Memorial of Josiah Meigs, and others : for an act of incorporation of a national vaccine institution for the United States of America. January 5, 1820. Read, and referred to a select committee.
- Meigs, Josiah, 1757-1822.
- Date:
- 1820
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Memorial of Josiah Meigs, and others : for an act of incorporation of a national vaccine institution for the United States of America. January 5, 1820. Read, and referred to a select committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
10/16
![through the medium of some institution of this kind. An honorable Committee of tin- House of Representatives, in a report on this sub- ject, dated 3d February, 1818, gave it as their opinion, and the go- vernment of our country has adopted il as a just and proper precau- tion, that the vaccination of those persons belonging to the army and navy, who had never had the small ]>ox, was dictated by duty as well as interest. But the preservation of the vaccine matter, as has been already intimated, is altogether incompatible with the duties. which the surgeons in service are bound to perform; it therefore becomes necessary for us to supply them with this remedy, as often as they may have occasion to use it. But, independent of these faci- lities, which the public authorities will derive from this Institution, our fellow citizens, of every description, will be most happily accom- modated, (when necessity perhaps may compel them to resort to it,) by knowing how and where they can obtain, with certainty, a proper supply of this matter. There are but few among us, who regard, as we ought, any danger which is at a distance, or out of our immedi- ate viewr: and there are many, who, under these circumstances, can- not be persuaded to make any provision whatever against it. Many families, who. when the best opportunity was offered, could not be prevailed on to use the Kine Pock, have afterwards, when they be- came accidentally exposed to the contagion of Small Pox, searched with avidity for this remedy, and risked their lives upon the first portion of matter they could procure from any source. Many per- sons, in the moment of danger to a whole neighborhood, have sent messenger after messenger, and one express after another to veiw distant places, in the greatest precipitation, and sometimes without being able to procure any matter, upon which they could place their dependence. The fatal consequences, which arc liable to flow from proceedings of this kind, point out to us, in the plainest and most forcible manner, the necessity of preserving this invaluable matter with the greatest care, in some convenient and well known place, from whence it may be obtained at a moment's notice, and distri- buted free of every impediment, and to any extent it may be de- manded. Sixth. There is, at this present time, a very large majority of the citizens of the United States, liable to take the variolous disease; and of those who ave liable to be affected by it, there is not one half of them who are willing to submit to be vaccinated, unless they are urged to it by their immediate exposure to the contagion of Small Pox. This universal carelessness, or unwillingness, in most peo- ple, to give themselves any trouble, or to incur any expense on this account, unless compelled by some immediate danger, cannot be too harshly condemned—it is discouraging in the extreme, and seems to forbode to our country, at some future period of time, a more serious calamity by Small Pox, than we have ever experienced from it. We should therefore take heed in time, and endeavor, by our constant care, and unremitted attention, to preserve the Kine Pock in it puri-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21140595_0010.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
