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INTRODUCTION

I am well aware, that he who offers, at this time, any observations, however true and just, which are inimical to the practice of Vaccine Inoculation, will incur the impuration of prejudice, presumption and conceit ; and in all probability will be treated by some persons with the highest degree of ridicule and contempt. Yet having met with a great number of facts which very much militate against the practice, and, at least, render it very doubtful, I am compelled to differ in opinion with the discoverer, and the advocates who support vaccination, respecting its utility : and shall therefore, in the following pages, produce many instances to prove, that instead of its being a benefit and a blessing to mankind, it is a pernicious and baneful experiment. I shall endeavour, with the utmost candor, to convince those who at the present moment, for want of sufficient experience, entertain doubts respecting the propriety of vaccination ; and also, that part of the faculty who have not yet arrived at such a state of enthusiasm and infatuation in its favour as some have, that it is much inferior to small-pox inoculation ; a practice that has stood the test of long experience, and which in justice should not have been forsaken, nor any other mode adopted in its stead, unless sufficient reasons, established on the broad basis of truth and general experience, had been adducted in support of so singular a revolution in medicine ; but this has not been the case ; vaccination has been practised and encouraged by those who have little or no experience, either in the small-pox or its inoculation.

From: Observations on the pernicious Consequences of Cow-pox Inoculation; containing many well authenticated instances, proving its insecurity against Small-pox: also Remarks on the Advantages of Small-pox Inoculation. 2nd. Ed. with Considerable Additions, by Robert Squirrell, 1806.

Here's the backgound of the story: The origins of vaccination: myths and reality - by Arthur Boylston, J R Soc Med. 2013. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/artic…

Description

INTRODUCTION

I am well aware, that he who offers, at this time, any observations, however true and just, which are inimical to the practice of Vaccine Inoculation, will incur the impuration of prejudice, presumption and conceit ; and in all probability will be treated by some persons with the highest degree of ridicule and contempt. Yet having met with a great number of facts which very much militate against the practice, and, at least, render it very doubtful, I am compelled to differ in opinion with the discoverer, and the advocates who support vaccination, respecting its utility : and shall therefore, in the following pages, produce many instances to prove, that instead of its being a benefit and a blessing to mankind, it is a pernicious and baneful experiment. I shall endeavour, with the utmost candor, to convince those who at the present moment, for want of sufficient experience, entertain doubts respecting the propriety of vaccination ; and also, that part of the faculty who have not yet arrived at such a state of enthusiasm and infatuation in its favour as some have, that it is much inferior to small-pox inoculation ; a practice that has stood the test of long experience, and which in justice should not have been forsaken, nor any other mode adopted in its stead, unless sufficient reasons, established on the broad basis of truth and general experience, had been adducted in support of so singular a revolution in medicine ; but this has not been the case ; vaccination has been practised and encouraged by those who have little or no experience, either in the small-pox or its inoculation.

From: Observations on the pernicious Consequences of Cow-pox Inoculation; containing many well authenticated instances, proving its insecurity against Small-pox: also Remarks on the Advantages of Small-pox Inoculation. 2nd. Ed. with Considerable Additions, by Robert Squirrell, 1806.

Here's the backgound of the story: The origins of vaccination: myths and reality - by Arthur Boylston, J R Soc Med. 2013. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/artic…