History, Natural

Nature Hates a Vacuum: Other Diseases Fill the Void of Smallpox (1883)

“What happens is, that other diseases take the place of the small-pox when this disappears: a circumstance worthy of our profound attention. Thus the eminent English Physiologist, Dr. W. B. Carpenter, who for the last year or two has stood forward as the champion of Vaccination with conspicuous zeal … is compelled to admit that at the same time that the mortality of small-pox — through the influence of Vaccination, as he thinks — has declined, the mortality of measles and scarlet fever especially has increased.” — P.A. Siljestrom, 1883