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So that, out of 518 re-vaccinations performed by him
during the year, no less than 440 were performed in the
first quarter, when small-pox was so rife "that the fear of
it weighed upon the hearts of all."
People forget that if they are once successfully revaccinated
they need not have any more fear of small-pox;
they wait until small-pox is epidemic, or is even "in the
house," and then many hasten to be re-vaccinated, sometimes,
as in one of the cases noticed in the Report,
too late.
It cannot be too widely known that it is more common
for a person to have small-pox twice, than to have it after
successful re-vaccination; and that, whereas a person who
has it twice often has it worse the second time than the
first, a person who takes it after successful re-vaccination
always has it mildly. Out of nearly 15,000 cases treated
in the London Hospitals during the epidemic of 1872,
there were only 4 who presented proofs of having been
re-vaccinated, and they were all mild cases.
Small-pox in London.
From Dr. Thomas C. Fox's Report on the 320 cases of
small-pox treated in the Fulham Hospital, between
March 10th and October 12th, 1877,1 extract the following
remarks:—
"Firstly, not a single patient died out of 51 admitted who
had four or more marks, of whatever quality they were;
further, they were all mild cases, and, with one or two
exceptions, all above puberty, i.e., the effect of vaccination
was wearing out. Secondly, whereas the unvaccinated died
at the rate of 43.54 per cent., the vaccinated (and many had
the merest apology for vaccination marks) died at the rate
of 7.6 per cent. Thirdly, that as the number of marks
increase, especially if they be of good quality, so the protection