Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/925

* VACCINATION. 789 VACHEROT. law was put upon the statute books about 1803. Norway and Ufumark followed in 1810. After many vicissitudes and thanges. Great Hritain's law was enacted iu 1867. Scotland |)ut herself on record in 1864. Italy. Holland, and Belgium popularized vaccination very early and needed no law. France's decree of 1801) was iuo[)erative and the country has suft'ered heavily from the want of a compulsory law. The German Empire framed the Imperial Vaccination Law' in 1874, and its provisions deserve study and imitation. It provides: (1) Every child shall be vac- cinated within the calendar year of its birth, unless it has passed through an attack of variola. (2) Ever}' pupil shall be revaccinated when 12 j-ears of age, if he has not had variola within the past five years. (3) Every vaccinated person must present himself to the physician who vac- cinated him between the sixth and eighth day after vaccination. (4) Jledical certificates proving successful vaccination at the legal ages shall be preserved by parents and guardians. Massachusetts enacted laws to regulate vac- cination in 1800. Several States followed the ex- ample early, notably Rhode Island. In most of the States local or State boards of health formulate regulations under which vaccination is practically compulsory, acting in unison with school boards in excluding all unvaccinated chil- dren from the schools. In several of the United States the constitutionality of statutes making vaccination compulsory has been judicially settled. They are held to be a legitimate ex- ercise of the police power for the protection of the public liealth. A ]diysician who vaccinates a person without the latter's consent, but who is acting under the authority of such a statute or ordinance, is not liable for assault. In spite of the testimony received from all over the civilized world, anti-vaccinationists flourisli in small bodies here and there. The anti-vaccination sentiment had become so strong in England, although confined to a small class, that a measure was ado])ted in 1898 practically annulling the compulsory vaccination bill of that country. The newer measure provides that any parent may refuse to have his child vaccinated and avoid legal penalty if he satisfies the court that he has conscientious scruples as to the bene- fits of vaccination. The reaction will come, fol- lowing some future epidemic of smallpox in Great Britain in which there is great mortality. The agitation against vaccination has been con- stant since the days of Jenner. In his time it was claimed that the tendency of the inocula- tion of vaccinia was to cause bovine character- istics to appear in children; that they developed horns, hoofs, and tails, and bellowed like cattle. Less absurd but, in the opinion of leading medi- cal authorities, equally untenable arguments are presented against vaccination to-day. Revaccination. Jenner believed that the effect of vaccination was perennial : and this be- lief imjieriled the lirogress of vaecinntion at one epoch in its history, for vaccinated persons, after several years of imniunity. fell victims to smallpox. At one time the mystical number seven seemed to rule the mind, and vaccinia was said to last seven years. In fact, the duration of immunity conferred by vaccination is variable in difierent people. In a few cases, one vaccination protects for life, and cannot be successfully re- pealed. In others, a vaccination will 'take' every time it is tried. For safily's sake, a person should be vaccinated cverv three years, and also whenever threatened by tlu- presence of an epi- demic, or when about to travel in a country where sniallpox'exists or where careful vaccina- tion is not practiced. It is (lesiral)le that a careful use be made of a good glycerinated lymph. If tliis fails, a second trial should be made with vaccine procured from a different source. If this also fails, the per.son may be considered immune to smallpox for a j'car. Substitutes fok Vaccination. It has been claimed from time to time by enthusiasts in sanitation that cleanliness and disinfection will control and prevent smallpox. This is an error, as was abundantly proved in a New Jersey town in 1902-03. Until the microorganism causative in smallpo.x is discovered and its nature is known, no adequate prophylactic or disinfectant meas- ures will supersede vaccination. Were primary vaccination and revaccination carefully practiced, smallpox would be entirely eradicated. See S.MAU.POX. Consult: Willan, ^'accine•Inoculation(t,ontlon, 1807); Sacco, Trattato di i:a(:cinazioHe (Milan, 1809); Baron, The Life of Jenner (London, 1827); lilue-Book on Vaccination (ib., 18.57); Borne, Vaecinalion ct revnccinatinns oblifjatoires en application tie la loi sur la protection de In sante piMique (Paris, 1902) ; Crandall, "A Cen- tury of Vaccination," in American Medicine (Philadelphia, Dec. 7, 1901) ; Immermann, "Vac- cination," iu Nothnagers Encyelopwdia of Prac- tical Medicine (Eng. trans., Philadelphia and London, 1902). VACH, viich. See Vac. VACHEROT, viish'io', Etienne ( 1809-97 ) . A Frencli pliilosopher, born at Langres and edu- cated in Paris, where, after having for several years taught at Chalons-sur-Marne, he was ap- pointed, in 1837, .superintendent and niaitre des conference at the normal school by Victor Cousin, his former teacher, whom he succeeded as pro- fessor of philosophy at the Sorbonne in 1839. Through his liberal views and especially by the exposition of his philosophical doctrines in the Histoire critique de t'ecole d'Alexandrie (1840- 51), he aroused the most violent opposition of the clergy, and in consequence was suspended from his position of superintendent and. after denying allegiance to the Empire in 18,52. was deprived of his professorate. .ludiciiiry pro- ceedings and imprisonment resulted from the jiublication of La democratic (18.50). As mayor of the fifth arrondisscment of Paris he rendered important services during the siege and the Commune and in 1871 was elected to the Xational Assembly, where he at first sided with the Liberals, but afterwards joined the Centre and even lent his support to the Broglie ^linistry in its ultramontane as|iirations. Although with- drawing from )ioIitic;il life after the dissolution of the N'ational .Assembly, he continued to voice his opinions in his contributions to the Revue dex Deux Mondeni. the severe anti-reiuiblican tenor of which created a sensation. Likewise he accentuated his monarchical tendencies in the columns of the Fiqaro and the HoJeil. Besides his principal work. La mi'lapln/sique el la science