The Royal Commission of 1889

Since vaccination started on its career of devastation, no thoroughly impartial inquiry as to its presumed merits has ever been held. The Royal Commission of 1889, excepting so far as suited their purpose, ignored the convincing evidence concerning Leicester. A really honest and thorough inquiry ought to be held, and the evidence effectually probed and sifted, both sides being repre­sented thereon by equal numbers of their strongest advocates, under the presidency of a chairman entirely unconnected with the medical faculty, and selected—with the acquiescence of both sides—for his independence and strict impartiality.

The offer of the erstwhile tempting bait of "glycerinated calf lymph," suggested by the Commission and adopted by the Government, has not resulted in beguiling the people of Leicester. They have no more faith in the up-to-date nostrum than in any of the other varieties of vile viruses that the purveyors of these "preposterous adulterations" have offered before, and it is most unlikely that any " base concoction" of this character will ever prove acceptable to them.