The influence of the anti-vaccinationists and the delay id
the publication of the Report of the Vaccination Committee,
which has been sitting seven years, have also probably had a
pernicious effect upon the public, leading the ignorant and
thoughtless to believe that the law of compulsory vaccination
has been abolished or suspended, and that the Vaccination
Committee itself is hesitating about pronouncing a definite
opinion upon the value of the practice and in enforcing its
general adoption. It is to be fervently hoped that the conclu-
sions of this Committee will be clear and decided, and as there



J



ON THE DISCOVERY OF VACCINATION^. 2^1

can be no open question as to the value of vaccination in sup-
pressing small-pox, so there ought to be no question as to
the expediency and justice of making it compulsory. The
object-lesson now being so painfully given at Gloucester, near
Jenner's own home, ought to be taken to heart by the country
generally, and strengthen the opinions of those in authority
who are the custodians of the public health : for it has made
clear, to all who know what vaccination has done in the past
to suppress variola, that where it has been so disgracefully
neglected, as at Gloucester, it has proved as fatal as of old
in at least one case out of every five attacked ; and that small-
pox unchecked by the only available means of vaccination
would soon re-assume its former power and become the
same devastating and disfiguring scourge it was in the seven-
teenth century. For my own part I cannot do otherwise
than regard Jenner — the discoverer and introducer of vac-
cination — as the greatest benefactor of the human race that
this or any other country has produced, and believe that the
magnitude of this simple act, which now seems to us so
simple, has had its influence in leading the professional world
to look upon Jenner himself as by no means so great a man
as many others who have done less good work than he. 