We now know the principle upon which protection
is secured: an active acquired immunity follows upon an attack of a
disease of a similar nature. Smallpox and cowpox are closely allied and
the substances formed in the blood by the one are resistant to the
virus of the other. I do not see how any reasonable person can oppose
vaccination or decry its benefits. I show you the mortality figures(9)
of the Prussian Army and of the German Empire. A comparison with
the statistics of the armies of other European countries in which
revaccination is not so thoroughly carried out is most convincing of its
efficacy.
(8) Edward Jenner: The Origin of the Vaccine Inoculation,
London, 1801.
(*) Reprinted by Camac: Epoch-making Contributions to Medicine,
etc., 1909.--Ed.
(9) Jockmann: Pocken und Vaccinationlehre, 1913.
The early years of the century saw the rise of modern clinical medicine
in Paris. In the art of observation men had come to a standstill.
I doubt very much whether Corvisart in 1800 was any more skilful in
recognizing a case of pneumonia than was Aretaeus in the second century
A. D. But disease had come to be more systematically studied; special
clinics were organized, and teaching became much more thorough.
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