able symptoms which might subsequently arise, apparently as the result of vaccination, should immediately be reported to the inspector at his office. As a consequence of this invitation quite a number of complaints were received, every one of which was thoroughly investigated. It is fair, therefore, to suppose that every case of importance thus came under the observation of the inspector. Out of 24,395 primary vaccinations, 145 complaints were entered—scarcely more than one in 150 cases. On examination these were divided into four classes:
1. Ulceration and sloughing of the arm about the sore.
2. Inflammation and erysipelas.
3. Inflammation of the neighboring glands and sometimes abscess.
4. Various eruptions on the skin.
Two deaths occurred, both from erysipelas. Both these cases were in bad subjects, one being complicated with meningitis, the other being in a poor anæmic child with "such miserable surroundings as to preclude the possibility of recovery." In such subjects any operation, even the slightest, or any accident, an ordinary cut or bruise, without inoculation of any kind, is liable to be followed by most serious results. The vaccine virus can not be held responsible for the mischief in these nor any of the cases complained of, since in the same streets, even in the same houses, many other children were vaccinated with the same virus with perfect results. The fault was in the children themselves, their parentage, their constitutions, their habits and surroundings. So true is this that, if vaccinators could choose their cases, avoiding all bad or doubtful subjects for the sake of avoiding the prejudice aroused by a single unfavorable result, seldom indeed would a complaint be entered; but, on the other hand, many a child fairly entitled to the benefits of vaccination might be left unprotected. These results are mentioned, however, that nothing may be covered up which was actually found as a sequel even if not a result of vaccination.
Looking for statistics or even single cases of disease actually transmitted from one person to another by means of vaccination, no such cases exist. Concerning syphilis the inspector says, "Among all the cases of bad results which we have seen, we have failed to find a single one showing any indications of syphilitic inoculation, nor have we ever met a case of this kind in all our experience." Only a very few such cases have been brought to notice as even suspected, and none which would bear investigation. They were either not syphilis at all, the most usual result of examination, or else showed some other and more probable way of receiving the infection.
But what of other terrible diseases—cancer, consumption, and all the other forms of scrofula—for which vaccination has been blamed? No such cases have ever been brought to the notice of the inspector. The idea that such diseases can be so transmitted is absurd on its face, since it is certainly most difficult, if not utterly impossible, to repro-
