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159
[1903
" It has been asserted in England by persons who have little or
" no faith in the value of vaccination as a prophylactic against
" Small Pox, that the comparative immunity of the German nation
" from that disease is due, not to statutory vaccination and re-vacci"
nation, but to the strict system of isolation of Small Pox which is
" carried out in Germany. But the evidence given to me by the
" eminent medical men with whom I have personally conferred,
" entirely refutes this assertion; and one and all joined in the repre"
sentation that compulsory vaccination and re-vaccination were
" Germany's great protectors against Small Pox.
" The description which I have given of the position of the
" small pox pavilion at each of the hospitals visited in Germany
" shows conclusively that there is not in that country 'strict system
" ' of isolation of Small Pox' in the sense as we in England under"
stand it. With one or two exceptions the pavilion is shut off in no
" way from the rest of the hospital, and there is no limitaition in the
" number of persons residing within the several zones around the
" hospital.
" Nor is the administration of the small pox pavilion entirely
" separate from the general administration of the hospital establish"
ment. The German nation, therefore, by the agency of compulsory
" vaccination and re-vaccination is able to dispense with separate
" small pox hospitals altogether.
" It is not necessary there to provide for Small Pox a separate
" site nor separate administration. Germany is in this way freed
" from "great expense, not to speak of the suffering and the incon"
venience which fall upon the English nation. But all this could
" not be achieved in Germany unless the Law of Compulsory Vacci"
nation and Re-vaccination were thoroughly carried out."
Contrast with these facts the regulations of the Local Government
Board under which small pox hospitals are built in England.
"Hospitals for Small Pox.—In view of the frequently demonstrated
" liability of small pox hospitals to disseminate that disease to neigh"
bouring communities, and in order to lessen the risk of such
" occurrence, the Board require the following conditions to be
" complied with in the case of small pox hospitals provided by means
" of loans sanctioned by the Board :—
" 1st. The site must not have within a quarter of a mile of it either
" a hospital, whether for infectious diseases or not, or a workhouse,
" asylum or any similar establishment, or a population of as many
" as 200 persons.