W. J. Collins, B.Sc. M.R.C.S.

He would ask, Has compulsory vaccination realised what was expected of it? has it annihilated small-pox? has it lessened the mortality from that disease? In reply, he would refer to the statistics of London and England, which showed that with 94 per cent, of the community vaccinated under a "perfected" system, there had been far more small-pox than when only half the population was protected, and vaccination was purely voluntary. In conclusion, he would repeat his conviction that there was not a shred of scientific evidence which lent support to the theory of vaccination; and that there was not a single dogma of Jenner that had stood the test of time and experience, and that ere long vaccination would be discarded before the advance of sanitary science.—(Speech at the Abernethian Society, St. Bartholomew's Hospital.) Reported in Student's Journal for March 19th, 1881.