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72
A bad look out truly; for it would appear that in 1896
more than one-fourth of the children born were without the
protection against small-pox afforded by vaccination, and
the proportion at the present time is, probably, higher. It is
but too probable,moreover, that a large proportionof thechildren
not vaccinated prior to the new Act coming into operation, will
remain unvaccinated and liable to small-pox. Mr. Shattock
informs me that false registration, i.e., wrong addresses
entered on the birth list sheets, is his greatest difficulty:
the children cannot be traced.
The New Vaccination Act.—In the report for 1897
some account was given of the Vaccination Bill brought in by
the President of the Local Government Board. The Bill
became law in a strangely altered form; and the Act, in
regard to some of its provisions, could scarcely have been
more unsatisfactory had it been designed to abolish compulsory
vaccination; for the "conscientious objector" can
avoid the vaccination of his children without any sensible
difficulty and without expense. One good feature in the
Act is that it provides for the use of glycerinated calf-lymph,
and so cuts the ground from under the feet of those who
objected to vaccination because of the possibility of enthetic
disease being conveyed in humanised lymph. Public
vaccination stations are abolished by the Act, which is
entailing considerably increased expenditure upon the
ratepayers.