(5)
as superstitious in its origin, unscientific; 'in theory and practice, and useless and dangerous in its character; whilst as a father and a citizen | view the Compulsory Vaccination Acts as demoralising in their tendencies, degrading in their character, cruel and unjust in their enactments, and an unwarrantable interference with parental responsibility and liberty—(cheers)—such as ought not to be tolerated in acountry like England, which has boasted of her civil and religious freedom for generations past. (Renewed cheers).
Not Purely a Medical Question.
One is constantly told that this is purely a medical question, and that if I want to air it I should discuss it before a medical audience or by letters in the medical papers. Those who say that know what is the treatment medical anti-vaccinists receive in the journals in question. But it is not a purely medical question. It is one of observation, of history and of statistics, and any intelligent layman can understand it as well as a medical man. It is a mere superstitious creed, and needs no professional knowledge to grasp it. And what is more I can say from what I have learned in experience that intelligent, thoughtful and studious anti-vaccinators know more about this subject than the majority of the medical men of to-day. (Cheers.) And, furthermore, I say that the very moment you take a medical prescription and you incorporate itin an Act of Parliament, and you enforce it against the wills and consciences of intelligent people by fines, distraints and imprisonments, it passes beyond the confines of a purely medical question and becomes essentially a social and political one. (Cheers.)
The medical profession of to-day is divided into two great sections. On the one hand we have a section, who form, I am bound to say, the majority, who believe that the only remedy for small-pox is vaccination with all its risks. On the other hand there is another section, the minority to which I have the honour to belong, which believes that the remedy for small-pox is not vaccination but sanitation—(cheers)—which is accompanied by no risk at all. We protest against the
DISEASING OF CHILDREN BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT.
We say that small-pox is a filth disease, and that if we get rid of the filth we shall get rid of the disease. We also declare that when a person is ill the doctor is justified in doing all he possibly can for his patient ; but when a person is well he has no right whatever to interfere with the normal functions of the human body as he does when he introduces disease, especially the disease of an inferior animal, unless he can give a distinct and absolute guarantee that not only will the operation effect the purpose avowed but also that it will produce no injurious results. (Cheers.) And with all the fifteen reasons Dr. Bend can produce I will defy him to give such a guarantee, It is a serious blot upon the medical profession that it has encouraged and that it has helped to enforce, and that the Gloucester doctors even to-day are urging the Guardians to prosecute in order to enforce a measure, when they cannot guarantee that it will
