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or medical assistance which the operation might render necessary
or expedient, and the necessary expenditure in respect thereof.
It is to be further observed that in the legislation of 1840
and 1841 there was no compulsion on parents or others to procure or
to submit to vaccination. The services of the vaccinator were to
be provided, and he was to vaccinate all who might choose to
come to him for that purpose. It is not clear whether re-vaccination
was contemplated. Although there is a difference in the
language of sections 2 and 6 relating to England and Wales and
Ireland respectively, yet it is probable that, looking to the mode
of payment provided in section x, a second vaccination was not
contemplated by the Act.
At the suggestion of the Epidemiological Society, which
had been formed in 1850, Lord Lyttelton introduced into the
House of Lords the measure which afterwards passed into law on
the 20th August, 1853, without opposition or division. This
was really the first measure for compulsory vaccination. It is
entitled ' An Act to extend and make compulsory the Practice of
Vaccination.' It applied only to England and Wales.
The principal provisions of this Act were as follows :—The
Guardians and Overseers, when the Parishes were not in union,
were required, subject to the approval of the Poor Law Board, to
divide their Unions and Parishes into convenient districts
(section 1) for the purpose of giving increased facilities for the
vaccination of the poor. They were to appoint a convenient
place for the attendance of the vaccinator, and to give notice of
place and time when he would attend to vaccinate, and to
inspect the progress of the vaccination. The vaccinations were
limited to those persons only who had not already been successfully
vaccinated. It seems, therefore, that re-vaccination was
not contemplated by this Act.
The second section contains the compulsion. It was
enacted that within three months of the birth the father or mother,