[Extract from 1912 book] LEICESTER: SANITATION versus VACCINATION BY J.T. BIGGS J.P.
PART 12. LYMPH AND VACCINATION.
CHAPTER 98:
" Lymph." What is "vaccine lymph"?
Humanised " Lymph."
Animal "Lymph."
CHAPTER 99:
"Glycerinated Calf Lymph."
CHAPTER 100: How " Glycerinated Calf Lymph " is "Manufactured."
CHAPTER 101: Dr. Klein's Microbic Experiments.
CHAPTER
102: "Small-Pox Virus Vaccine."
PART 12. LYMPH AND VACCINATION.
CHAPTER 98: " Lymph." What is "vaccine lymph"?
So very little is generally known of the actual constituent elements of " Lymph," or what is euphemistically called " Vaccine Lymph," used for vaccination, that I feel it to be not only of adequate importance to embody some reference in this work, but a duty to give it the fullest consideration. Moreover, it is so entirely inseparable a factor in the subject under review, that, without it, the book would be incomplete.
According to Chambers's Dictionary, " lymph" is "a colourless, nutritive fluid, in animal bodies." The Standard Twentieth Century Dictionary defines " lymph " as " a transparent, colourless, alkaline fluid, consisting of a plasma, resembling that of the blood, and of corpuscles, like the white blood corpuscles."
None of the whimsical varieties of virus, which have been misleadingly called "lymph," and have done duty for vaccination, agree in any sense with the foregoing definitions. It is a physiological perversion that natural "lymph" should be degraded by association with the vile viruses known as "vaccines." None of these can be considered "nutritive" in the true meaning of that term.
"Vaccine lymph," so called, is a mutilation of terms, a delusion, and a snare. In the minds of many people, it came to be regarded as a Heaven-bestowed blessing, a natural product prepared by a beneficent Providence, to countervail the malific influence of small-pox.
Of all the professional witnesses called before the Royal Commission to enlighten the world, not one was able to satisfactorily define what is meant by vaccination, or what variety of virus claimed specifically and exclusively to fulfil the requirements of that term. Very few, outside those who have studied this subject, are aware of the occult vagaries which have signalised the manufacture and production of vaccines, or the wide diversity of choice which has been offered to, or forced upon, a credulous public.
Those who have thought that there has been "no change" since Jenner's day will be surprised to have their darkness enlightened by the appended list :—
(1) The Jennerian equine virus (or repulsive matter exuding from the greasy heels of a consumptive horse).
(2) Swine -pox virus, with which Jenner inoculated his eldest son.
(3) Horse-pox cow-pox virus, or horse-grease virus passed through the cow.
(4) Spontaneous cow-pox virus—the Gloucestershire brand.
(5) Ceely and Badcock's "lymph "—the virus of small-pox passed through the cow.
(6) The Beaugency virus, a foreign corruption of unknown elements.
(7) The Passy virus, similar to No. 6.
(8) Dr. Worlomont's "calf lymph," or virus, in points, tubes, or pots of pomade, as supplied to the Royal Family of England.
(9) Lanoline vaccine, or vesicle pulp virus, invented by Surgeon-Major W. G. King, and used extensively in India and Burmah.
(10) Donkey virus, the discovery of Surgeon O'Hara, and strongly recommended to municipalities in India.
(11) Buffalo virus, also recommended in India, as "yielding more vesicle pulp than calves," but chiefly conspicuous for its "abominable odour."
(12) Monkey virus.
(13) Small-pox corpse virus, obtained from small-pox victims after death.
(14) Thymol solution, glycerine, and vaccine virus, a dangerous concoction, by which 320 persons at Rugen (Germany) were infected with a loathsome, contagious disease.
(15) Glycerinated calf virus, recommended by the Royal Commission on Vaccination, obtained from small-pox and other sources, and now in use.
(16) More recently the Government "lymph experts" have been experimenting with "chloroformed lymph," and the Forty-First Annual Report of the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board contains a report by Dr. Blaxall on the use of oil of cloves in the preparation of "glycerinated calf lymph."
These are but a few of the many lymphs or viruses which have passed through innumerable more or less diseased bodies, and which have now been proved by high authorities to be capable of spreading leprosy, syphilis, and other revolting and incurable maladies.
Each of these vile compounds has, in its day, been the " true and genuine" " life-preserving fluid." As they have passed into oblivion, others have taken their place.
The dangers of arm-to-arm vaccination, as a disease-diffusing agency, have been patent to many members of the medical profession all along. Notwithstanding the assurances given by the official "gang" as to the harmlessness of the operation, human vaccinifers continued to transmit syphilis, scrofula, erysipelas, leprosy, and a whole host of other diseases (referred to elsewhere), and these diseases occurred with such tragic frequency, that the Royal Commission Inquiry could no longer be withheld.
Even in 1881 the "British Medical Journal,'' of 24th September, contained the following : -
"The President (Mr. Ernest Hart, M.R.C.S.) remarked that the medical profession had reasons for coming to the conclusion that, during the last thirteen years, their impressions as to the value of humanised lymph had undergone considerable change."
This carries us back to 1868, antecedent to the great epidemic of 1871-73.
After the Final Report of the Royal Commission, recommending that "calf lvmph" be used for vaccination, the old arm-to-arm system, so prolific of danger, which had for so long been upheld, against light and reason, as "perfect" by pro-vaccinists, and denounced all the time by anti-vaccinators, received universal condemnation. Public Vaccinators are now forbidden to use arm-to-arm vaccine. They are not compelled to use the "Government brand " of "calf lymph," but may use any "glycerinated calf lymph," providing a record is kept of its source. The old arm-to-arm vaccination is still continued by some private and other practitioners in many places. Arm-to-arm vaccination was nothing less than the universal distribution of all the diseases of humanity broadcast over the nation.
As an example of what has been done to obtain "pure lymph," the following will take some beating. Dr. Bray, speaking at Market Rasen, and reported in the "Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League Circular," 1876, stated that:—
" A child, 'whom nobody owned,' was killed in the streets of Paris, and given over to the medical men for anatomical purposes. In the breathing tubes, thorax, and stomach were found upwards of 15,000 ulcerations. The matter was scooped out, and a living child vaccinated with it. It produced all the symptoms of the 'true lymph. Like produced like. The matter of diseased lungs would produce in another subject lung disease."
When Mr. Farn, the Local Government Board Examiner of Vaccine Lymph, was before the Commission, his answers were most illuminating with reference to the purity of "Government lymph." He informed the Commission that " 'so extensive and peculiar' was his knowledge of vaccine that when he takes his holiday there is no one else in London capable of performing the same delicate task, and accordingly the tubes requiring examination have to follow him (4,014). From this we should conclude that his qualifications are above reproach. But we find that he is not a medical man (4,130)—that he has not included microbes in his life-long studies (4,133), during which he has been engaged entirely in distinguishing small differences (4,131)—that he has no knowledge of vaccination or its literature (4,052 and 4,069), or whether its contagion has been discovered. His search is directed mainly to the detection of blood corpuscles (4,060)—but not because he is aware of any evidence that blood is more likely to convey disease than other contents of the body (4,183). It is also beyond his knowledge that 'lymph' comes from the blood (4,185). He will not say it is possible to distinguish between 'lymph' which is syphilitic and that which is not (4,164), nor between that which is inflammatory and that which is not (4,167). With such microscopic power as he is able to employ he would not be able to recognise any of the bacteria we hear so much of (4,154), and if he could he would not know what they were! (4,155). He is not aware of any diseases whose causes he identified or excluded by the kind of examination which he makes! (4,159). When asked by Dr. Collins: 'Are we to understand that as a matter of fact you have ever guaranteed lymph as pure?' he replies, 'No'! (4,200)."
It will thus be seen that at no time has lymph been either "pure" or guaranteed. The public have been gulled by official assurances, now known to be worthless, but no more worthless than anti-vaccinators have all along been aware of. The Government microscopic examinations of lymph were conducted, since 1881, by this accomplished gentleman who knew nothing of "microbes," and whose object was to detect blood corpuscles, and to reject as impure all lymph found to contain " blood," or if " coagulated" or " opaque."
When giving his evidence before the Royal Commission on Vaccination, Professor E. M. Crookshank, M.D. (London), M.R.C.S., Professor of Pathology and Bacteriology in King's College, London, testified that:—
"We have no known test by which we could possibly distinguish between a lymph which was harmless and one which might be harmful to the extent of communicating syphilis." (Question No.. 11,119.)
Now that calf "lymph," admittedly as dangerous or more so than human "lymph," is employed in all public vaccinations, strange to say all precautions are thrown to the winds. Although calf lymph "coagulates" much more than human lymph, it is used indiscriminately, whether "coagulated," "opaque," or containing blood. The " triturating" process does not, and cannot possibly, eliminate the micro - organisms of a pathogenic nature. It rather more equably, but indefinably, distributes them throughout the whole of the "pultaceous" mass. There is, therefore, not only no guarantee of any kind as to the purity of "lymph," but, even if there were, it would be entirely valueless.
In. the 1886 edition of Quain's " Dictionary of Medicine," we are assured that "by the adoption of bovine matter we merely substitute one possible risk for another," and that is as true to-day as when it was written.
Dr. Seaton says (" Handbook of Vaccination," page 337) :—"There is no one in England whose opinion on the subject of animal vaccination will be received with so much respect as Mr. Ceely's, because there is no one who has nearly the knowledge that he possesses of the disease in the cow, and its transmission to the human species. ... So far from being likely to produce fewer ailments, and cutaneous eruptions in the predisposed, he knows from his experience that it would, as being more irritating, "produce more." (The Mr. Ceely alluded to was Mr. R. Ceely, M.R.C.S., L.S.A., of Aylesbury.)
Mr. J. H. Boyle, M.B., CM., L.M., in the "Lancet," 3rd April, 1880, records a case of erysipelas, followed by large ulcerated, unhealthy sores in a previously healthy child, at six months, following vaccination with calf " lymph."
Writing after 'forty years' practice as a physician, Dr. William Hycheman, M.D., New York, said in 1880 :—
" Now vaccination by calfpox, cow-pox, or humanised pox, whatever may be the multiplicity of lymphs (and ' pure vaccine' is only a rhetorical euphemism for horse-grease), is an eruptive disease, setting in with febrile symptoms, followed by papule, vesicle, and pustule, in about eight days. And what else is small-pox? I have recently dissected more than a dozen children, whose deaths were caused by vaccination, and no small-pox, however black, could have left more hideous traces of its malignant sores, foul sloughing, hearts empty or congested with clots, than did some of these examples of State physic, which killed with rotten patches of lungs, spleen, mesenteric glands, kidneys, and intestines."
In the " Medical Times and Gazette," of 3rd September, 1881, M. Toussaint says that:--
"the chances of cows in whom spontaneous vaccinia may appear, . . . being, like so many of their species, tuberculous, would be great; and . . . . that the dangers of animal vaccination may be greater than those of human, which are supposed to be avoided by having recourse to the cow."
Dr. Husband, whose authoritative evidence may be regarded as having finally and indisputably established the possibility of the transmission of syphilis by vaccination, says on this subject:—
" It should be borne in mind that it cannot be shown that there is no risk of transmitting diseases from the calf to the infant. The very fact that vaccinia itself is so readily communicated is a presumption that danger of this kind does exist—not probably greater than that of communicating disease from infant to infant, but, for anything we know, not less."
This startling statement appeared in the thirtyfifth annual report of the Scottish Board of Health.
The Dissentient Commissioners also refer to calf "lymph," and, in their paragraph 178, allude to the condemnatory character of paragraphs 399, 409, 410, 413, 417, 418, 419, 420, and 421 in the Final Report of the Royal Commission, wherein it is shown that the risks attending even a mild virus, with the operation carefully performed, may result in local inflammation, febrile illness, erysipelas, scrofula, contagious forms of eruption, such as are classed under the names of porrigo and impetigo contagiosa, injury, and even death. The death of a child vaccinated with calf "lymph," who suffered from "severely ulcerated arms, and ulcers in several parts of the body and limbs," is recorded in paragraph 419. We are further told that no doubt can now be entertained as to the possibility of conveying "syphilis in the act of vaccination," whilst the "not unreal risks of calf lymph" are likewise alluded to.
The Dissentient Commissioners refer to what is known as the " Leeds case," where Emily Maud Child was syphilised and killed by vaccination.
The shameful history of this case proved once again that the Medical "Augean Stable" of the Local Government Board required sweeping out. Full particulars of this case may be found at pages 75-79, "Vaccination Inquirer," August, 1889, and pages 48 and 58, " Vaccination Inquirer," July, 1891.
After dealing at some length, in paragraphs 213-215, with the various aspects of the Leeds case and its confirmation of the opinions of Auzias-Turenne and Dr. Creighton as to the close affinity of cow-pox with syphilis, their indistinguishable features, their similarity of characteristics, and identity of results under mercurial treatment, the Dissentient Commissioners thus conclude paragraph 216 :—
" We should only have expected vaccination to be to a very slight extent the cause of deaths from syphilis, and likely to be overshadowed by more potent influences, unless indeed there were ground for believing, as has been alleged on high authority, 'that a large proportion of the cases of apparently inherited syphilis are in 'reality vaccinal.'"
These grave observations of the Dissentient Commissioners show only too clearly the nature of, and what may be expected from the use of, animal or calf " lymph."
" Le Progres Medical" (a journal published in Paris], of 3rd November, 1888, contains the report of a paper, by Dr. Pourquier, on the cutaneous symptoms consequent upon animal vaccination, in which the author refers to 800 infants ulcerated by animal virus, observed by Protze, of Elberfeld, and also to an epidemic, reported by Professor Brouardel, consequent upon vaccination with animal virus, in which sixteen of the inoculated children died within twenty-four hours.
These dreadful examples could be indefinitely multiplied, and they reveal and prove the danger of animal virus. But in what way does this new system of vaccination—if it is vaccination— differ from that of Jenner's day ? It was animal vaccination then, it has (more or less) been animal vaccination all along, and it is animal vaccination now! It began with corruption from a diseased horse's heel and a diseased cow's udder; but although it has been "humanised," the taint of animal virus is still continued, and now we are back to animal virus again.
It would appear from all this that "animal lymph" or "calf lymph" is no better, perhaps worse, than " humanised lymph." One thing is certain, that it may add bovine diseases to the already long list of human maladies, which there is grave reason to fear have been sown broadcast by the practice of vaccination.
CHAPTER 99: "Glycerinated Calf Lymph."
Crude calf or animal "lymph" has been denounced by many eminent medical authorities and medical journals.
One of the objections to animal vaccine was that the " lymph" required "storing," and was liable to infection by extraneous germs, whereas the arm-to-arm system maintained a fresh supply. To meet this difficulty, glycerine has been added as a preservative, and it is also said to possess other benign qualities. So "diluted lymph" has become the fashion —"pure glycerinated calf lymph." Although this latest "brand" is said to be "perfection " in vaccine viruses, its escutcheon is already tarnished by a series of disasters. The Royal Commission were fully aware of these, even when they recommended its use. No better proof is needed of their wilful and determined disregard of facts than this recommendation, in the face of the knowledge they possessed, and the condemnatory evidence of official witnesses respecting this particular "blend" of "lymph." Long before the Royal Commission reported in its favour, or Mr. Chaplin flourished this "great scientific discovery " in Parliament, experiments had been in vogue—especially on the Continent—with dilutions of aqueous glycerine and calf virus.
The Local Government Board, in explaining away a wholesale disaster at Rugen (Germany), whereby 320 persons were infected with a loathsome contagious disease by vaccination, said :—
The operation was not 'vaccination' as the word is understood in England, but consisted of insertion into the arm, after the manner of vaccination, of a mixture of vaccine lymph, thymol-solution, and glycerine, of which mixture by far the largest part must have been glycerine."—Letter to Arthur O'Connor, Esq., M.P., dated 28th June, 1886.
The German Commissioners appointed to investigate this disaster think that the cause:
"was not the vaccine merely, and that it was not the thymol; then they fall back upon the glycerine as being possibly the cause of it" (though the glycerine is expressly stated to have been the purest).—Summary by Lord Herschell, Royal Commission, No. 9,813.
Sir Geo. Buchanan, M.D., F.R.S., Chief Medical Officer to the Local Government Board, referring to this Rugen disaster, said :—
" I have heard of dilutions of lymph with glycerine, always from people complaining of the lymph. It will, I trust, be long before such preposterous adulterations of vaccine give the opportunity of investigating their results in English practice."—Transactions of the Epidemiological Society, Vol. V., pages 117 and 118.
The Royal Commission on Vaccination record:
"84 cases of serious injury, resulting in 24 deaths, from the use of glycerinated lymph ! "—Summarised from Final Report, Appendix IX., by W. Scott-Tebb, M.D., D.P.H.
" Some of the best-qualified witnesses who have afforded us their assistance have expressed a deliberate preference for arm-to-arm vaccination, believing that the advantages of calf lymph are more imaginary than real."—Royal Commission, Final Report, No. 433.
Drs. Barlow and Acland, who were engaged by the Royal Commission to investigate cases of injury, think that "calf lymph as now usually employed tends to produce more severe inflammatory reaction than that which has been humanised."—Minority Report, No. 186.
This belief of Drs. Barlow and Acland is widely shared by many other medical men who have used what is called "animal" or "calf lymph."
So that the Royal Commission knew all about the dangers of "glycerinated calf lymph." It is amazing how they could recommend its use, except on the hypothesis that, having condemned humanised arm-to-arm vaccination, it would never do to drop the practice altogether; the profession must be let down gently.
There now remains the consideration of the question: Is "glycerinated calf lymph" any better than either " humanised lymph " or "crude calf lymph" ? Perhaps the best way of introducing the reader to a consideration of that question will be to first ascertain how this stuff is produced.
A full description is to be found in an official "Report to the Local Government Board, presented to Parliament by Royal Command, on the Preparation and Storage of Glycerinated Calf Vaccine Lymph," by Sir Richard Thorne Thorne and Dr. S. Monckton Copeman.
Sir R. T. Thorne, who wrote the introduction—addressed to the Right Hon. Henry Chaplin, M.P., then President of the Local Government Board—says :—
"Shortly after the issue of the Report of the Royal Commission on Vaccination last autumn, I received your instructions that I should, together with Dr. Monckton Copeman, visit certain cities in different countries on the Continent of Europe, with a view of obtaining information as to the methods adopted, by the respective authorities and others concerned, in the distribution of vaccine lymph derived from the calf, more especially in reference to the preparation, storage, and distribution of glycerinated calf lymph."
This investigation appears to have been carried out owing to a suggestion of the Royal Commission, who, being strongly impressed with the inevitable abandonment of arm-to-arm vaccination, found a substitute in the so-called discovery, on the storage of vaccine lymph in glycerine, announced by Dr. Copeman to the International Congress of Hygiene, which met in London in August, 1891.
"The conclusions at which he arrives," say the Commissioners, "are that the addition of glycerine, whilst it leaves the efficacy of the lymph undiminished, or even increases it, tends to destroy other organisms " ; and they add that: "The question is one a further investigation of which is obviously desirable."
Visits were therefore made to Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Dresden, Cologne, and Geneva. Inter alia, Sir R. T. Thorne observes that:—
" In each of the countries concerned, vaccination with calf lymph has become the habitual, if not the universal practice.
In only one of the places visited—namely, Paris—did we find that vaccination was carried out under official sanction with crude calf lymph, and even there the process was limited to vaccination direct from calf-to-arm, all lymph stored for distribution being glycerinated calf lymph."
After referring to the abandonment of both arm-to-arm " and " direct-from-the-calf " vaccination, the reasons for this change are given :—
" The governing reason has been the confirmation by competent bacteriologists of the results obtained by Dr. Copeman, to the effect that, by the admixture to calf lymph of a 50 per cent, solution of pure glycerine in sterile water, and by subsequent storage of the lymph material in tubes, under due precautions, for a term of several weeks, the preparation remained quite active as vaccine, whilst a very remarkable germicidal effect was produced on extraneous micro-organisms in the lymph, even including certain pathogenic organisms which had been purposely added to the lymph material. The second reason was that, by reason of the admixture referred to, the amount of vaccine procurable from a given calf could be greatly, even enormously, increased, and that, within certain wide limits, this could be done without interfering with the insertion-success following on the use of lymph."
Alluding to the usual practice at the Local Government Board's Vaccination Establishment, to use one calf for only 200 to 300 vaccinations, Sir R. T. Thorne points out that from a single calf, with "glycerinated lymph," 4,000 to 6,000 vaccinations can be carried out, and that from "lymph" prepared in their presence, one calf would suffice for 15,000 vaccinations. Whether this wonderful result was owing to these distinguished experts being present we are left to surmise, but certain it is that some of this "Berlin lymph" was brought to England, and used "at intervals of nine, eleven, and thirty-seven days after its collection," resulting " in a mean insertion-success of 92 per cent, in 76 vaccinations" of " five insertions" in each case.
Sir R. T. Thorne then significantly observes :—
"Storage of this particular sample for a much longer period did not give satisfactory results."
Other samples of " glycerinated lymph" were brought home from the various places visited, and with "five insertions" reached 97, 98, 99, and 100 per cent, of successes, the intervals of use varying from seven to thirty-one days after collection.
Various details of preparation are then enumerated, and the precautions taken to avoid the risk of "conveying tuberculosis," which Dr. Thorne considers is " remote," only " healthy calves" being used. He also says:—
" The tubercle bacillus, when experimentally added to a mixture of lymph and an aqueous solution of glycerine, rapidly loses its vitality."
Although Sir R. T. Thorne says that the information obtained "does not profess to be complete, much remains to be ascertained by careful scientific research," he does not hesitate on that account to offer to Mr. Chaplin certain conclusions for his consideration. First, that " it is desirable that both primary and secondary vaccination, carried out under the auspices of the Government, should be performed exclusively with vaccine lymph derived from the calf." Secondly, that "for a time at least the system of calf-to-arm vaccination should be retained at the Board's Animal Vaccine Station, for the purposes of comparing its results." Thirdly, that "the distribution of calf vaccine from the National Vaccine Establishment should be limited to glycerinated or similar preparations of lymph and pulp material, in air-tight tubes, or other glass receptacles." Fourthly, that "the Board's Animal Vaccine Station should be reorganised, and should include a properly-equipped laboratory, under the direct supervision of a bacteriological expert."
CHAPTER 100: How " Glycerinated Calf Lymph " is "Manufactured."
Following this introduction comes Dr. Copeman's report. He starts with Paris, and, after describing the many precautions taken, one of which is "to prevent the calves from being able to lick the inoculated area of their body," and another to keep the straw bed "free from urine," for which reason "only cow-calves are employed," of a special breed, informs us that they are weaned at the age of two months, cost 147 francs, and are re-sold to butchers at a loss of 30 to 40 francs each. Dr. Copeman says "tuberculin is not employed," as, if signs of tuberculosis are found, the "lymph" is destroyed. There is, undoubtedly, a wide open door for disaster here.
The calf is strapped to a tilting table, the right side being:
" thoroughly scrubbed with soap and hot water, and then shaved. ... A number of superficial incisions (about 100), each about one inch long, are then made in ... several rows . . . en echelon. The lancet employed for the purpose has a spear-headed blade. . . . Over each incision a drop of glycerinated lymph is allowed to fall from a glass tube, and the drop is rubbed in with the flat portion of the blade of the lancet. The process is carried out by one of the laboratory servants, and is a somewhat lengthy one, "When the ' lymph' has dried, the calf is removed from the table and taken back to its stall.
The vaccine material is always collected on the sixth day. The calf is once more placed on the table ; or, if material is required for immediate use only, it is usually allowed to stand. The vaccinated area is washed with warm water, and dried with clean soft cloths. Each vesicle is now clamped separately, and the crust first removed with a lancet, which is then wiped on a cloth pinned to the front of the cotton blouse which the operator has previously donned.
The vesicle is then thoroughly scraped with the edge of a somewhat blunt lancet, and the resultant mixture of lymph, epithelial tissue (skin), and blood is transferred to a small nickel crucible set in a wide wooden stand on a table close to the operator.
To the pultaceous (gruelly) mass contained in the crucible there is added about an equal quantity of glycerine.
The mixture of pulp and glycerine is triturated in a mixing machine . . . driven by a small electric motor.
The mixture, having thus been rendered thin and homogeneous, is received in a clean sterilised nickel crucible placed beneath the machine, but with a view of still further improving its appearance and of removing any extraneous matters, such as hairs, it is afterwards pressed through a small brass-wire sieve consisting of extremely fine gauze into an agate mortar. This is done by means of a bone spoon, and there is left on the surface of the gauze nothing but a very small quantity of epithelial tissue together with a few hairs. The mixture is further triturated in the mortar with an agate pestle, and is then ready for filling into the tubes in which it is distributed."
What dreadful agony the poor animals must suffer for the three-quarters of an hour occupied by this process of "clamping," etc. ! But even this torture is exceeded by the " calf-to-arm " process, as described in the Report, in which " compression forceps" and "lancets" for "scraping" are used for each separate operation.
We are told that, before the mixing process, "no accurate measurement of the quantity" of "lymph" is made, so that after all the scientific research expended upon it, it is somewhat of a haphazard business.
Two samples of this "lymph" were brought to England, and Dr. Cory vaccinated 96 children from one, and 27 children from the other.
At Brussels, bull-calves "are used exclusively, Dr. Degive believing that the finest vesicles are obtained on the scrotum."
A sample of this Brussels " lymph" was brought away, but as it "was used for certain bacteriological investigations," there is no record as to its success for the purposes of vaccination."
At Berlin, cow-calves are used. The incisions are made with a blunt knife, so as to draw as little blood as possible."
When the "lymph" is collected, "absolute alcohol is poured over the vaccinated area." After this has evaporated, "the surface is treated with ether . . . the skin is put on the stretch and scraped . . . with a sharp spoon."
The relative proportions of the precious final product are :—
"Epithelial pulp 1 part ( 6.70 per cent.)
"Glycerine -7 parts (46.65 per cent.)
"Boiled water - 7 parts"
(46.65 per cent.)
After use, the calves are said to be sold to the Jewish Rabbi, to be slaughtered for human food. Some of this "lymph " was brought home, and 109 children were vaccinated by Dr. Cory at four different periods, resulting in percentages of success varying from 67.5 to 97.1. After keeping for six months, its activity "had practically disappeared."
At Dresden, "by preference" they use cow-calves of from six to eight weeks old. These animals are hired from a dealer for 20 marks each, and are returned to him after the "lymph " has been removed. " The pulp is collected by scraping" with a spoon, but as they scrape "the same surface again and again, a not inconsiderable amount of blood becomes mixed with the epithelial scrapings." Some of this precious "pulp," obtained with such infinity of torture and cruelty, was brought to England, and Dr. Cory vaccinated 15 children with five insertions each, and all gave a satisfactory result.
At Cologne, similarly cruel operations are carried on, but here the calves are mercifully killed before the "lymph pulp" is collected, so that this "lymph " is taken from a dead animal, which is immediately sent into the market, and sold for man's consumption !
The "finished emulsion "—removed by a sharp spoon—is composed as follows :—
Pulp - 5 grammes ( 6.25 per cent.)
Water - 25 grammes (31.25 per cent.)
Glycerine 50 grammes" (62.50 per cent.)
A sample of this valuable "emulsion," obtained from the dead carcass of an animal," was actually brought to England, and Dr. Cory vaccinated two groups, in all 55 children, " with an insertion-success of 93.3 to 98.8 per cent."
At Geneva, after being tortured in a similar manner, the calves are sold at a loss of about £1 on each animal. "Any blood which exudes" from the sores is wiped off, and then " the vesicle pulp is removed by scraping with a sharp spoon." Glycerine and water are added " for attaining the following standard " :—
"Vesicle pulp - 1 part (25 per cent.)
"Glycerine - - 2 parts (50 per cent.)
"Water - - 1 part" (25 per cent.)
After trituration, the "resulting emulsion" is used for human vaccinations, and the "seed material" for the vaccination of calves. "Occasionally clamp forceps" are brought into action. The " crust" being first removed, the vesicle is " gently (?) scraped with a lancet" !
CHAPTER 101: Dr. Klein's Microbic Experiments.
The result, then, of the visit of these two gentlemen to the Continent was to start several new brands of " lymph " in England ; from Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Dresden, and Geneva, one of these sources being from a dead animal's carcass, and 302 children being experimented upon. No one knows the original sources of these so-called "lymphs"—whether they are obtained from small-pox vesicles—which is probable—or are impregnated with syphilis, scrofula, or tuberculosis. No microscopic examination can determine this point.
The reports are ominously silent on the important question—Whence was the "seed" virus of these "lymphs" derived? Why, if the "seed lymph" was pure, all this fuss, and all these elaborate efforts and processes to secure purity? The fact is, they know, and we know, that the "seed" substance is inherently filthy, as it is bound to be—if it consists, as we are certain it does, of the virus of a filth disease, most probably small-pox.
As to the safety supposed to be provided by glycerine, or the removal of infection, Dr. Klein's experiments are conclusive. The "Vaccination Inquirer," of 2nd May, 1898, page 28, informs us, that:
"in the very same Supplement to the Twenty-Sixth Report of the Local Government Board which contains the recommendations of glycerinated calf lymph, we find the report of the experiments which Dr. Klein has been performing on the microbes of vaccinia and variola, and we there read, page 270 :—
"As showing how persistently some microbes originally present in the crusts preserve their vitality in undiluted glycerine, I may mention a plate cultivation made on glycerine agar with one big drop of a crust emulsion in undiluted glycerine nine months old. In this plate there came up :—
14 colonies of staphylococcus aureus and sarcina lutea.
1 colony of streptococcus.
1 colony of staphylococcus albus.
11 colonies of various bacilli to be described below.'
And, so far from the particular infection of erysipelas being removed, we find that on the very next page (271) of Dr. Klein's report it is written :—
Streptococcus Erysipelatos. — This microbe was obtained in a plate culture made from an emulsion of crusts which had been stored for over four months in undiluted glycerine. That the microbe was the streptococcus of erysipelas was proved by injection of a broth culture of. it into a rabbit's ear. Definite erysipelas was produced; moreover, material from the erysipelatous ear of this animal, when injected into the ear of another rabbit, gave again a positive result.
It is clear, then, that the streptococcus of erysipelas, when it happens to be present in crusts of variola, is not readily got rid of; not necessarily by storage in undiluted glycerine for over four months, nor by storage in 50 per cent, glycerine broth for eighteen days."
From this it is conclusive that "lymph," after being mixed with glycerine, retains its capability of implanting the germs of disease. Whether or not it retains its alleged prophylaxy against small-pox, is entirely another matter.
Dr. Klein, therefore, disposes, once for all, of the theory that storage of lymph in glycerine is destructive of extraneous disease germs. The process of their elimination is not facilitated or rendered easier by such storage, rather the contrary.
Dr. Klein's graphic description of the infinitesimal character of the "colonies" of microbes to which he refers is further exemplified by Professor Pettenkofer's example of the germ theory when he says :—
"We find that the imperceptible particles of dust which have such influence for good or evil on the health of mankind are in all probability organised bodies of the smallest kind, or something produced by them, many millions of which can be collected together on the head of a small pin. To the ordinary eye, their mysterious presence reminds us of the old belief in unseen spirits, who occasionally ascend from earth or water and make many places unhealthy."
CHAPTER 102: " Small-Pox Virus Vaccine."
Corpse " lymph " has been in use, both before and since the diluting process of glycerine. As we have seen, corpse lymph is in regular use in Dresden, from which source a series of vaccinations have been performed in England, and it is now probably in full swing in this country. We are told that "small-pox virus" is not now used, or even allowed to be used, in the United Kingdom.
During the debate in Parliament on Supply, 22nd June, 1887, Mr. Ritchie, in the course of his speech, said :—
"The honourable member for East Donegal (Mr. Arthur O'Connor) said something about lymph. He said, I think, that it was the virus of modified small-pox. I cannot agree with the honourable member in his definition as to that point. I am informed that no lymph which is used for vaccination of any kind has ever, within the memory of man, passed through the human body. Dr. Jenner's first lymph was derived from an animal source ; and the lymph which is now sent out is calf lymph. None of the lymph, I say—at all events in historic times—has passed through the human body ; therefore I cannot think that the honourable gentleman is in any way justified in calling the lymph modified small-pox."
Mr. Arthur O'Connor : "What is it, then ? "
Mr. Ritchie : " I am afraid I am not qualified to give the honourable gentleman a medical opinion of what lymph is. I have told him whence it is derived, and he will see there is no ground for calling it modified small-pox."
The fact is, no one knows what is being used, but we have some testimony as to the derivation of " lymph " from small-pox.
Miss Loat has contributed (" Vaccination Inquirer," July, 1912, page 87) some extracts translated from an article on "German Vaccine Institutions," by Dr. Wolfgang Bohn, which appeared in " Der Impfgegner " for October, 1911.
The Doctor mentions a case of small-pox in Bavaria from which matter was taken and calves vaccinated with it by the Director of the Munich Lymph Institute.
"A small-pox case showed itself in Perlach, east of Munich ; the lymph was taken from the sick bed, and was after three-quarters of an hour already in the cooling chamber of the Institute. Fourteen hours after taking it from the sick person the attempts began. Thirty-one calves (page 200) were vaccinated with the small-pox matter."
Dr. S. Monekton Copeman, in a lecture delivered at the Victoria University of Manchester, on 25th April, 1904, in speaking of the way in which vaccine lymph is made, said :—
"The most satisfactory material was found to be vesicle pulp, obtained in the post mortem room from cases of discrete small-pox that had died during a comparatively early stage of the eruption."
Dr. Copeman goes on to tell how, after this pulp had been mixed with glycerine, it was inoculated into monkeys, next into calves, and then into children.
In face of this, it is useless to deny that smallpox virus is being used, even as "glycerinated calf lymph." In fact, the "lymph" would be useless without it. We find, therefore, from a mass of medical and other testimony, that the "lymph" now in general use is as bad as (or worse than) any that has preceded it, because it has been established :—
(1) That no "lymph" can be obtained without blood corpuscles ; therefore, all
" lymph " contains them.
(2) That blood corpuscles are known to be
the vehicle by which disease is conveyed through
vaccination.
(3) That glycerine is proved to be a nutrient
for disease germs, and, therefore, " glycerinated
lymph" cannot, and does not, modify the evil
effects of diseased virus.
(4) That water mixed with vaccine " lymph,"
although harmless has, apart from dilution, no
beneficent or appreciable effect on the " lymph"
when used, and, therefore, the dangers arising
from vaccination with "glycerinated calf lymph,"
or with any kind of "lymph," remain undiminished
in full activity and force.
Since the introduction of " glycerinated calf lymph," sudden deaths following vaccination have become more frequent, and in September, 1897, inquests were held on three children who died in the London Hospital as the result of having been vaccinated with "glycerinated calf lymph."
Press reports of numerous similar cases, which have occurred during, the past few years, will be found in the pages of the " Vaccination Inquirer."
On 13th March, 1900, the Under-Secretary for War, replying in the House of Commons to a question by Mr. T. Bayley, M.P., admitted that three cases of pemphigus, two of which were fatal, had occurred from the use of "glycerinated calf lymph" supplied from the Army Vaccine Institute at Aldershot. The Registrar-General himself, since its introduction, records 251 deaths from 1899 to 1910. It is, therefore, evident that "glycerinated calf lymph" must follow its predecessors into the limbo of obscurity. Let those who wish to use it know of what the virus is composed—viz., an uncertain proportion of glycerine and water, both, perhaps, harmless, and also equally useless and impotent for the purpose of inoculation against small-pox, without the remaining active and potent ingredient of a disease virus. This virus is obtained from the putrid sores of inoculated monkeys, calves, and other animals, or from animal or human corpses, and may contain some germs of all. It is even then useless, ex hypotheosi, unless it also contains the germs, or virus, directly derived from smallpox itself.
On the other hand, without either preventing or mitigating small-pox, it may impart syphilis, or any other of the forty or fifty known inoculable diseases ; or, as it has been known to do in so many recorded instances, it may inflict death.
Vaccine pus is not a remedial agent, but a poison. In one sense, the purer it is, the more certain and fatal in its effects. Morally, vaccination has become a crime, and illustrates the aphorism, "Scratch the green rind of a sapling, or wantonly twist it in the soil, the scarred and crooked oak will tell of thee for ages to come."