What about syphilis? (Hear, hear.) It is a very strange thing that up to 1853, when the Compulsory Vaccination Act was passed, the annual deaths from syphilis of children under one year old did not, exceed 380; the very next year the number had jumped up nearly double, to 591 ; and syphilis in infants under one year of age has gone on increasing every year since until 1883, when the number of deaths reached 1,813. It has increased four-fold in infants since the passing of the Compulsory Vaccination Act, and yet in adults it has remained almost stationary. Surely this speaks for itself. (hear, hear.) These deaths have only begun to decline since, in proportion as the number of vaccinations to births have declined. Therefore we have not merely children dying primarily from vaccination, but from a concurrent disease. The question is asked, "Cannot you get any pure lymph which will really answer the purpose?" Well, they have tried all sorts. They have tried cow-pox, horse-pox, horse-grease cow-pox, also goat-pox, and that from the sheep; they even went to the buffalo, but the buffalo-pox stank so horribly that they had to give it up. (Laughter.) Surgeon O’Hara even advises that we should get some lymph from the donkey. (Renewed laughter.) One would have thought that the donkey was low enough, but someone has gone further. Dr. Monckton-Copeman as suggested in the "British Medical Journal" that some small-pox scabs should be powdered as fine as possible in a mortar, placed in an egg, stirred up into a kind of smallpox omelette, and after being put by for a certain time it is ready to be placed in the babies’ arms. ("Shame.") That is what I may call a "fowl" concoction. (Laughter.) We have had almost as many animals suggested for the purpose of supplying lymph as there were in Noah’s Ark—a regular menagerie of them; the vaccinators are in as big a muddle about it as ever, and yet they say "You must have the genuine variety or you will be sure to catch the small-pox." (More laughter.) "Pure lymph from the cow!" It reminds me of the notice one sometimes sees, "Pure milk from the cow; animals milked on the premises." (Laughter.) "Pure lymph" calls to mind the green fields and pastures of the country I Can it be had, you ask? Well, Government Microscopist Farn, who examines the lymph sent out, was asked by Dr. Collins, "As a matter of fact have you ever guaranteed the purity of lymph in your life?" and he had to acknowledge "No."
And yet members of the medical profession are saying this kind of thing: Dr. Hind wrote to the Devizes Board of Guardians some time ago saying that he would be very happy indeed to supply them with calf lymph "which would be undoubtedly pure." He is another gentleman who does not appear to have read the other side of the question. (Laughter.) Mr. Microscopist Fain was further asked by Dr. Collins, "Can you recognise under a microscope of the highest power the germs of syphilis?" and the answer was "No." And yet they talk about "pure hymph!" From 1881 to 1892 we have had no less than 620 deaths recorded, 620 English homes which have been one little occupant the less, 620 mothers’ hearts which have been bleeding as a result of this Compulsory Vaccination Act; and yet they say "there are no bad results with proper care." How is it, then, that this mischief occurs? If they cannot happen with proper care, then these results, according to that theory, must he due to carelessness, and if so it is manslaughter; and have you ever heard of a medical man being charged with manslaughter in such a case? (Cheers.) The Grocers’ Company a few years ago offered £1,000 to anybody who would discover an artificial nutritive medium by which the germ vaccinia could be cultivated without any foreign elements or risk of disease. No one has claimed the £1,000 yet, and still they talk about "pure lymph." I will give you one or two statistics with regard to Leicester. In 1868-72 the mortality of children under one year was 107 per thousand, when 98 per cent were vaccinated; from 1888-9 only two per cent, were vaccinated, and, in spite of what Dr. Bond says, the general mortality of children had declined from 107 to 63 per thousand. Furthermore, from 1874-89 the number of children under one year who died of erysipelas had declined from 193 to 47 per 10,000 deaths. The Guardians of Gloucester are being urged to re-commence prosecutions, and I appeal to them to make a firm stand against it. (Loud cheers.)