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95
here the dates of the principal Acts of Parliament relating to
the practice of vaccination in England and Wales which have
come into force during this period.
In 1840-1 the means of vaccination was provided at
the expense of the Poor Rates for every person in England
and Wales.
In 1853 the practice of vaccination was made compulsory
in regard to children born in England or Wales after
the 1st August, 1853, and penalties were imposed for noncompliance.
The provisions for this purpose then enacted
were found in working to be very imperfect; and, indeed, the
obligation to be vaccinated remained little more than nominal
down to the date of the appointment of paid Vaccination
Officers. At the same time, however, the fact that the
law required vaccination within a prescribed period from
birth no doubt increased the spread of the practice.
In 1867, the laws relating to vaccination in England
and Wales were consolidated and amended ; and the provisions
then enacted, as regards those Unions where the power
given to appoint paid Vaccination Officers was exercised,
were such as to make effective the obligation to be vaccinated.
In many Unions, however, this power was not at once
exercised.
From the evidence taken by the Select Committee
of the House of Commons in 1871, it appears that of
260 Unions inspected by the Medical Department of the
Privy Council in the course of the year 1870, two years and
more after the Act of 1867 had come into force, 121 were
reported as not having at the date of inspection appointed