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MR. BADCOCK'S EXPERIMENTS ON THE VARIOLISATION OF KINE.
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tion, and her medical otncer of health the future.
seems
hopeful
for
Peterbo7ough (Urban).-Dr. Thompson reports a death-rate 1879, as against 24-1 in 1878. Scarlet fever appears to have been prevalent ia the city during a great part of the year. But Peterborough has neither a hospital nor a disinfecting apparatus ! for infectious diseases Thingoe.-Mr. Charles Scott Kilner reports a death-rate of 16’5 per 1000 population in this rural district for the past year, as against 12’5 in 1878, the greater mortality occurring among infants and persons above sixty years of age. Tottenham.-Dr. Watson refers to the extraordinary growth of this place. From February, 1875, to February, 1880, the Local Board, it appears, have approved of no less than 15,500 (or thereabouts) plans for houses. of 224 in
Nevertheless the death-rate from all causes in 1879 did not exceed 17 ’6, and there are other indications that the sanitary administration of Tottenham is now being carried out by its Local Board with much efficiency.
THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS. a special meeting of the Council, held on Wednesday Mr. John Cooper Forster was unanimously re-elected last, At a a member of the Court of Examiners in Surgery. on the minutes of the held Thursday, quarterly meeting, preceding ordinary meeting, held March lltb, were confirmed, after a long criticism, by Mr. Simon ; the report of the Committee on bye-laws relating to fees being adopted, with some modifications, the most important of which is the retention of the payment of fees by examiners on election. The Collegiate Triennial Prize was awarded to Mr. G. A. Woods, of Southport, for his essay on " The Anatomy and Physiology of the Third, Fourth, and Sixth Nerves."
AT
Correspondence. "Audi alteram partem."
MR. BADCOCK’S EXPERIMENTS ON THE VARIOLISATION OF KINE. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,-Mr. Badcock, of St. James’s-street, Brighton, hav-
ing suffered in his infancy severely, and being much marked with the small-pox, determined upon performing some experiments upon some cows, which he kept, by inoculating them with the matter of the small-pox taken from the human subject. About forty years ago, the late Sir Cordy Burrows gave Mr. Badcock some small-pox ichor, which he had taken from one of his patients ; Mr. Badcock inserted this ichor into one of his cows. After the lapse of a week, when it had produced a vesicle upon the cow, a human subject was vaccinated with the lymph thus produced, and the
result was the facsimile of the vesicle which Jenner discovered fifty years before. Mr. Badcock employed a photographer, who took from the cow the likeness of the vesicle which he had produced, and then exhibited the photographs to the Brighton Medical Society, thus triumphantly confirming the value of Jenner’s discovery, and placing the power of the vaccine upon an indisputable basis. The vaccine discovered and the vaccine produced being identical, it is a proof that the vaccine is unalterable, for after passing through the constitutions of 2500 persons during fifty years, it remains precisely the same thing. The fact is, vaccinia is a disease stti generis, and, like the small-pox, measles, and scarlet fever, incapable of admixture with any other disease. If you sow a radish seed you cannot produce a cucumber. If you sow a bean you will not produce a carrot. As well might it be said, that you can produce vaccinia by syphilis, as that you can produce syphilis by vaccine. This is not my opinion only, but also of aU those public vaccinators (and their name is legion) whose opinions 1 have elicited upon the subject. I accompanied Mr. Badcock to his stall, and saw him take some
protective
vaccine from a cow which he had variolated the week before. Being at the time public vaccinator to the Western district of Brighton, I inserted the matter so taken, which Mr, Badcock kindly gave me at the time, into one of the children. I kept up thatsupply for about twenty years, until Ire. signed the office, as I preferred the matter so converted to others. A great objection, and much of the prejudice against vaccination, would, I think, be removed by the most gentle method of vaccinating. I make a few horizontal scratches on the arm, just penetrating the cuticle ; then, reo moving the blood and stretching open the incision, I insert the matter. By this means I have produced excellent vesicles without awakening a child who was asleep. By this method a peculiar mark is left on the arm, which is easily recognisable. Since my retiring from practice in 1870, Dr. Ross informs me two epidemics of small-pox have occurred in Brighton, but that not one person so marked by me has ever been attacked by the small-pox. One peculiarity with me is that I always vaccinate both arms, and taking the matter from one arm leave the other untouched, to be absorbed into the constitution, for the better protection of the person vaccinated. All honour, then, to Messrs. Ceely and Badcock, who have thus so satisfactorily solved the problem, till that time inexplicable-namely, Why does vac. cination prevent the small-pox ? and thus, by placing it as it were into a living alembic, have transmuted the small. pox from a repulsive, disfiguring, blinding, deadly disease into one perfectly harmless, as we have seen in Brighton, even to an infant just born. I am, Sir, yours respectfully, D. RICHARDSON. M.R.C.S., L.S. A. D. L.S.A. RICHARDSON, M.R.C.S., Newhaven, Sussex, March, 1880.
all
SIR W. JENNER, BART., ON ENTERIC FEVER. To the Editor of THE LANCET. the last San Francisco mail arrived the numbers SiR,—By of THE LANCET for November containing Sir William Jenner’s address on the treatment of enteric fever and Sir Joseph Fayrer’s address on assuming office as president of the Epidemiological Society. I should not presume to question Sir W. Jenner’s authority on any point as far as concerns enteric fever, as seen in London, or even in England-although enteric fever in rural districts among paupers differs widely from that seen in London-but a reference to Sir Joseph Fayrer’s address shows that on one important point the Indian authorities are at variance with Sir W. Jenner. The latter speaks of it repeatedly as a specific disease, produced, "in the majority of cases at least, by the action of a small por. tion of the excreta from the bowel of a person suffering from 15th, 1879, p. 71,) typhoid fever." (THE LANCET, Nov. Sir Joseph Fayrer maintains that " a form of fever exactly like European typhoid, except in its etiology, exists in India, and other hot and malarious countries, and that itis due to climatic causes, not to filth or specific causes,"(THE LANCET, Nov. 8th, 1879, p. 678.) The italics are mine. Sir William Jenner maintains that he has "never knowna case of typhoid fever cut short by any remedial agent that is cured," and that the " natural duration ofa well. of typhoid fever is from twenty-eight to developed case " thirty days." Sir Joseph quotes from a report of SurgeonMajor A. Clarke a statement that numerous cases entered as enteric were discharged, and at their duty five or six
days afterwards, though " rose-spots are invariably present,
and in fatal cases the lesions of Peyer’s patches are well marked." In other words, the disease is either cut short by treatment, or there are numerous cases of such a mild character that they get well in a few days. Now, everyone who has seen enteric fever in tropical countries and amongst other than European races, must agree with Sir Joseph Fayrer. The disease is most protean in its character, and unless one is prepared to maintain that in the same house, in the same climate, amongst people living under exactly the same conditions, two or more forms of fever can spring up at the same time, one must admit that the same poison will vary in its effects on different in. dividuals according to their constitutional peculiarities. I have seen an epidemic of enteric fever breaking out on board an emigrant ship in lat. 41° ]B.,,.DtinuiDg with us after we had rounded the Cape of Good Hope, M. 34’S,, and thence on until after we reached Dunedin, New "
tion, and her medical otncer of health the future.
seems
hopeful
for
Peterbo7ough (Urban).-Dr. Thompson reports a death-rate 1879, as against 24-1 in 1878. Scarlet fever appears to have been prevalent ia the city during a great part of the year. But Peterborough has neither a hospital nor a disinfecting apparatus ! for infectious diseases Thingoe.-Mr. Charles Scott Kilner reports a death-rate of 16’5 per 1000 population in this rural district for the past year, as against 12’5 in 1878, the greater mortality occurring among infants and persons above sixty years of age. Tottenham.-Dr. Watson refers to the extraordinary growth of this place. From February, 1875, to February, 1880, the Local Board, it appears, have approved of no less than 15,500 (or thereabouts) plans for houses. of 224 in
Nevertheless the death-rate from all causes in 1879 did not exceed 17 ’6, and there are other indications that the sanitary administration of Tottenham is now being carried out by its Local Board with much efficiency.
THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS. a special meeting of the Council, held on Wednesday Mr. John Cooper Forster was unanimously re-elected last, At a a member of the Court of Examiners in Surgery. on the minutes of the held Thursday, quarterly meeting, preceding ordinary meeting, held March lltb, were confirmed, after a long criticism, by Mr. Simon ; the report of the Committee on bye-laws relating to fees being adopted, with some modifications, the most important of which is the retention of the payment of fees by examiners on election. The Collegiate Triennial Prize was awarded to Mr. G. A. Woods, of Southport, for his essay on " The Anatomy and Physiology of the Third, Fourth, and Sixth Nerves."
AT
Correspondence. "Audi alteram partem."
MR. BADCOCK’S EXPERIMENTS ON THE VARIOLISATION OF KINE. To the Editor of THE LANCET. SIR,-Mr. Badcock, of St. James’s-street, Brighton, hav-
ing suffered in his infancy severely, and being much marked with the small-pox, determined upon performing some experiments upon some cows, which he kept, by inoculating them with the matter of the small-pox taken from the human subject. About forty years ago, the late Sir Cordy Burrows gave Mr. Badcock some small-pox ichor, which he had taken from one of his patients ; Mr. Badcock inserted this ichor into one of his cows. After the lapse of a week, when it had produced a vesicle upon the cow, a human subject was vaccinated with the lymph thus produced, and the
result was the facsimile of the vesicle which Jenner discovered fifty years before. Mr. Badcock employed a photographer, who took from the cow the likeness of the vesicle which he had produced, and then exhibited the photographs to the Brighton Medical Society, thus triumphantly confirming the value of Jenner’s discovery, and placing the power of the vaccine upon an indisputable basis. The vaccine discovered and the vaccine produced being identical, it is a proof that the vaccine is unalterable, for after passing through the constitutions of 2500 persons during fifty years, it remains precisely the same thing. The fact is, vaccinia is a disease stti generis, and, like the small-pox, measles, and scarlet fever, incapable of admixture with any other disease. If you sow a radish seed you cannot produce a cucumber. If you sow a bean you will not produce a carrot. As well might it be said, that you can produce vaccinia by syphilis, as that you can produce syphilis by vaccine. This is not my opinion only, but also of aU those public vaccinators (and their name is legion) whose opinions 1 have elicited upon the subject. I accompanied Mr. Badcock to his stall, and saw him take some
protective
vaccine from a cow which he had variolated the week before. Being at the time public vaccinator to the Western district of Brighton, I inserted the matter so taken, which Mr, Badcock kindly gave me at the time, into one of the children. I kept up thatsupply for about twenty years, until Ire. signed the office, as I preferred the matter so converted to others. A great objection, and much of the prejudice against vaccination, would, I think, be removed by the most gentle method of vaccinating. I make a few horizontal scratches on the arm, just penetrating the cuticle ; then, reo moving the blood and stretching open the incision, I insert the matter. By this means I have produced excellent vesicles without awakening a child who was asleep. By this method a peculiar mark is left on the arm, which is easily recognisable. Since my retiring from practice in 1870, Dr. Ross informs me two epidemics of small-pox have occurred in Brighton, but that not one person so marked by me has ever been attacked by the small-pox. One peculiarity with me is that I always vaccinate both arms, and taking the matter from one arm leave the other untouched, to be absorbed into the constitution, for the better protection of the person vaccinated. All honour, then, to Messrs. Ceely and Badcock, who have thus so satisfactorily solved the problem, till that time inexplicable-namely, Why does vac. cination prevent the small-pox ? and thus, by placing it as it were into a living alembic, have transmuted the small. pox from a repulsive, disfiguring, blinding, deadly disease into one perfectly harmless, as we have seen in Brighton, even to an infant just born. I am, Sir, yours respectfully, D. RICHARDSON. M.R.C.S., L.S. A. D. L.S.A. RICHARDSON, M.R.C.S., Newhaven, Sussex, March, 1880.
all
SIR W. JENNER, BART., ON ENTERIC FEVER. To the Editor of THE LANCET. the last San Francisco mail arrived the numbers SiR,—By of THE LANCET for November containing Sir William Jenner’s address on the treatment of enteric fever and Sir Joseph Fayrer’s address on assuming office as president of the Epidemiological Society. I should not presume to question Sir W. Jenner’s authority on any point as far as concerns enteric fever, as seen in London, or even in England-although enteric fever in rural districts among paupers differs widely from that seen in London-but a reference to Sir Joseph Fayrer’s address shows that on one important point the Indian authorities are at variance with Sir W. Jenner. The latter speaks of it repeatedly as a specific disease, produced, "in the majority of cases at least, by the action of a small por. tion of the excreta from the bowel of a person suffering from 15th, 1879, p. 71,) typhoid fever." (THE LANCET, Nov. Sir Joseph Fayrer maintains that " a form of fever exactly like European typhoid, except in its etiology, exists in India, and other hot and malarious countries, and that itis due to climatic causes, not to filth or specific causes,"(THE LANCET, Nov. 8th, 1879, p. 678.) The italics are mine. Sir William Jenner maintains that he has "never knowna case of typhoid fever cut short by any remedial agent that is cured," and that the " natural duration ofa well. of typhoid fever is from twenty-eight to developed case " thirty days." Sir Joseph quotes from a report of SurgeonMajor A. Clarke a statement that numerous cases entered as enteric were discharged, and at their duty five or six
days afterwards, though " rose-spots are invariably present,
and in fatal cases the lesions of Peyer’s patches are well marked." In other words, the disease is either cut short by treatment, or there are numerous cases of such a mild character that they get well in a few days. Now, everyone who has seen enteric fever in tropical countries and amongst other than European races, must agree with Sir Joseph Fayrer. The disease is most protean in its character, and unless one is prepared to maintain that in the same house, in the same climate, amongst people living under exactly the same conditions, two or more forms of fever can spring up at the same time, one must admit that the same poison will vary in its effects on different in. dividuals according to their constitutional peculiarities. I have seen an epidemic of enteric fever breaking out on board an emigrant ship in lat. 41° ]B.,,.DtinuiDg with us after we had rounded the Cape of Good Hope, M. 34’S,, and thence on until after we reached Dunedin, New "