will mention two or three cases which appear to me to speak strongly in favour of vaccination. A family came into one of my parishes, two children of which, immediately after their arrival, had the small-pox in the natural way, and severely.. A girl, whom I had vaccinated two or three years before, assisted in nursing these children. The mother of the children, who had had the smallpox, and this girl, after a few days, became unwell, and were attacked with a fever-to which, I understand even nurses, accustomed to the employment, are subject, and which undoubtedly would have ended in the small-pox, had they been capable of receiving the full infection. Every symptom, however, disappeared in both alike.

In the second case-a youth-the son of a poor widow, had the small-pox in the natural wayvery severely; his whole body was covered with pustules. Owing to their circumstances, the youth was obliged to sleep, and to live, in the same confined apartment with his two sisters, whom I had formerly vaccinated. They consequently imbibed the same atmosphere day and night, during the whole period of his illness, yet neither of them was in the least affected.

To mention one instance more. A person, who had a strong, and very unjust prejudice against vaccination, sent a child, under the influence of the small-pox, to mix and play with children who had been vaccinated, but without any effect-neither did the disorder spread in the village.

It is true that instances have occurred of smallpox after vaccination-many of these I am persuaded might, if duly examined, be satisfactorily accounted for: amongst the poor there is not always sufficient care taken to observe the progress, and ascertain that every thing goes on every thing goes on properly. properly. Many are inoculated at the same time, and, in some cases, no medical man sees them again. The pa

rents also, observing some inflammation, take it for granted that the children have had the disease, though slightly; when, in fact, they have not had it at all. And, when such persons take the smallpox, an evil report is very usually brought upon vaccination. Moreover, sufficient care is not always taken to procure the matter in its proper stage.

But, besides all this, even the small-pox will sometimes appear a second time. There are few people who do not know of cases of this kind. A clergyman, a friend of mine, informed me of two cases, wherein two men who had had the smallpox, one in the natural way and one by inoculation (and that to his own knowledge) were again attacked by that disease.

I believe, in almost every instance, where smallpox has occurred after vaccination, it has been in the mildest form.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

WM. WILKINSON.

South Croxton, Oct. 30th, 1826.

VACCINATION.

A

WHEN the practice of vaccination was introduced by Dr. Jenner, its advantages were soon seen. most valuable discovery was made; a method by which, instead of the infectious and dangerous disorder of the small-pox, a disease not infectious, and peculiarly mild was introduced. So great were its advantages, that it very soon became general among the higher and middling classes of society. The process of vaccination was so easy, that many persons practised it, who knew nothing of the subject of diseases or of medicine. Whole villages

were vaccinated by clergymen, by ladies, or other benevolent people, and very often with complete success. And people, from such successes, began to speak of vaccination, as something perfect and infallible, whereas there is no such thing in the world, and they became too careless about the manner of performing it, and about watching the progress of the disease. Accordingly, when a few failures occurred, some people went into the other extreme, and talked of vaccination as if it had wholly failed. The truth is, that some persons have had the small-pox after vaccination, and some few have had it severely, but generally speaking, the second disease is much milder than it would have been if there had been no vaccination before. When any thing goes wrong, we are apt to remark upon it, whilst we say nothing when all is right. Thus when a few people have taken the small-pox we cry out against vaccination, without considering how many thousands have been protected by it. The experience of what it has done must in time, we should suppose, lead to the universal adoption of it. The medical men who have opportunities of judging of the real state of the case, would have ceased to encourage vaccination if they had not seen that much good was done by it ;-but we find that they still continue to recommend it.The governors of the Royal Metropolitan Infirmary for sick children, say,

1st. That the practice of vaccination is steadily gaining ground among the poorer classes of society.

2d. That the inoculation of small-pox is of rarer occurrence than heretofore.

3d. That in proportion as the former practice increases, and the latter decreases, so have the cases of natural small-pox diminished.

4th. That parents, in general, are much less in different than hitherto to, the great advantage of

securing their offspring, by an early vaccination, from the ravages of a most loathsome disease.

5th. That small-pox after vaccination has been of very rare occurrence; and, when it has occurred, it has been mild in its course, and harmless.

6th, and lastly. That although two cases of death, referred to small-pox after vaccination by the parents, have been reported to your medical officers since the first foundation of the institution, positive proofs do not exist of the real nature of those cases; and they have, therefore, not been noticed in the table. X. Y.

CHARMS.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor.

SIR,

THE age of witchcraft has indeed passed away, and we are not likely to hear of any poor creatures being burnt for using spells-and bewitching their neighbours' cows, pigs, and horses; but there is still an absurd and unaccountable superstition which I think cannot be too much exposed, because, I conceive it morally wrong, and often attended with serious consequences. Wrong-because, as Christians, we are taught to pray to God, and to depend upon His blessing for the success of every means. But how can we look for success upon what is in itself absurd and false? Dangerousbecause persons are tempted to neglect the use of proper means in consequence of their dependance upon these fooleries. I am led to these observations in consequence of two cases which occurred to me within the last few days. Two persons in my parishes suffered under the ague, one was the Quo

tidian, brought out of the Fens, and the other the Tertian; both were very ill, and both had upon them a charm, which consisted of a paper wrapped up and carefully sealed, which they were to wear about their persons, and on no account were they to examine the contents. The ague however paid no respect to the charm; and, when they were satisfied of its inefficacy, they were both cured speedily and effectually by the use of that invaluable medicine, the Quinine.-I took the papers, and, notwithstanding the anathema,-ventured to open them. I give you the contents verbatim and literatim, that your readers may judge of the extreme folly of confiding in such absurdities,-and yet, I assure you, there are many ignorant people, among whom this is a very common case.

The Charm.

"As Jesus was going by Jerusalem gates-saw Peter sitting. Jesus saith unto him, Arise and follow me.' Peter said, Lord, I cannot.' Jesus said, Doth the cursed ague attain thee? Arise and follow me.' The ague being dismissed, Peter said, 'Lord, I pray Thee that whoever wears these lines may be healed, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.'"

Now here is first a falsehood stated, and then the sacred name of the Trinity invoked to grant a blessing upon it. I believe the use of charms has prevailed, in consequence of some apparent benefit having followed, in a few instances,-especially in the case of persons liable to fits,-which I think may be accounted for. It is well known, that the very expectation of these attacks, in some instances, brings them on. When, therefore, persons wear a ring, or any other charm, the confidence they have in these means, may have the effect of retarding,