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before it is born, is capable of having a legacy made to it, may have a guardian appointed, and in fact is entitled to all the rights which could be claimed in its behalf after birth. A man is entitled to the protection of his health from such practices or annoyances as may prejudice it; out of which regulation arises indictments of nuisances which have been set up, or permitted by individuals for their own peculiar advantage. The security of his reputation from the acts of slander and detraction, is necessary to the full enjoyment of other immunities; but we shall speak more at large on these points, when they come regularly before us in detail.

The personal liberty of individuals consists in the power of locomotion, of removing one's person to whatsoever place our own inclination may direct without restraint, unless by due course of law. The confinement of a person, in anywise, is an imprisonment; so that keeping a man in a private house against his will, putting him in the stocks, or forcibly detaining him in the street, is an imprisonment, which, if not sanctioned by a legal proceeding, as a warrant from a Justice of the peace, or the detection of a criminal act then committed, may be punished, by the party aggrieved recovering compensation for the injury and disgrace he has suffered. Under this right of personal liberty an Englishman may claim to abide in his own country so long as he pleases; but the King may in some cases prohibit his subjects from quitting his kingdom, when necessary for the safeguard of the commonwealth. No power, however, except the authority of Parliament, can send any subject out of the land against his will. Transportation is a punishment unknown to the common law, and whenever it is inflicted it is either at the choice of the criminal to escape capital punishment, or is enjoined by an express Act of the Legislature. Soldiers and sailors are of course excepted from this rule, as the nature of their employment necessarily implies.

The third absolute right inherent in every Englishman, is that of property, which consists in the free enjoyment and use of all his acquisitions without diminution, save by the laws of the land. So strongly guarded is this privilege, that the law will not sanction the violation of it, even for the good of the whole community. If a new road for instance were to be made through the grounds of a private person, it might perhaps be extensively beneficial to the public, but it cannot be done without the consent of the owner, because the public welfare is in nothing more interested than in the protection of every individual's private rights, as modelled by the municipal law. In such cases the Legislature can alone compel individual acquiescence, which it does, taking care that the individual shall be amply indemnified for the injury thereby sustained. No subject can be constrained pay aids or taxes for the defence of the realm or the support of government, except by the consent of the Legislature, which amounts, according to the theory of the Constitution, to the expression of his own approbation of the demand, as it is ordained by his representative in Parliament. These rights are insured to the people by the Constitution, powers and privileges of the Legislature, and the limitation of the prerogatives of the Crown, of which it is not necessary to say

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more in the present place. There are also the Courts of Law, with the Trial by Jury for their protection, and the right of petitioning the Monarch, or either House of Parliament, for the redress of grievances. There is an auxiliary right of the subject, which the turbulent spirit of modern times has wrested from the people in particular districts, for a while it is that of having arms for their defence suitable to their condition and degree; but the persons employed to put this ancient privilege in abeyance take care not to abuse the power extended to them by taking away snch weapons as are manifestly intended for protection from violence and nightly depredators. Those who provide themselves with such instruments, for the purposes of rapine and to commit assaults upon the public tranquillity, may be easily distinguished from the disorderly citizen; and the conservators of the peace do but discharge their duty when they take from them the means of effecting their unlawful purposes.

J. S.

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THE BRITISH CHARACTER.

(From Goldsmith's Traveller.)

Stern o'er each bosom reason holds her state,
With daring aims irregularly great:
Pride in their port, defiance in their eye,
I see the lords of human kind pass by;
Intent on high designs, a thoughtful band,

By forms unfashion'd, fresh from nature's hand,
Fierce in their native hardiness of soul,

True to imagin'd right, above control,

While e'en the peasant boasts these rights to scan,
And learns to venerate himself as man.

Thine, Freedom, thine the blessings pictur'd here,
Thine are those charms that dazzle and endear;

Too blest indeed were such without alloy,
But foster'd e'en by freedom ills annoy;

That independence Britons prize too high,
Keeps man from man, and breaks the social tie;

44 The self-dependent lordlings stand alone,
All claims that bind and sweeten life unknown;
Here, by the bonds of nature feebly held,
Minds combat minds, repelling and repell'd;;
Ferments arise, imprison'd factions roar,
Represt ambition struggles round her shore;
Till, over-wrought, the gen'ral system feels
Its motions stop, or frenzy fire the wheels.

Oh then how blind to all that truth requires,
Who think it freedom when a part aspires!
Calm is my soul, nor apt to rise to arms,
Except when fast approaching danger warms:
But when contending chiefs blockade the throne,
Contracting regal pow'r to stretch their own;
When I behold a factious band agree

To call it freedom when themselves are free;

Fear, pity, justice, indignation, start,
Tear off reserve, and bare my swelling heart;
Till half a patriot, half a coward grown,
I fly from petty tyrants to the throne.

The Fireside Companion;

NO. XI.

VACCINATION.

No discovery of our own times has proved more valuable to the world than that of Dr. Jenner, to whom we are indebted for the important fact that an innocent distemper transplanted from the cow, proves an effectual remedy against the contagion of the Small-Pox, a disease which, loathsome in appearance and malignant in its nature, has proved for many centuries the scourge of the human race.

Some uncertainty exists as to the period when Small-Pox first made its appearance in this country. It seems to have been well known in China in very remote times, and visited Arabia and most of the other nations of the East, long before it extended its ravages into this quarter of the globe.

It has been conjectured by some of our earlier writers, that this dreadful malady was brought into England about seven hundred years ago, by our countrymen returning from the wars in the Holy Land; but there can be little doubt that it existed here considerably before that period, as it made its appearance in Europe so early as the eighth century, when it is said to have been first introduced into Spain by the Moorish army, led by Count Julian, who, in revenging his private quarrels with Roderick, the last of the Gothic Kings of Spain, became the occasion of communicating this fatal disease to his fellowcountrymen, and from them it was quickly propagated amongst other European nations. On the discovery of America by Columbus, his followers carried the disease among the Indian nations of that continent, and for want of that knowledge of its proper treatment it spread like a pestilence wherever it appeared.

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England stands indebted to a celebrated female for the first step towards putting a stop to its virulence. In the year 1717, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, having accompanied her husband as Ambassador to the Turkish Court, acquired during her residence at Constantinople, a perfect acquaintance with the practice of Inoculation, which was known there by the term of sowing or buying the SmallPox. The person who desired to receive the infection bartered a certain number of dates or raisins in exchange for some of the crusts or matter of the Small-Pox, which being rubbed on the back of the head (previously pricked with a needle or lancet) communicated the disorder, under a greatly mitigated character. The mode of treatment during the ensuing fever consisted in keeping the patient cool, which, uuited with a spare diet, greatly promoted the successful issue

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of the complaint. The medical practice at that time pursued in England bore a remarkable contrast to the Turkish method: the external air was carefully excluded from the patient, who was then compelled to breathe an infected atmosphere of his own, almost suffocated by clothing and close confinement. We have since shown our wisdom in returning to the Eastern practice.

Being fully persuaded of the superiority of the Turkish method, Lady Mary had her son inoculated at Constantinople, and on her return to England, some years after, it was performed on another child, under the same favourable circumstances. By this time her influence and example had introduced the new system into great notice. In 1721 inoculation was publicly performed on seven condemned criminals, by permission of King George I., who soon after consented to have two of the Royal Children inoculated in like manner; and all these cases terminated so favourably, that the practice soon became general amongst persons of condition.

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But the great mass of the people for many years resisted the practice. A multitude of objections were started against it; many of the Faculty were decidedly averse to inoculation, while other persons hesitated to receive it, under scruples of conscience not less difficult to overcome. While they acknowledged its advantages, they' doubted whether they could lawfully inflict a disease upon themselves or their children, without offence to God. A variety of publications appeared on the subject, which was disputed with much zeal and ability. Perhaps these objections may receive a satisfactory explanation, by asking1st, Whether is it lawful to save life or destroy it? 2d, Whether of two evils we are not permitted to choose the least →→→ and 3dly, Whether inoculation is doing evil, that good muy come, any more than when we take off a limb to save a life? We advert to these remarks, because we have heard some persons condemn even Vaccination, as an unwarrantable interference with God's decrees:

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Inoculation meanwhile overcame by degrees much of the popular prejudice, and at length made its way throughout the kingdom. Daniel Sutton, an apothecary of Ingatestone, in Essex, was among the first to avail himself of the process as a source of great profit to himself: he resorted to the usual means of bringing himself into notice by advertising certain nostrums, by which he pretended tor assist the recovery of his patients, and soon brought multitudes from all quarters to receive inoculation at his hands.net peux call

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In 1746 the Small-pox Hospital was erected in London, for the express purpose of inoculating the poor; and in 1754, the College of Physicians formally pronounced their opinion in favour of the new system. The efficacy of the process was incontestibly proved by showing the great saving of human life which was thereby effected. The deaths by natural Small-pox were officially stated at the time to be no less than 72 in every 400 persons; whereas not more than one person in four hundred died under inoculation. But still the mortality arising from Small-pox throughout the kingdom remained undimi nished, for great as were the benefits of inoculation they did not

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counterbalance the increase of those who received the infection, the number of persons who consented to be inoculated bearing as yet no proportion to those who refused it. The average deaths by Small

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pox, as stated by a Committee of the House of Commons, were no less than 36,000 annually.

It was reserved for Dr. Jenner to have the honour of discovering a specific to counteract this tremendous disease. This celebrated physician, in the course of his practice in Gloucestershire, ascertained that a disorder was well known in the dairies, which affected the teats of cows, and was reported to be an effectual security against the Smallpox, to any who by handling the animal received the infection upon their fingers. Having established himself at Berkeley, he gave his undivided attention to the subject; he learnt that the medical practitioners in the neighbourhood were not unacquainted with the popular notion, but that they considered the Cow-pox no certain preventive to Small-pox, although in some cases it might prove so.

This led him to a more minute investigation of the fact; he ascertained that there are several eruptive disorders among the milkers, all derived from the cow, the specific character of each requiring a nice and accurate distinction: he found that only one of these was an effectual preventive to Small-pox, but that this was invariable in its effects. To render it effectual it was necessary the fluid should be taken from the pustules in an early stage, those in their decline not proving a protection against Small-pox infection.

Having now satisfactorily ascertained the character of the true Vaccine or Cow-pox, and the proper period for taking the lymph or fluid used for inoculation, he ventured to make known to the world this highly interesting discovery, and it was not long before the general attention of the Faculty was directed to the investigation of a subject of so much importance to the public welfare. Much controversy ensued; many able men, who at first were disposed to doubt of its efficacy, soon became the zealous friends of Vaccination; and at length it was received and adopted by all men of medical science as an invaluable substitute for inoculation by Small-pox.

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So soon as the credit of Dr. Jenner's great discovery was fully established, his services came under the consideration of Parliament, and a reward of £20,000 was voted to him for having thus rendered so important a benefit to his fellow-creatures. The most valuable part of the discovery was its permanency as a preventive to Small-pox. This was proved by long, and undoubted experience; many persons who had received the Cow-pox, fifteen, twenty-seven, and even fifty years before, were examined by medical men of high reputation, and were then exposed to the contagion of the Small-pox without taking the disease.

That numberless failures, or reputed failures, should be recorded, need not excite wonder, when we consider the many blunders which must have attended the early practice of Vaccination. It was long before those who inoculated with Cow-pox had a proper knowledge of that peculiar species of the disorder which is alone effectual,

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