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a strong and unanswerable argument in favour of vaccination and
particularly of re-vaccination as a protective agency against this
disease. The Vaccination Officer estimates that upwards of 15,000
persons were re-vaccinated in Finsbury during 1901. Small-pox
was generally distributed in the Borough. Not one single person
out of this number contracted small-pox. During 1902 he estimates
that at least another 25,000 persons were re-vaccinated. Small-pox
was even more widely distributed in the Borough. Yet again, not a
single person out of this 25,000 took small-pox. Many of them
lived in infected areas and more than 2,000 of them lived in
infected houses or worked in infected workshops, but not one of
them contracted the disease. Small-pox visited every part of the
Borough, it picked out rich and poor, men and women, adults and
children, but in no single case did it attack a re-raccinated person.
In upwards of 80 cases it went into a family and selected only one
member of the family leaving behind only those who had been
re-vaccinated. On many occasions one or more members of the
family declined re-vaccination, to which the rest of the family
submitted; in a fortnight's time small-pox had picked out the person
who had declined to be re-vaccinated, and left the others. The
whole matter may be put very briefly in three simple propositions:—
1. A large percentage of the total population (say 40 per cent.)
have been vaccinated (or re-vaccinated) in 1901 and 1902. Not one
of these contracted small-pox. 2. Many of the population have
been vaccinated (or re-vaccinated) within the last ten years. Seven
of these took small-pox, being seven young children brought into
close contact with the disease. 3. Subtracting these two totals of
the population we have left the remainder, many of whom have not
been vaccinated within the last ten years ; of these, 194 took the
small-pox. A very small remnant have never been vaccinated at
all; 77 of these contracted the small-pox.
When we turn to the deaths the same evidence is forthcoming.
Five per cent. of the vaccinated cases died ; thirty-three per cent. of
the unvaccinated cases died, which was therefore seven times more
fatal. Of the vaccinated cases that died none had been
vaccinated within 20 years, except an invalid boy. Under 20 years