WCP3363

[1]

Batch Wood, St. Albans

4th October, 1898.

To Dr. F. T. Bond¹, Gloucester

Sir,

I am much obliged to you for the copies of your and Mr. Wallace's letters to the Echo. I have read them carefully, and compared them with the chapter on Vaccination in his Wonderful Century, and I have no hesitation in giving my verdict as a 'juryman,' and not as an 'expert' in his favour.

I take it for granted that you have made as good a case as anybody can on your side, and I have less doubt than before that we (I mean Parliament) have done right in putting an end, as the late Act practically has, to punishing parents for refusing to have their children vaccinated at the risk, as they believe, of doing them more harm than good. The few magistrates who are taking upon themselves to judge of the rightness of the belief, will have to be taught that they are breaking and not obeying or executing the law. Nobody will pay a shilling for a certificate that he conscientiously (which only means really) believes what he does not. If he did not he would let them be vaccination.

Yours obediently | Grimthorpe

F. T. Bond, Esq., M.D.,

Gloucester