vaccinated citizens; and yet thirty-flve years of compulsory vaccination of the description which I have referred to! This roused Prussia, and she began to look about her; she saw the cause, and she was determined to remedy it. She brought good water into her cities, purified her river Spree, introduced a complete drainage system throughout the country—(loud cheers)—she got rid of her "rookeries," and ordered model barracks to be built for the soldiers; and
AWAY FLED THE SMALL-POX,
like the Philistines before the Children of Israel. Sanitation did for Prussia what 35 years of compulsory vaccination was unable to accomplish. At the present time in Prussia small-pox is almost extinct. (Cheers.) It is not that people are being vaccinated more; they are vaccinated less. (Hear, hear.) They hate it in Germany as we English people do; and you can now get out of vaccination there by the payment of a shilling fine. Even the very children in Germany know well enough how it is hated, and in proof of this I may relate to you an amusing incident. A school inspector went to one of the schools the other day and asked the question of the class, "Why was Moses hidden by his mother in the bulrushes?" Very soon a little fellow put up his hand and replied, "Please sir, she did not want him to be vaccinated." (Loud laughter.)
We will now come nearer home and take the Metropolitan Asylums Board and their statistics. From 1870 to 1886 there were 53,579 cases of small-pox, and out of that number there were 43,919 who had undergone the process spoken of by Sir John Simon as "removing every taint of susceptibility to infection." But you may say, perhaps, "Will it protect for a time?" Well, I should like to know for how long? (Hear, hear.) Dr. Bond says fourteen; some people say ten; in Birmingham they were rejoicing the other day that they had had nobody take small-pox, no vaccinated child, under three; so that it has got down rather low. (Laughter.) Jenner said that to talk about re-vaccination was to rob his "discovery" of half of its virtues; he was dead against it by the statement he made that one vaccination was protection for a life-time. On that he got £30,000. (Laughter). Dr. Bond tells us that that was altered afterwards, and that it was not the expression of Jenner's matured vision. No, Jenner altered it afterwards, but he got his £30,000 first, though. (Renewed laughter.) He never yielded up the £30,000 when he found he had made a mistake.
HOW LONG WILL IT PROTECT?
Dr. Bond talks about the Sheffield epidemic in his letter two or three days ago, and I have no doubt Mr. French Hensley, to whom he replies, will very soon put the matter straight. He tells us that the Sheffield statistics show a wonderful immunity of vaccinated children. Dr. Bond bases that upon the marvellous statistics of Dr. Barry. Dr. Bond has evidently never read the Royal Commission reports at all. (Laughter and cheers.) It looks as though Dr. Bond has never seen the cross-examination of Dr. Barry. Dr. Bond has no idea of the fatal fallacy underlying that Sheffield epidemic report, which came to an utter collapse when Dr. Barry was cross-examined upon it. He has no idea of all that; he is evidently something like the old lady Sydney
