Life — May 7, 1908 — page 20: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Some Burhankized tulip bulbs were set out in Madison Square and they grew rapidly and blossomed early. ‘The Board of Public Safety will soon have them removed, as there is considerable danger to pedestrians feom falling petals. Evolution Ix DAYS gone by, so glorious, l 1, $, meant always Ours and Us. But in these latter days we see It merely stands for Mine and Me. DITOR LIFE: Dear Sir—Throughout Minois, on Tuesday, Apsil 7. the people voted oa the liquor question, in the form of local option. The campaign had been vigor- ous, and the assistance of the women and children had teen enfisted by the “dry"” party. Women Luttonboled men and processions were formed, composed exclusively of women and children, who marched, sang temperance songs and carried appropriately worded banners. In Moline, a certain reputable professional man was startled, mortified and incensed, on meeting one of these processions, to Lehold his own boy carrying a tanner bearing the legend, “Help Me to Save Fath Yours truly, Jous N. Vay Parte. Davenport, towa, April rt, 1998. EAR LIFE: T quite agree with your correspondent, K.G., in the March t2th number of Lire, that compulsory vaccination isa crime against personal liberty. So long as Lam protected from smallpox, | don't care if KG goes unvaccinated if he chooses. He is, however, in eftor when he states that “expert medical opinion is bopekssly divided upon every phase of the vaccina- tion question,” and I shall Le obliged to K. G. if he will name me a single important regular medical school where the practice of vaccination is not taught and implicitly relied upon. T have a large acquaint- ance among physicians, including several homeo- paths, in various parts of the country, and I have met with only one who opposed vaccination, Your correspondent tells us that “blood poisoning, constitutional debility and prolonged invalidism” are frequent sequelle of vaccination. If be knows of any such cases I will venture tw predict that his experience has been a broader one than that of most of Lire’s readers. T have practised medicine for several years and 1 have never met with any one who even claimed such injury The average death-rate from smallpox in Prussia, for the ten years following compulsory vaccination, was one and a half per 100,000 population, In Aus. tria, where no compulsory vaccination obtained, the death rate for the same period was sisty-one and a half per 100,000. Such statistics are the basis for “the faith that is in us’ Thave a friend who was infected with smallpox when a medical student, by dissecting, by mistake, a subject that had died of smallpox. He was un- vaccinated at the time and contracted smallpox in a severe form. Ilis five colleagues who dissected with him on the same body were all vaccinated and all escaped infection T have twice attended smallpox cases where they were the only unvaccinated persons in the housebold, and I have known so many such instances that I have grown to regard them as invariable. If your correspondent wonders why this supers tion has lived and thrived for a century among an intelligent and educated profession, it is simply be- cause the experience of the average physician has been similar to mine. Yours truly, as vaccinationists. A Puysictan. Lunenburg, Mass., March 27, 1908. EAR LIFE: A few days past, I remarked to a friend, “T think I'll write Lire regarding it's attitude toward vivisection.” My fricad replied, “Don't do it. ridicule you or else not notice you." 1 did not believe it Having been interested in scientific work for a num: ber of years, I am loath to think that you can be properly informed regarding the Rockefeller Lastitute, and your frequent, to say the least, uncomplimentary reflections in that direction can oaly, it seems to me, be the product of misinformatio If unscientific methods of vivisection are in prac- tice they should be clearly differentiated from vivi- section as a science, and attacked as such. No individual in these days of careful research and progress, and, much less, a journal of your standing and keenness, can afford to deny or belittle the inesti- mable good derived from investigations of this kind, or to cast aspersions upon a vitally important work because of possible abuses that may exist in circles of not the highest standing. Repeating, that discrimination is necessary, I re- main, Faithfully yours, Stoney Paice. New Haven, Conn., March 24, 1908. ‘They will either Tanswered that ) THE EDITOR OF LIFE: Although I cannot altogether coincide with your views respecting the volatile Hebrew, he is well alle to take care of himself, therefore, requires no defence, Your attitude, however, regarding vivi- section is most commendable, and I sincerely hope you will use your best endeavors toward the suppres- sion of this relic of barbarism, of rather result of our overcivilization, Go to it; don’t let up until the vivi fector experiences mentally some of the torments he inflicts upon his less enlightened but equally useful dumb brother. Yours very truly, L. W. Neustaprer. San Francisco, Cal., April 9, 1908. Humble Folk at the Bottom R. HILL, it is intimated, is not sty- lish enough to hold his own with the current run of American ambassadors. Fudge! The ambassadors and ambassa- dresses are modest folk enough. Take Mr. Reid, a glorious example, surely, and yet himself no more than a clever and lucky journalist, who married the daugh- ter of Mr. Mills, the hotel man. “CONFOUND IT, SOMEBODY'S ONCE AGAIN BEEN USING MY TooTH-Beusit !"