It has been 135 years since Dr. George H. Clark of Philadelphia issued a stark warning to the medical community and the public. In 1891, he observed that those who genuinely investigated the practice of vaccination against smallpox found it to be a scourge worse than the disease itself. Its consequences, he argued, were not limited to the individual but could poison the health of subsequent generations.

This historical perspective compels us to ask profound questions about our own era. How do we truly evaluate the holistic, long-term impact of any medical intervention on the human body? Are our assessments comprehensive enough to account for effects that may not appear for years, or that may echo through the lineage of those we treat? Is this even considered by our medical system? Is such an evaluation even possible within our current knowledge?

Clark’s critique is not merely a historical curiosity. It is a challenge to intellectual complacency that transcends any single medical debate. He points to a dynamic in which both the public and professionals can become uncritical adherents of popular theories, dismissing dissent with ridicule rather than reason. His call—for rigorous, honest study that considers the full, multi-generational consequences of our actions—is as vital today as it was 135 years ago. It asks us to consider whether we are truly investigating “in all its bearings,” or merely accepting comforting narratives at second hand.

“It has been, and is now, the custom for a large majority of people to accept as true all that is claimed by physicians for various theories. Even the intelligent are willing to take at second hand, without giving thought to the subject, some of the wildest theories ever presented.
Among the many thus received is vaccination. To question its virtue in preventing small-pox is to call down upon one the sneers of almost all within hearing of him who expresses doubt. And yet it will be found that those who scoff have never given any thought to the question, and thus their jibes have no effect. Even many physicians, it will be found, have never given the subject any study, but have taken for granted all that is claimed.
It will usually be found that he who has studied the question in all its bearings, and who has seen the result of vaccination, and has collected all the evidence possible, will be against the barbarous practice...
Now we claim to be able to show that not only does vaccination not prevent small-pox, but also that it is capable of causing loathsome diseases that are worse in their results, and more far-reaching than the worst effects of small-pox. Indeed, an attack of small-pox usually leaves the system of those who recover in a better condition than it was before the attack. On the other hand, the evil effects of vaccination are not only felt by the present living victim, but may be transmitted to future generations, and thus the sins—not of the parents (it is only the parents’ ignorance), but of the physicians who are not sufficiently learned in the horrible effects of vaccination—are visited upon the children of even the third and fourth generation.”

— George H. Clark MD, Germantown, Philadelphia

References

1. Some Thoughts About Vaccination, Homoeopathic Envoy, October 1891, vol. II., no. 8, pp. 60–61.