QUESTION AND ANSWER DEPARTMENT


This is a purely academic question and we doubt very much if anyone is qualified to give anything more than a theoretical answer based, shall we say, upon expediency?.


Question: IS IT TRUE THAT LEG VACCINATIONS ARE EVEN MORE HAZARDOUS THAN THOSE ON THE ARM?.

Answer: Yes, especially as far as the immediate risk is concerned. In the case of a very sore and badly swollen limb immobilisation of the arm is a relatively simple matter, whereas fixation of the leg sharply limits the patients freedom. There is, therefore, a strong urge to keep going when absolute rest of the part may be clearly indicated. Another danger is the possible extension of the inflammatory process through the lymphatics to the pelvic tract.

Question: IS A MILD “TAKE” AS GOOD A PROTECTION AGAINST SMALL-POX AS A SEVERE REACTION?.

Answer: This is a purely academic question and we doubt very much if anyone is qualified to give anything more than a theoretical answer based, shall we say, upon expediency?.

Question: WHEN A VACCINATION FAILS TO TAKE, HOW STRONG EVIDENCE IS IT THAT THE INDIVIDUAL IS IMMUNE TO SMALL-POX?.

Answer: In the first place the vaccine lymph may have been a “dud.” Revaccination would be the happy (?) answer to that part of the question. There are those who have been revaccinated several times without a single “take.” Theoretically and from an advertising standpoint such individuals are immune to small-pox. Proof of this, however, is lacking. Sometimes the first and second vaccinations do not take, but the third produces a terrific reaction. How shall we classify such a case? Again, nobody really knows. Finally a successful take has been followed in a few months with actual small-pox. Such facts are not considered proper material for public consumption.

Question: FOR HOW LONG ON THE AVERAGE DOES VACCINATION PROTECT AGAINST SMALL-POX?.

Answer: It used to be a lifetime proposition. Next it was seven years. Now it is down to four or five. It all depends upon just how much punishment the public will stand. Apparently the limit of tolerance has not yet been reached.

Question: DO YOU FAVOR INTERNAL OR HOMOEOPATHIC VACCINATION- -FOR INSTANCE, GIVING Variolinum OR Vaccininum AS A PROPHYLAXIS AGAINST THE DISEASE?.

Answer: All right if it will make the doctor or the patient any more contented in mind. Small-pox is such a rare disease under conditions of cleanliness and modern sanitary facilities that the best and most sensible thing is to just forget it.

Eugene Underhill
Dr Eugene Underhill Jr. (1887-1968) was the son of Eugene and Minnie (Lewis) Underhill Sr. He was a graduate of Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. A homeopathic physician for over 50 years, he had offices in Philadelphia.

Eugene passed away at his country home on Spring Hill, Tuscarora Township, Bradford County, PA. He had been in ill health for several months. His wife, the former Caroline Davis, whom he had married in Philadelphia in 1910, had passed away in 1961. They spent most of their marriage lives in Swarthmore, PA.

Dr. Underhill was a member of the United Lodge of Theosophy, a member of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, and the Pennsylvania Medical Society. He was also the editor of the Homœopathic Recorder.