, esgewissermassen gezaehmt. ”

FAILURE OF VACCINATION 13

and frequently ending with grave mortality,some source of “ importation ” is sophisti-cally then traced up, but from which “ in-fection ” is said to be spreading, owing, asthe excuse is added, to having been takenby surprise. At first one or more “unpro-tected ” are said to be affected, but subse-quently (wonderful philosophy !) others arefound “infected” that have been vaccinatedand revaccinated frequently and “ success-fully ” so as to be entirely “protected.”Relief is then sought in asserting, andwith an air of indifference, that small-poxwas imported to Berlin, Prussia, in 1871,by the French prisoners of war,* the offi-cial “ sworn enemies,”! being therebydisseminated. At Vienna, in 1872, it wassuggested, in a similar mood, that thewave of small-pox infection came fromPrussia via Bohemia.!

But here, it must be asked, how and bywhom was London, in England, “infected,”and how Philadelphia and other cities ofthe United States, in 1871, as there was no“ sworn enemy ” to these nations, andvaccination with all its variations hadequally or decidedly failed in its claimed“protection.” Were they also taken bysurprise ?

Small-pox epidemics come and go. Theirreaction of intensity and periods of inter-mission prove, for the past centuries, tohave been of no less nor greater dimen-sions than during recent periods ( i . e.,since the introduction of vaccination).Hundreds of years ago, to be sure, whenvaccination was unknown, the records ofIceland show that several decades haveelapsed in succession, and the island wasfree from small-pox ; so also, immediatelyprior and subsequent to the introduction ofvaccination. The facts here mentioned

* Compare statement of Dr. Albert Guttstadt inZeitscbrift des statistiscben bureaus, 1873.

f Der officielle Erbfeind. Compare Carl Vogt,Die Wanderung der Thiere, Westermann’s Mo-natsbefte, Band 47;*page 49, etc.

J Compare Jahresbericht des Wiener Stadtfysi-kates, 1877, page 62.

may be more fully expressed by the detailsof the following tables :

SMALL-POX EPIDEMICS IN ICELAMD.*1347 great epidemic.1380 do do1430 8,000 deaths.1511 great epidemic.1555 do do1574 do do1580 a sort of varioloid.1590 small-pox epidemic.1616-’l7 do do1632 do do1636 do do1655 do do1658 do do1670- 71 varioloid and small-pox.1707-’OB-’O9 terrible epidemic, mortality

18,000.1742 light epidemic.1762-’63 do do1785 do do1786 epidemic, 1,237 deaths.1787 do 113 do1839-’4O epidemic from importation.By the statistical data of England, the

evidence is produced that vaccination isalso devoid of the mitigating effects oversmall-pox, the dernier claim of the advo-cates in its favor ; nay, they prove that themortality of small-pox has constantly in-creased, particularly since the enforcementof the compulsorj7 vaccination act.

MORTALITY FROM SMALL-POX IN ENGLAND.Period. . Deaths.

1857—1859 14,2441863—1865 20,0591870—1872 44,840It is further of interest to learn the rates

of the vaccinated and unvaccinated havingtaken small-pox in 1870-72 in Germany(compare Becker, 1. c., chart at p. 261).The vaccinated cases ascend from 20 to 400at the age of 1 to 15 years ; at the age of15 to 25 years there is a decline from 400to 372 ; at the age of 25 to 35 years a de-cline from 372 to 100, and at the age of 35

* Compare Anti-Vaccination Publications, Ger-man edition, Hanover, 1880. It may be remem-bered that the climate of Iceland is hibernal andextreme. Infantile mortality is so great that notmore than one-half of the children attain the ageof fourteen years, hence smail-pox is frequent andgrave.—Letters of Bayard Taylor.

14 FAILURE OF VACCINATION

to 60 years a decline from 100 to nothing.Of the unvaccinated, the rates range in thefollowing manner: At the age of Ito 7years there is an ascent from 230 to 250 ;

at the age of 7 to 25 years a decline from250 to 210 ; at the age of 25 to 35 years adecline from 210 to 60, and at the age of35 to 60 years a decline from 60 to nothing.

Thus the facts are corroborated throughthe data submitted even by a most enthusi-astic advocate of vaccination, that themaximum rate of small-pox cases occuramong those that have been vaccinated,

At Paris, France, in 1870, vaccinationwas resorted to as perhaps never before,and in the great majority of instances thelymph was taken directly from the heifer,and yet one of the most destructive epi-demics raged there during the winter of1870-’7l. In the four months, October,November, December and January, 6,423persons died there of small-pox, and in thefifteen months from the Ist of January of1870 to the 31st of March 1871, a totalof 13,035.

In the city of Berlin, Prussia, during theyear 1871, occurred 17,020 cases of small-pox, of which 14,287 were vaccinated and2,733 were not vaccinated. The mortalityof small-pox numbered 3,536 (according toVirchow, Sterbliehkeit Berlin’s, 5,215) ofwhich 2,410 were vaccinated and 1,126 un-vaccinated cases.

An epidemic of small-pox devastatingthe population of Philadelphia in 1871- 72,numbered 15,629 cases, with 3,899 deaths.The statistics of “ successful” vaccinationreport for the same period the number of48,724, of which 30,526 pertain to theyear 1871.

However, the statistics of Berlin andPhiladelphia state the mortality amongthose not vaccinated to exceed that ofthose vaccinated by far. At Berlin, of theunvaccinated, the percentage of mortalitywas 41.2, and of the vaccinated 16.8. AtPhiladelphia, of the unvaccinated, 60.42,and of the vaccinated 28.78. But other

facts apply alike to both localities. Thosemost comfortably situated, and embracingthe more intellectual class of the popula-tion, suffered the least as to gravity, num-ber of cases and mortalit}', but amongwhom vaccination is not omitted, alonefrom fear. Hence it is indisputable thatthe minimum of mortality rates with thebetter educated and wealthier class whichrepresents the vaccinated cases. The max-imum rates with the uninformed and prole-tary, or the class of the unvaccinated.

The validity of these statistics in proofof the mitigating effect of vaccination oversmall-pox mortality must even be rejected,as its basis is proved faulty.

In London, 7,876 deaths from small-poxoccurred in the year 1871, notwithstandingthe compulsory vaccination law is in forcein England since 1854, and is executedwith an unparalleled cruelty and tyranny.*There an individual is punished for one andthe same offense (omitting vaccination) toan unlimited extent, until the provisions ofthe law are complied with. In Englandthere is no possibility of escaping vaccina-tion, and, in addition, the multitude is theregrossly terrified about the danger of takingsmall-pox by neglect of vaccination andfrequent revaccination. Officially, it isunhesitatingly asserted, that those vaccin-ated are “protected.”!

But as England, in 1871, and the UnitedStates, had no “ official sworn enemy” towhom the “importation of the poison ofinfection” could be attributed, yet, in bothcountries (London and Philadelphia asrepresentative cities), in defiance of the“protection” of vaccination, small-pox

* Mr. William Tebb, of London, prosecutedtwelve times for refusing to have his children vac-cinated, stated before the American Anti-Vaccina-tion League, that in EngbndSOper cent, of small-pox mortality was from vaccinated cases.— Vaccin-ation Inquirer, Nov. 1879, p. 119.f See Bauke’s Vaccination Acts, p. ix. It may

here be proper to remind pretension of the wordsof Prof. Prever, when he says :

“ Das nie irgendEiner und sei er der EdeLte und Groesste, unges-traft die Wissenschaft irgendwo durch einenMachtspruch zuverbarricadiren versucht hat.” —

Ursache des Schlafes, n. 27.

FAILURE OF VACCINATION 15

originated and prevailed with an unsur-passed degree of intensity.

At Vienna, Austria, in 1877, an epidemicof small-pox prevailed, numbering in theten districts of that city, 1,749 cases and564 deaths, as we have already seen, but as

there was. on this occasion, no opportunityto charge this occurrence to an “ importa-tion,” in subserviance to the alma mater, itis stated, that it was one of the subsequentepidemics of which the ‘ 1 germs of infec-tion ” had remained over in several of thedistricts from 1872,* and again vaccinationand revaccination had been urged, as alsoperformed, most assiduously. But no bet-ter illustration could be adduced in proofof the signal failure of the “protectivepowrer” of vaccination against small-pox,than the reproduction of the statistical datacontained in the annual report of the“ Stadtf3r sikat ” of Vienna for 1877, p. 45.There it is stated that 14,195 primary vac-cinations had been performed, and 1,022revaccinations. The number of primaryvaccinations exceeded that of the yearprevious (1875) by 4,368.

Now in special reference to the fifth dis-trict, which is classified as the least caredfor, but it is reported that 1,457 primaryvaccinations were there performed, against784 the year previous, inducing to the self-congratulation :

“ the spreading of small-pox was thus most energetically counter-acted,”! and then comparing the lists ofsmall-pox morbidity and mortality, the

* Jahresbericht ect. 1877, page 62. These mis-representations find their analogy in the explana-tion of the reoccurrence of yellow feyer at Mem-phis; in 1879, by the national health authorities.By them it was also asserted that the “germs ofinfection ” had remained over from the epidemicof the year previous. Also bv the report of the“Scientific Commission” (Deputation), appointedfor the purpose, to state that “ vaccination pro-tected and never injured,” to afford a basis forpassing the compulsory vaccination law of theGerman Empire.f The importance of the subject will justify the

reproduction of the whole sentence in the originaltongue: “Es ist aber durch diesen Aufschwungin der oeffentlichen gerade in den vonden aermsten Bewohnern die Wahlthat des Blat-terschutzes von den Sanitaetsorganen sozusegenentgegengebracht und dadurch der Blatternver-breitung in den verwahrlosesten und am dichtestenbewohnten Staelten energisch entgegengearbeitedworden.” P. 48. Also compare pp. 45, 114, 116.

surprising—nay, alarming—facts are dis-covered sthat this district suffered secondhighest as to the number of cases, and un-paralleled in the rate of mortality—96.2per cent.

These records of Vienna also corroboratethe great truths that small-pox morbidityand mortality can not be affected by vac-cination, but that they are on a parallel—-even proportionately—with poverty andignorance, in comparison to where comfortof life and a higher rate of intelligence areenjoyed. These facts precisely correspondwith those already indicated above, ofPhiladelphia and Berlin, and demonstratethe fallacy of indiscriminate statisticaldata which are based onty on the perform-ance or omission of vaccination. Theobservance of vaccination and revaccina-tion is a matter of incidentality, as thewealthier and better educated class doesnot omit it mainly from fear, as we know,and the class of the proletory and unedu-cated neglect it from want of means andfrom indifference. But the following tableaffords the proof that vaccination is devoideven of a shadow of prophylactic influenceagainst small-pox, and the data of thefifth district, where the “ protective influ-ence ” of vaccination was with the greatestassiduity “ brought to those in need ofprotection,” the fact of the most untowardresults is demonstrated.

Morbidity and mortality of small-pox atVienna in 1877 of all the districts :

Morbidity. Moi’tality.First District 39 4Second District 290 56Third District 356 70Fourth District 163' 35Fifth District 292 281Sixth District 160 41Seventh District 191 32Eighth District 79 13Ninth District 71 14Tenth District 88 18

Totals .1,749 564Now, in conclusion, in view of the patho-

chemical action of variola, and the dangerand utter futility of vaccination, aboveabundantly set forth, must not, then, itsclaimed “ protection” against small-pox beregarded as a vanity, and its continuedpractice a crime ?

St. Louis, 1302 S. Fifth street.