THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
INTRODUCTION
' Throughout the civilized world at
the present time the vaccination delu-
sion is almost everywhere in full sway.
The Health Boards of the various
cities demand it, and usually do every-
thing that they can to enforce it. Rarely
are they able to give even an ordinarily
reasonable excuse for vaccination. They
do not know why they vaccinate, further
than their belief that vaccination will
prevent smallpox. This belief is not
based on any particular theories of their
own that they may have deduced from
personal experience, but has been secured
from their medical colleges, or the phy-
sicians who preceded them in authority
on the Health Board. It has always
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
been supposed that vaccination would
prevent smallpox, and why should it be
questioned? is their argument.
This condition of affairs has induced
me to publish in full, with some addi-
tions, the address given by Dr. J. W.
Hodge, at Buffalo, April ii, 1902.
The facts herein presented can be
vouched for in every instance. They
are not a mere accumulation of wild
theories, and anyone with reasoning
powers who will carefully consider them
without prejudice, can hardly fail to con-
demn the vaccination delusion in most
emphatic terms.
There is no need of mentioning the
baneful, and often hideous results, from
this superstition. Lockjaw, blood poison-
ing and bodily distortions, are only a
few of its frightful results.
Vaccination means the poisoning of
/ the blood. It is the introduction into
the circulation of the dried pus — poison
that exudes from a running sore. Those
4
The vaccination supers flTION,
vitally strong are able to resist its influ-
ence, and, apparently recover, without
noticeable harm, but many suffer se-
verely, and pneumonia, diphtheria and
scarlet fever are only a few of ^ the
diseases that are often produced as an
after result of the lessened vital strength
and polluted blood that vaccination fre-
quently causes.
Though vaccination may, while the
inflammation of the sore remains, tend,
to lessen the danger of smallpox, it
certainly does lessen the general func-
tional vigor, and every disease accom-
panied by inflammation, especially of the
throat and lungs, is extremely liable to
result.
Smallpox is only possible to those
who clothe heavily, bathe infrequently,
eat very heartily and exercise rarely. It
is the accumulation of impurities in the
blood, and the inability of the inactive
pores of the skin to assist in their elim-
ination that gives this disease its victims.
5
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
We are a virulent enemy of vaccin-
ation :
(i) Because it does not prevent
smallpox ;
(2) Because it lessens one's vital
strength and power to resist internal
inflammatory diseases ;
(3) Because smallpox itself, when
treated properly, is easily and quickly
curable.
That' those who are interested in
crushing this superstition may have an
opportunity to distribute books of value
along this line, in addition to this pam.
phlet we have published a ten-cent edi-
tion of Dr. Felix Oswald's book, entitled
"Vaccination a Crime;" former price of
this book was $1.00.
A CITY FREED FROM
SMALLPOX
To Dr. Friedricli, in charge of the
Health Board of Cleveland, Ohio, is due
the credit of furnishing the civilized
world with an example of a large city
being absolutely free from smallpox, and
it would be well to note that one of
the first means that he adopted in pro-
ducing this result was to abolish vacci-
nation absolutely.
The methods adopted by Dr. Fried-
rich in accomplishing these results are
of such vast importance that I here-
with give to my readers in full his
recent report giving in detail the meth-
ods adopted by him in abolishing this
disease.
" It aflfords me great pleasure to state
that the house-to-house disinfection freed
Cleveland from smallpox. Since August 23,
7
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
1901, to this very hour of writing, about
April I, 1902, not a single case has ori-
ginated in this city, but seven cases were
imported. The disease raged here unin-
terruptedly since 1898. We relied upon
vaccination and quarantine as the most
effective weapons to combat it, but in
spite of all our efforts it doubled itself
every year and was in a fair way of
repeating the record of last year, as in
1900 we had 993 cases, and from January
I St to July 21,1901, the number amounted
to 1,223 On this date I was called to
take charge of the health office with
seventeen cases on hand. I had been
in the city's employ ever since 1899
and it had fallen to my lot to investigate
and diagnose most of the cases of small-
pox that occurred in Cleveland. During
that time I observed that, after disinfec-
tion with formaldehyde of a house in
which we had found smallpox, never
another case could be traced to this house.
On the other hand^ vaccination had given us
8
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
many untoward symptoms. Frequently it
did not 'take- at all. One-fourth of all cases
developed sepsis instead of vaccini, SOME
ARMS SWELLED CLEAR DOWN TO
THE WRIST JOINT, WITH PIECES
OF FLESH AS BIG AS A SILVER
DOLLAR AND TWICE AS THICK
DROPPING RIGHT OUT, LEAVING
AN UGLY, SUPPURATING WOUND,
WHICH TO HEAL TOOK IN MANY
CASES OVER THREE MONTHS. Fi^
nally, four cases of tetanus developed after
vaccination, so that the people became alarmed,
and rightly so,
"I laid these facts before Mayor
Johnson and proposed to stop vaccination
entirely, and instead of it disinfect thor-
oughly with formaldehyde every section
of the city where smallpox had made its
appearance; also to give the city a gen-
eral cleaning up. The Mayor not only
consented to my plan, but also gave me
all aid needed. I formed two squads of
disinfectors, preferring medical students
9
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
for the work. Each squad consisted of
twenty men, with a regular sanitary pat-
rolman at their head, and each man was
provided with a formaldehyde generator.
Thus equipped they started out to disin-
fect every section of the city where the
disease had shown its head, and every
house in this section, no matter if small-
pox had been within or not, and every
room, nook and corner of the house,
special attention being paid to winter
clothes that had been stored away, pre-
sumably laden with germs. It took over
three months to do the work, but the
result was most gratifying. After July
23d seven more cases developed, the last
one August 23d.
As a result of it, Cleveland is now
free from smallpox, and from the worst
infected city it has now become the
cleanest.
10
THE VACCINATION
SUPERSTITION
FREEDOM FROM SMALLPOX TO BE REALIZED THROUGH
THE ATTAINMENT OF HEALTH, NOT THE
PROPAGATION OF DISEASE.
In view of the fact that a bold
attempt has recently been made by a
representative of the self-styled "regular*'
profession to place upon our statute
books a compulsory vaccination measure,
the provisions of which mark a height
of brazen effrontery which medical des-
potism has never before reached in the
Empire State; and, inasmuch as the
public mind is largely occupied with
the questions of smallpox and vaccina-
tion at the present, the discussion of
some phases of these subjects seems
timely and appropriate.
I desire to treat this important topic,
not in a spirit of contentiousness, but
with a sincere desire to get at the truth
even though in so doing some unwel-
come facts are disclosed and some cher-
II
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
ished ideals are dispelled. My aim is
to consider facts as I find them and
not as I wish they were.
The advocates of vaccination unhesi-
tatingly assert that the vaccine disease
protects its subjects from smallpox, but
the facts, so far as we know them, do
not warrant this assertion. Indeed, the
theory which assumes to conserve health
by propagating disease has always had
a formidable array of facts to oppose
it.
From the days of Jenner to the
present time, cases of smallpox have
appeared among those who were sup-
posed to be protected by vaccination,
and these in no small numbers. When
Jenner began the practice of vaccination
in 1798, he rashly assumed that one
"successful*' vaccination was a preven-
tive of smallpox for an entire lifetime.
This, it is readily seen, was a mere
hypothesis on his part, because in the
very nature of the case it was not pos-
12
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
sible to determine at that time that the
artificial production of one disease would
surely prevent, forever afterward, in that
subject, the occurrence of another disease
(smallpox).
Assumption is not law, and Jenner
lived to witness the folly of his error.
I here present a few examples, out
of many thousands which are at hand,
to warrant the affirmation that vaccina-
tion does not protect its subjects from
smallpox.
The London Morning Advertiser of
Nov. 24, 1870, reports:
"Smallpox is making still greater
havoc in the ranks of the Prussian
army, which is said to have thirty thou-
sand smallpox patients in its hospitals."
These were all vaccinated and re-vaccin-
ated.
Dr. G. F. Kolb, of the Royal Statis-
tical Commission of Bavaria, officially
states: "In the Kingdom of Bavaria,
where no one for many years, except
13
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
the newly born, escaped vaccination,
there were in the epidemic of 1871 no
less than 30,742 cases of smallpox, of
whom 29,429 had been vaccinated, as is
shown by the documents of the State
Department."
The Lancet (London) of July 15, 1871,
editorially states:
"The deaths from smallpox have
assumed the proportions of a plague.
Over 10,000 lives have been sacrificed
during the past year in England and
Wales. In London, 5,641 deaths have
occurred since Christmas. Of 9,392 pa-
tients in the London smallpox hospitals,
no less than 6,854 had been vaccinated^
i. e., nearly 73 per cent. Taking the
mortality at \^\ per cent, of those at-
tacked, and the deaths this year in the
whole country at 10,000, it will follow
that more than 122,000 vaccinated per-
sons have suflfered from smallpox. This
is an alarming state of things. Can we
greatly wonder that the opponents of
14
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
vaccination should point to such sta-
tistics as an evidence of the failure of
the systenai? It is necessary to speak
plainly on this important matter."
Statistics of similar import might be
quoted by the page, chapter and vol-
ume, but time and space forbid. One
such fact is as good as a thousand, be-
cause it effectually destroys the foundation
of the theory of preventive vaccination.
In the annual report of the Health
Department of the City of New York,
1870-71, it is stated:
"This extraordinary prevalence of
smallpox over various parts of the globe,
especially in countries where vaccination
has long been efficiently practiced; its
occurrence in its most fatal form in per-
sons who gave evidence of having been
well vaccinated, and the remarkable sus-
ceptibility of people of all ages to re-
vaccination, are new facts in the history
of this pestilence, which must lead to
reinvestigation of the whole subject of
IS
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
vaccination and of its claim as a pro-
tecting agent/'
A. M. Ross, M. D., A. M., an eminent
old school physician of Toronto, in writ-
ing about the Montreal smallpox epi-
demic of 1885, said:
"Whoever closely watched the course
of the epidemic in Montreal must con-
clude that vaccination is utterly useless
as a protection from smallpox. Much
of what transpired in our smallpox hos-
pitals was suppressed, especially what-
ever was likely to operate against the
progress of vaccination, which proves a
golden harvest to the vaccinators. But
notwithstanding the conspiracy of silence,
a few official reports came out, pregnant
with proof against vaccination, and de-
monstrating beyond question that a
large proportion of the patients admit-
ted to our smallpox hospitals had been
vaccinated, and that many of them died,
some with two and others with three
vaccine marks upon their bodies."
16
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
The New York Medical Journal^ edited
by Frank P. Foster, M. D., in its issue of
July 22, 1899, contains an article, entitled
"Vaccination in Italy," written by Charles
Ruata, M. D., Professor of Hygiene and
of Materia Medica in the University of
Perugia, Italy, in which he demonstrates
by the presentation of the most trust-
worthy official statistics, that preventive
vaccination in that country has been a
complete and certain failure.
Prof. Ruata prefaces his article with
the following affirmation:
"Italy is one of the best vaccinated
countries in the world, if not the best
of all, and we can prove that mathe-
matically." He says: "Our young men,
with few exceptions, at the age of
twenty years must enter the army,
where a regulation prescribes compulsory
vaccination.** After having quoted the
official statistics of the Italian Govern-
ment as proof of his assertion, he sayS:
"For twenty years before 1885, our n^,
•
»7
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
tion was vaccinated in the proportion
of 98.5 per cent. Notwithstanding, the
epidemics of smallpox that we have had
have been something so frightful that
nothing before the invention of vaccina-
tion could equal them.*'
In Italy, having a population of 30,-
000,000,98.5 percent, of whom were officially
declared vaccinated, Dr. Ruata goes onto say :
"During the year 1887, we had 16,-
249 deaths from smallpox; in 1888, 18,-
iio, and in 1889, 13,413." In referring
to the Italian army, in which "vaccina-
tion had been performed twice a year
in the most satisfactory manner for
many years past," Dr. Ruata says: "Now
we see that soldiers not protected be-
cause vaccinations did not 'take* were
less attacked by smallpox than those
'duly protected' by the good results of
their re-vaccination ; and that the death-
rate in those vaccinated with good results
was greater than among those in whom
vaccination did not take."
|8
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
In regard to the vaccine material
used, Dr. Ruata says:
"I have limited my analysis to the
last six years, during which time the
only lymph used in all our army has
been animal lymph, exclusively, furnished
by the Government Institute for the
production of animal lymph." After
having cited the government statistics,
which sustain his conclusion, Prof. Ruata
remarks: "The *duly protected' soldiers
were attacked by smallpox in a propor-
tion double that among the 'unprotected'
soldiers.
"As you see, these are official state-
ments, extremely trustworthy because
they were made in a country where
and at a time when, no one thought
that it was possible to raise a doubt
against the dogma of vaccination. In
our country," he continues, "we have no
league against vaccination, and every
father thinks that vaccination is one of
his first duties. For these reasons no
J9
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
bias could exist against vaccination in
making these statistics."
The figures of these statistical re-
cords presented in the New York Med-
ical Journal, from the pen of an eminent
professor in an Italian University, stand
as unimpeachable witnesses to the fact
that preventive vaccination has been a
complete failure in Italy, which we are
assured is one of the most thoroughly
vaccinated countries on the globe.
I now call another witness, Prof.
Alfred Russel Wallace, LL.D., F.R.S.,
the co-discoverer with Darwin of the
theory of evolution, an expert statistician
and one of the ablest scientific men of
England. In his latest great scientific
work, entitled "The Wonderful Century,"
Professor Wallace has devoted a chapter
to the consideration of the most trust-
worthy statistics, on a large scale, as re-
lating to. smallpox and vaccination. He
tells us that in April, of the year 1889,
Queen Victoria appointed a commission
ao
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
of eight of the most distinguished med-
ical men of England and quite a num-
ber of eminent men in other professions,
to investigate the question of the effect
of vaccination. This commission, we are
told, spent more than seven years in its
investigation, held 136 meetings, ex-
amined about 200 vritnesses, and investi-
gated six epidemics which had occurred
in recent years at Gloucester, Sheffield,
Warrington, Dewsbury, Leicester and
London.
It is upon the evidence presented in
the majority report of this commission
that Prof. Wallace bases his statements
and conclusions, some of which I here-
with present. He has critically exam-
ined the early tests employed by the
advocates of vaccination to prove the
alleged protective influence of the prac-
tice, and has pointed out the fallacy
and complete inefficiency of these tests.
He has brought together an array of
remarkable test cases which illustrate
21
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
the utter worthlessness of vaccination.
Of these crucial tests I shall be able
to present but a few:
"The first is that of Leicester,
which for the past twenty years has
rejected vaccination till it has now al-
most vanished, and smallpox is almost
unknown. The second is that of the
army and navy in which, for a quarter
of a century, every recruit had been
re-vaccinated, unless he had been re-
cently vaccinated or had smallpox. In
the first we have an almost unvaccinated
population of nearly 200,000, which, on
the theory of the vaccinators, should
have suffered exceptionally from small-
pox; in the other we have a picked
body of nearly 220,000 men who, on the
evidence of the medical authorities, are
as w'ell protected as they know how to
make them, and among whom, therefore,
smallpox should be almost or quite
absent, and smallpox deaths quite un-
known. Let us see, then, what has
22
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
happened in these two cases. In both
it has been clearly proven that small-
pox increased with the increase of vac-
cination, and decreased under sanita-
tion, cleanliness and hygienic living."
After having set forth page upon page
of these test cases, Prof. Wallace observes :
"It is thus completely demonstrated
that all the statements by which the
public has been gulled for so many
years, as to the almost complete im-
munity of the re-vaccinated Army and
Navy, are absolutely false. It is all
what Americans call 'bluff.' There is
no immunity. They have no protection.
When exposed to infection they do
suffer just as much as other popula-
tions, or even more. In the whole of
the nineteen years, 1878-96, inclusive,
unvaccinated Leicester had so few small-
pox deaths that the Registrar-General
represented the average by the decimal
o.oi per thousand population, equal to
ten per million, while for the twelve
23
The vaccination superstition
years 1878-89 there was less than one
death per annum. Here we have real
immunity y real protection; and it is ob-
tained by attending to sanitation and
isolation, coupled with the almost total
neglect of vaccination. Neither army nor
navy can show any such results as this."
"Now," says Prof. Wallace, "if there
exists such a thing as a crucial test,
this of the army and navy as compared
with Leicester, affords such a test. The
populations concerned are hundreds of
thousands; the time extends over a
generation; the statistical facts are clear
and indisputable; while the case of the
army and navy has been falsely alleged
again and again to afford indisputable
proof of the value of vaccination when
performed on adults."
Prof. Wallace produces official sta-
tistics which verify his affirmation that,
'The town of Leicester is, and has
been for the past twenty years, the
least vaccinated town in the kingdom.
24
THE VACCINATION 'SUPERSTITION
Its average population from 1873 to 1894
was about two-tfiirds of that of the
army during the same period. Yet
smallpox deaths in the army and navy
were thirty-seven per million, those of
Leicester under fifteen per million."
Prof. Wallace justly declares: "It
is not possible to have a more complete
and crucial test than this is, and it
absolutely demonstrates the utter use-
lessness, or worse than uselessness, of
re-vaccination."
" Before leaving Leicester, " says
Prof. Wallace, "it will be instructive to
compare it with some other towns of
which statistics are available. And first,
as to the great epidemic of 1871-72 in
Leicester and in Birmingham. Both
towns were then well vaccinated, and
both suffered severely by the epidemic.
Thus : •
Per 10,000 population Leicester Birmingham
Smallpox cases 327 213
Smallpox deaths 35 35
25
The vaccination superstition
"But since then Leicester has re-
jected vaccination to' such an extent
that in 1894 it had only seven vaccina-
tions to 10,000 population, while Bir-
mingham had 240, or more than thirty
times as many, and the proportion of
its inhabitants who have been vaccinated
is probably less than one-half of that
of Birmingham. The Commissioners
themselves state that the disease (small-
pox) was brought into the town of
Leicester on twelve separate occasions
during the recent epidemic, yet the
following is the result:
1891-94.
Per 10,000 population Leicester Birmingham
Smallpox cases 19 63
Smallpox deaths i i-io 5
"Here we see that Leicester had
less than one-third the cases of smallpox
and less than one-fourth the deaths in
proportion to population than well vac-
cinated Birmingham; so that both the
alleged protection from attacks of the
26
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
disease and mitigation of its severity,
when it does attack, are shown not
only to be absolutely untrue, but to
apply, in this case, to the absence of
vaccination."
The last quotation from "The Won-
derful Century" which I shall here pre-
sent is the following :
"But we have yet another example
of an extremely well-vaccinated town in
this epidemic — Warrington, an official
report on which has been issued. It is
stated that 99.2 per cent, of the popula-
tion had been vaccinated, yet comparison
with unvaccinated Leicester stands as
follows :
Epidemic of 1892-93.
Per 10,000 population Leicester Warrington
Smallpox cases 19 3 123.3
Smallpox deaths 1.4 1 1.4
"Here, then, we see that in the
thoroughly vaccinated town the cases
are more than six times, and the deaths
more than eight times, that of the
27
thb vaccination superstition
almost unvaccinated town, again provinj
that the most efficient vaccination doe=r
not diminish the number of attacks, an^c:
does not mitigate the severity of th ^^
disease, but that both these results fol-
low from sanitation and isolation."
The history of smallpox in Leicester*,
England, has, as pointed out by Pro/.
Wallace, furnished conclusive testimony
to the world that smallpox can be con-
fined within very narrow limits without
any assistance . (?) from the vaccine
operation.
In 1872, when Leicester was a well-
vaccinated city, it was visited by a small-
pox epidemic and suffered a heavy
mortality. The doctors had so overdone
the business of coercive vaccination, and
public prosecution, that the people arose
en masse in open revolt against the prop-
agation of the vaccinator's poison. This
emphatic protest had the effect of check-
ing vaccination and of diminishing the
percentage of vaccinations to the number
28
^^£ VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
^^ "births. From page 209 of "The Won-
derfiii Century" I quote the following:
**But immediately after the great
^^oester epidemic of 1872, which was
^^^Se than in London, the people began
X'eject vaccination, at first slowly, then
^^^e rapidly, till for the last eight
y^^Ts (1890-98) less than five per cent.
^ the births have been vaccinated.
*^^ting the whole of the last twenty-four
y^ars smallpox deaths have been very
^^w, and during twelve consecutive years,
187^89, there was a total ot only eleven
smallpox deaths in this populous town."
Thus, we see the history of Leicester
presents one of the best object lessons
of the past thirty years; for since its
smallpox epidemic of 1872 its citizens
not only arose in open revolt and rid
themselves of the incubus of vaccination,
but also instituted as thorough a system
of sanitation as their crowded population
of nearly 200,000 would admit of. Lei-
cester, therefore, under the guidance of
29
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
a creed, the main articles of which are
founded on the teachings of sanitary
science and obedience to the laws of
hygiene, stands out clear and distinct
above all other cities in England, both
as a rebuke to the vaccine practice, and
as a testimony that salvation from the
contagion of smallpox lies in the direc
tion of sanitary regulations and hygienic
habits of life. In defence of the Lei-
cester system, which is simply a system
of thorough sanitation, the report of its
medical officer for 1893 tells a story
which should be emphatically and re-
peatedly impressed upon the mind of
every health-board official throughout the
civilized world.
Addressing his townsmen, the Lei-
cester health officer said: "You are en-
titled to great credit, more especially in
the case of smallpox, which, by the
methods you have adopted, has been
prevented from running riot throughout
the town, thereby upsetting all the
30
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
prophecies which have again and again
been made. I need only mention such
towns as Birmingham, Warrington, Brad-
ford, Walsall, Oldham, and the way they
have suffered during the past year from
the ravages of smallpox, to give you an
idea of the results you in Leicester have
achieved — results of which I, as your medi-
cal officer of health,am justly,! think, proud."
The foregoing are a few of the
hundreds of demonstrations that can be
cited of the utter worthlessness of vacci-
nation as a preventive of smallpox. If
protection is good for anything, it should
be effective during the prevalence of
an epidemic; but, as we have seen,
that is just where the unvaccinated en-
joy the greater immunity from the vari-
olous infection. Can any one explain
why it is, that the vaccine practice con-
tinues to be perpetuated, and the con-
tagion of the cowpox disorder to be
propagated by the medical profession in
the face of such evidence as this?
3?
I
J
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
The statement of such demonstra-
tions as these puts the advocates of vac-
cination in a very awkward predicament,
to say the least. A knowledge of such
clean-cut facts should be sufiBlcient to
destroy in unprejudiced minds all belief
in the efficacy of so-called preventive
vaccination.
The ancient theory which ignores
the laws of hygiene and sanitation by
teaching the absurd doctrine that the
propagation of the contagion of disease
by ingrafting it into the bodies of
healthy people can be advantageous to
the well-being of a community, should
find no favor with the sanitary rationalist
of the twentieth century and, in my
humble opinion, deserves the open con-
demnation of every scientific physician.
Belief in this curious dogma has
tended to foster a disregard for cleanli-
ness. By leading people to overlook the
real cause and to neglect the true pre-
VQUtivQ of smallpox, it has done much
32
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
to obstruct the progress of truth and to
retard the evolution of hygiene and
sanitary science.
Instead of having been instructed by ^
their family physician to observe the
laws of health and to avoid the causes
of disease, people have on the contrary
been taught, for a century, to rely upon
a fetich for immunity from a filth-
disease.
The only measure which has been
found competent to cope with smallpox
and other zymotic diseases is cleanliness.
As people learn to keep their dwelling
apartments clean and well ventilated,
their streets and alleys free from the
accumulation of filth, their water supply
pure, their food free from injurious
adulteration, their bodies free from the
accumulation of eflfete tissue, by taking
plenty of exercise in the open air, they
rise superior to the thraldom of zymotic
disorders.
There is no exception to this rule. /
33 ^
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
Whom do these diseases attack? The
untidy and unclean. What neighbor-
hoods do they visit ? The filthiest.
What cities do they select? Those in
which sanitary conditions are most
neglected. Note the smallpox epidemic
of Montreal of 1885, Mn which 3,400
people died of the disease. Who were
the victims? The very lowest class of
society, children who were filthy, neglect-
ed and ill-fed, who were living in
houses that were overcrowded, destitute
of proper ventilation, and in courts and
alleys reeking with filth and where
sanitation is a term unknown.
So-called " successful " vaccination is
nothing less than the implanting into
the healthy organism the virulent pro-
ducts of diseased animal tissue, with the
eflEect of inducing actual disease. The
performance of such an operation, in
the very nature of the case, violates
every principle of modern aseptic sur-
gery, the legitimate aim of which is to
34
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
retnove from the organism the products
of disease and never to introdtue them.
The chief aim of the modern surgeon
is to make and treat wounds aseptically.
The careful operator employs every
means at his command to clear the
field of operation of all bacteria, and
he uses every available resource of the
marvelously minute and intricate tech-
nique of asepsis to prevent the entrance,
through wounded tissue, into the organ-
ism of any germ or morbific agent
before, during, and after an operation.
He fears sepsis as he fears death; and
yet, under the blighting and blinding
influence of an ancient and venerated
superstition, he will intentionally inocu-
late into the circulation of a healthy
human being the virulent animal poison,
vaccine virus, the infective products of
diseased animal tissues, under strictly
aseptic conditions.
Think of the unparalleled absurdity
of deliberately infecting the organism
35
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
of a healthy child, in this era of sani-
tary science and aseptic surgery, with
the poisonous matter obtained from a
sore on a diseased calf, under the pre-
tense of protecting the victim of the
ingrafted disease against the contagion
of another disease! Can inconsistency
, go farther than this? Inoculating an
indeterminate lot of microbes into a
healthy organism under aseptic precau-
tions! ' Ladies and gentlemen of this
society, just think of it!
In considering the subject of pre-
ventive vaccination the question arises:
What is vaccinia? And what is it th^t
the vaccinator implants into the healthy
human organism? Into this part of the
subject time forbids me to enter, except
to point out a few brief quotations from
high authorities on this subject.
From the American Text Book of
Diseases of Children, article Vaccination,
by T. S. Westcott, M. D., (p. 192) I
quote the following: "The exact nature
36
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
of vaccinal disease is a question which
has been the subject of repeated theor-
izing and experimentation since the time
of Jenner, and even at the present day
no concensus of opinion has been
reached." Many pro-vaccinal authorities
aver the belief that vaccinia is small-
pox modified or attenuated by passing
through the system of a cow. This
theory, however, rests on very inconclu-
sive evidence and must soon be relin-
quished.
Dr. Chauven, in his notable address
before the French Academy of Medicine,
October, 1891, after detailing his elabor-
ate experiments, which had continued for
years, concludes:
(i) "Vaccine virus never gives small-
pox to man;
(2) "Variolic virus never gives vac-
cinia to the cow;
(3) "Vaccinia is not even attenuated
smallpox."
Vaccinia is, in all probability, a
37
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
the theory of the great antiquity of man
on the earth), which table formed the
basis of *his thesis read before the
American Association of Physicians and
Surgeons at Indianapolis, in January,
1896, and which has been now for more
than six years unquestioned by the pro-
fession. This table, a copy of which I
now present you, is a condensed state-
ment in parallel columns of the primary
and secondary symptoms of smallpox,
cowpox and syphilis, from the separate
descriptions of the most renowned
authorities upon these several diseases.-
It shows an almost complete likeness
between the two latter and a total un-
likeness of each to smallpox. Thus we
come face to face with the gravest and,
at the same time, the most disgusting
aspect of the whole vaccination problem.
Here we have some of the highest
authorities who have produced the clear-
est evidence showing that vaccinia is
modified syphilis. The chronic and pro-
40
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
lean manifestations which at times fol-
low vaccination must have impressed us
all with their close analogy to syphilitic
lesions.
Prof. Alfred Russell Wallace has
proven by the testimony submitted in
the Majority Report of the Royal Com-
mission of Inquiry on Vaccination, that
the cowpox practice instead of protect-
ing its subjects from the contagion of
smallpox, actually rendered them more
susceptible to it. This conclusion, based
upon facts, is in harmony with the
physician's daily observations and ex-
periences. Health is the ideal state to
be sought for and attained, not disease.
Disease should always be avoided.
Every pathogenic disturbance in the in-
fected organism wastes and lowers the
vital powers, and thus diminishes its
natural resisting capacity.
This fact is so well known and so
universally conceded that it seems
superfluous to cite authorities. Neverthe-
41
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
less, at the risk of being considered
redundant, I shall mention a couple.
The American Text Book of Surgery,
one of the latest standard works (p. 59,)
says:
"The healthy body is intolerant of
bacteria and will resist the invasion of
a mass of organism which an inflamed
or diseased part may be unable to
withstand."
Another of the latest works, The
International Text Book of Surgery
(Vol. I. p. 263), is authority for the fol-
lowing statement:
"Persons weakened by disease or
worn out by excessive labor yield more
readily to infection than healthy indi-
viduals."
If this is true, it explains why, in
variolous epidemics, smallpox always
attacks the vaccinated first, and why
this disease continues to infest the
civilized world while its allied "filth-
diseases" have disappeared before the
42
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
advance of civilization, through the good
offices of sanitation, hygiene and isola-
tion of the sick.
In conclusion, I venture to think
that I am warranted in maintaining that
an impartial and comprehensive study
of vital statistics, gleaned from every
reliable source, proves that the exten-
sion of the practice of vaccination can-
not be shown to have any logical rela-
tion to the diminution of cases of
smallpox.
After a careful consideration of the
history of vaccination and smallpox, and
after an experience derived from having
vaccinated more than 3,000 subjects, I
am firmly convinced that Edward Jen-
ner saddled a legacy of disease and
death upon the human race, and inci-
dentally made $150,000 by the trans-
action ;
That the practice of vaccination has
been the means of disseminating some
of the most fatal and loathsome dis-
43
THE VACCINATION^ SUPERSTITK^'^
eases, such as leprosy, cancer, syphi^^^'
tetanus and tuberculosis;
That vaccination is not only usete^*
but positively injurious,
That instead of protecting its stt'^
jects .from the contagion of smallpox, ^
actually renders them more susceptib^
to it by depressing the vital powei — "
and diminishing natural resistance;
That vaccination was introduced at^
a time when smallpox was a diminish-^
ing factor, and, by checking smallpox
inoculation, withdrew a fertile source of
variolous propagation;
That the discontinuance of variolous
inoculation, therefore, rather than the
practice of vaccination, accounted for
the diminished prevalence of smallpox
during the first three decades of the
last century;
That previous to the introduction
of vaccination, variolous inoculation was
unanimously believed in and generally
practiced by the doctors of the self-
44
^HE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
*yled "regular" profession in multiply-
^^S smallpox cases by spreading the
contagion ;
That there is no evidence worthy of
^^^ name on record to prove that vaccina-
^oix either prevents or mitigates smallpox ;
That many thousands of healthy chil-
^■*^^'»^ have died from the effects of vac-
on;
That millions of vaccinated people
died of confluent smallpox while
^"V^ng the plainest vaccine scars on their
^^^ies;
That smallpox epidemics invariably
^"t^ck the vaccinated first;
That smallpox is a filth-disease
^^^ich ever follows closely upon flagrant
^^^^lations of the laws of hygiene and
^^xiitation ;
That the occurrences of all the great
epidemics of smallpox have coincided
"With periods of sanitary neglect;
That cowpox and venereal pox have
much in common;
45
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
That the analogy between the mani-
festations of vaccine and those o£
syphilis is so close that several oC
the most eminent pathologists of th^
world regard cowpox as a modified fonn.
of syphilis;
That the condition set up by vac-
cinia is often chronic and as protean
in its manifestations as is syphilis;
That the identity of cowpox and
syphilis was first clearly pointed out by
Dr. Hubert Boens-Boissan in 1882;
That so-called "spontaneous cowpox"
is a mjrth;
That cowpox is a disorder not natur-
al to the cow; that it never occurs
in bulls or steers, nor in young heifers
that have never been milked; that it is
a disease of milch cows which has been
communicated to them from sores on
hands of milkers who were suffering
from the "bad disease;"
That when these facts are fully
realized by the medical profession and
46
VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
^^^ X^ublic it will not take long to put
^^ ^nd to the crime of compulsory vac-
cina.-tion ;
That the community that has sani-
^^^ surroundings, a pure water supply,
^^^lesome food, good health and free-
^^^^O. from the blood-poisoning incident
"v-accination, need have no more fear
Smallpox than of measles;
That Leicester stands out clear and
_^^tinct above all the other cities in
^land, both as a rebuke to the vac-
t practice, and as a testimony that
A/ation from the infection of zymotic
^ases lies in the direction of sanitary
%nil^tions and hygienic habits of life;
That the legitimate function of the
e physician is not to propagate dis-
^, but to restore health and prevent
disease ;
That the attainment of health is
^lie gfreat desideratum;
That a state of health is the ideal
^tate to be sought after and attained;
47
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
That no man can be truly said to
be susceptible to the contagion of
smallpox or to that of any other dis-
ease so long as he is in a state of
perfect health;
That such a state resists and repels
the assaults of all morbific influences
and is therefore the best protective
against disease;
That it is never necessary to actu-
ally set up one disease in a healthy
organism to protect against another;
that such a procedure is an appalling
violation of the basic principles of
hygiene and sanitary science;
That immunity . from the contagion
of all diseases is to be realized through
the attainment of health, not by the
propagation of disease;
That the performance of the vaccine
operation, in the very nature of the
case, violates the cardinal precepts of
modern aseptic surgery, the aim of
which is to exclude from the economy
48
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
pathogenic bacteria and to remove the
products of disease from the organism,
and never to introdtice them;
That vaccination has utterly failed
to fulfill the flattering promises made
for it by Jenner and his followers;
That a portly volume could be filled
with the records of these failures;
That compulsory vaccination has
been abolished in Switzerland and Eng-
land, while laws sanctioning this crime
still disgrace the statute books of "free"
America ;
That compulsory vaccination ranks
with human slavery and religious perse-
cution as one of the most flagrant out-
rages upon the rights of the human race ;
That the vaccine operation, which
consists in abrading the epidermis and
implanting an indeterminate lot of
microbes into the organism of a healthy
person, is opposed to the laws of hygiene
and to all the teachings of modern
surgical practice;
49
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
That immunity from the contagion
of smallpox is to be realized through
the attainment of health, not by the
propagation of disease ;
That attention to hygiene and san-
itation, supplemented by segregation of
the sick, have robbed smallpox of all
its terrors;
That enlightenment on these subjects
is sure to bring the conviction that the
propagation of disease under the pretext
of preventing disease has been a malefaction^
instead of a benefaction to the human
race.
COMPARISON BETWEEN SMALL-
POX, COWPOX AND SYPHILIS.
For a continuation of the comparison of cowpoz and
syphilis see page 55.
SMALLPOX.
1. Eruption general, superficial.
2. Constitutional or general symp-
toms precede the eruption and are re-
lieved on its appearance.
50
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
3. Eruption first felt as a No. 8
bird shot beneath the skin, it then ap-
pears as a papule ; then a vesicle,
becoming pustular about the sth or 6th
day, is from one to three lines in
length; but the pustules are of various
kinds, irregular, elevated, generally
perforated by a hair, induration, if any,
very slight, no tendency to a gnawing
ulceration of the skin.
4. The fluid is contained in two
chambers — a superficial and a deep,
which communicate around the edges
of the separating membrane. The in-
fective material (if any) is carried in
the air.
5. The smallpox pustules leave no
scar if properly treated.
6. The smallpox eruption does not
affect the lymphatic system.
7. Infectious.
8. Inoculable.
9. The smallpox is epidemic taking
its rise in filthy localities.
51
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
(vaccination) cowpox.
Primary Lesion.
1. Eruption local, deep, in the cer-
ium of skin or subcutaneous tissue, or
in the mucous membrane.
2. Constitutional S3ntnptoms do not
precede but follow the eruption in all
cases.
3. Pustule* always the same, first a
papule, then a vesicle, becoming pustular
about the 8th day, 7 to 10 lines in
diameter, round, centrally depressed,
margin indurated and not perforated by
a hair, has a cellular membrane at floor,
tendency to a gnawing ulceration.
4. The fluid is contained in a single
chamber, reticulated, is non-volatile, and
the infection is communicated only by
immediate contact with an abraded sur-
face.
5. The cowpox leaves a foveated scar.
6. The cowpox poison permeates the
lymphatic channels and ganglia, causing
inflammation, buboes, and abscesses.
5^
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
7. Not infectious.
8. Inoculable.
9. Cowpox is independent of time
and place; communicated only by direct
inoculation.
GREATPOX OR SYPHILIS.
1. Eruption local, deep, in the corium
of skin or subcutaneous tissue, or in
the mucous membrane.
2. Constitutional symptoms do not
precede but follow the eruption in all
cases.
3. Pustule* always the same, first a
papule rapidly becoming pustular with-
out perceptibly passing through a vesi-
cular stage, 7 to 10 lines in diameter,
scooped out, deep funnel-shaped with
sloping edges often elevated, not perfo-
rated by a hair, has a fungoid membrane
at floor, tendency to a gnawing ulcer-
ation.
• I. e.^ The Chancre
Smallpox cured— no further symptoms manifested.
53
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
4. Absolutely the same as the cow-
pox.
5. Similar to the scar of cowpox,
but varies in character.
6. Absolutely the same as the cow-
pox.
7. Not infectious.
8. Inoculable.
9. Absolutely the same as cowpox.
The smallpox patient, upon recovery,
is free from the disease even if he is
marked by scars. Smallpox will not
beget either cowpox or syphilis. On
the contrary, there are various subse-
quent manifestations in vaccination, or
cowpox, which are remarkably like those
that appear in what are known as secon-
dary and tertiary periods of syphilis.
We have tabulated in parallel columns
some of the many manifestations that
appear in both these diseases, and a
glance will reveal their striking simi-
larity.
54
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
«
COWPOX. SYPHILIS
Phagedenic sores.
Nodes in the head.
Ophthalmia.
Dentition delayed
in children, with
production of the
so-called syphilitic
teeth.
Eczema of all
kinds.
Herpes.
Ready fracture
and difficult healing
of bone, also proba-
bly caries in some
cases.
Insanity, probably.
Scrofula.
Mucous patches on
tonsils, tongue and
lips tending to
ulceration.
Bronchitis.
Tuberculosis,prob-
ably.
Arrest of develop-
ment.
Phagedenic sores.
Nodes in the head.
Ophthalmia.
Dentition delayed
in children, with
production of the
so-called syphilitic
teeth.
Eczema.
Herpes.
Caries of bone.
Insanity.
Scrofula.
Mucous patches on
tonsils, tongue and
lip tending to
ulceration.
Bronchitis.
Tuberculosis.
Arrest of develop-
ment.
55
DR. RODERMUND^S
EXPERIMENT
On Monday, Jan. 21, 1901, about
11.30 A. M., I entered the residence of
Mr. , where Miss Stark was confined
with the smallpox.
As I entered the house Mr.
jumped from his chair and said: "We
are not allowed to let anyone enter this
house."
"Never mind/' I said, "I am not
anybody, so perhaps you have made no
mistake."
I then stated that I came to see the
smallpox patient.
"There she is," he said, pointing
towards a young woman, in a far corner
of the room. Mrs. sat by the win-
dow sewing, while a child about two
years old ran about the room.
TUB VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
"Are you not afraid of taking small-
pox from the girl?" I asked.
"No," replied the mother, "we are
not afraid."
"But the doctors say this disease is
very contagpious; are they not very -eare*
less and negligent in not keeping this
patient away from the rest of the family?
This is a genuine case of smallpox, just
see the large pustules full of pus. Of
course I know you can't take the disease
from another."
Then to show them that this was
true, I broke open several of the large
pustules on her face and arms and took
the pus out of them and smeared it all
over my face, hands, beard and clothes,
and at the same time remarked that I
would now go home to dinner.
I mentioned nothing of the affair to
my family during the meal and went
directly to my office without telling any-
one. The first person who came in the
office was an old friend, Rev. T., who
57
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
has a parish at North Milwaukee. We
shook hands heartily ; in fact, I had en-
tirely forgotten that I was covered with
smallpox poison. I presented him with
one of my books and, according to our
scientific and wilful deceivers of the
public, I must have covered the book
and gentleman with smallpox germs, and
he in return must have exposed many
people in Appleton, those he met on the
train, and finally his whole congregation.
The germs on the book, I suppose, are
still enjoying themselves in the spiritual
home of the reverend gentleman.
During the same afternoon I touched
the faces of several persons in my ofl&ce
while treating their eyes and fitting
glasses. From 4 to 6 and from 8 to 10
o'clock the same afternoon I was at the
Business Men's Club, where I mingled
and played cards with the members.
In the evening the conversation
drifted to the smallpox case I had visited
in the morning. After discussing the
S8
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
subject for a while, one of them asked
me if I would visit a smallpox patient
and then go home to my family. I
quietly remarked that I would just as
soon do it as visit a patient with a
common cold.
Finally, Mr. Dickinson, cashier in one
of our banks, remarked rather sarcasti-
cally: "Now, doctor, what's the use of
talking such nonsense, you would no
more think of visiting a smallpox patient
and then go home and sleep with your
family than you would go home and
shoot one of your children. You are too
sensible for that."
The reader can imagine the state of
my mind at that time, as none of them
had an inkling that I was at that very
time covered with smallpox pus, and that
the cards we were playing with were
being loaded with this poison. Still, I
never once mentioned my visit to them.
Further, I would never have gone to the
club-rooms if I had had the least idea
59
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
that my actions would ever be known, as
I knew the sentiment of these gentlemen
and I also had too much respect for
them and myself, to impose upon their
feelings, even if I did know that their
belief was a foolish superstition. I have
done similar acts dozens of times during
the past fifteen years and have in each
instance watched the results and not the
slightest harm has ever been done to
anyone.
To return to our subject, after leav-
ing the club-rooms that evening I went
home, slept with my family, and the
next morning took the train to Green
Bay, without washing my hands or face,
and wearing the same clothes. I took
breakfast at Green Bay and then went
to the store of Mr. M , who had
engaged me to fit glasses for his cus-
tomers on that day. I handled the faces
of twenty-seven persons during the day,
besides those I exposed on the streets
and in the train when on my way home.
60
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
The next morning (Wednesday) I
washed my hands and face, the first
time since they had been smeared with
pus 46J hours before. When I arrived
at my ofl&ce I found several reporters
waiting to ascertain if the report were
true that I had visited the smallpox
patient and had smeared myself with
pus. In the beginning I neither af-
firmed nor denied the accusation, be-
cause I did not want it known, but
upon inquiry I learned that one of the
neighbors had seen me come out of the
house and asked the health officer if
the family had changed doctors, as she
had seen Dr. Rodermund come out of
the house on Monday.
Consequently there was nothing for
me to do save tell the exact truth,
which I did. The newspapers, however,
mixed untruth with the truth in such a
way as to mislead the public. Among
other things they stated that I had per-
sonally bragged of what I had done,
61
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
when they knew that I never intended
it to become known to the world until
the people were ready to consider such
revolutionary truths for their own benefit.
I was allowed my freedom about
the city all day Wednesday, but on
Thursday, the fourth day, I was quaran-
tined and a guard of policemen stationed
around the house. The people had
been so aroused by the health ofl&cer,
doctors, city officials, and the newspapers,
that one of the policemen told me that
it was a good thing I was protected by
a strong guard, otherwise my life was
in danger.
Saturday I broke quarantine in spite
of five policemen, drove forty miles to
Waupaca, took the train for Chicago,
from there went to Terre Haute, Ind.,
and on my way back home was arrested
in Milwaukee and held for four days in
the pest house. This is a brief outline
of the whole episode which created
such a sensation.
6z
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
The sanctimonious frauds and de-
ceivers of the public (doctors) tried in
every way, shape and manner, to trace
a case of smallpox to my actions, but
W^ith no avail. Even after I had ex-
posed 50,000 people, and rubbed my
pus-covered hands over thirty-seven
faces, they could find nothing against
me. In the near future I will publish
a few similar incidents which have hap-
pened to me the past years, and which
are far more interesting than this one.
Why is not one out of the thous-
ands of these medical scoundrels, mur-
derers, and deceivers, ever turned up to
win the prize which reads as follows:
One thousand dollars will be given to
anyone who can prove that disease is con-
tagious; also ten dollars for each day it
takes him to prove it.
The doctors know that by superstition
the people can best be held. Then, I want
to ask you, are not the people more to blame
than the doctors ?
63
THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION
More than half the public do not believe
in contagion, but they lack the courage
to say so. Discussion and argument will
never change the present conditions.
They never settle a question where a
powerful body of men have law and
money o^ their side. A powerful public
sentiment, combined with true knowl-
edge, is the only remedy. As long as
you drowse in your old superstitions,
these murderers will continue to ruin
your constitutions for the money there is
in it.
Does any sane man believe that God
created such laws which, if disobeyed at
any time by one person, would spread a
loathsome disease over a whole nation?
This superstition is a blasphemy upon
Almighty justice. — Dr. Rodermund in The
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