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10
Summary of Articles disinfected and returned to poor
owners, during the same period, at a cost to the
Vestry of 34 5 2
Disinfected. Disinfected and Re-covered.
31 Beds 21 Beds
24 Bolsters 6 Bolsters
62 Pillows 15 Pillows
10 Mattrasses
127 Total 42 Total
Total 169
Total cost of 425 Articles replaced or disinfected, &c.,
as above 129 5 2
Add total cost of 807 Articles replaced or disinfected,
as stated in first report, for which see Appendix 262 14 11
Total cost to the Vestry of the 1,232 Articles £392 0 1
Of the general conclusions to be drawn, and the lessons to be
learnt from this small-pox outbreak, the remarks I have already
made in the report referred to, must suffice. One thing is certain,
that as sanitarians we must be constantly insisting on the necessity
of vaccination, urging it on the people by word and by example,
holding it up as the grand sheet anchor against the ravages of the
disease in the future. Moreover, it must not be vaccination simply,
as some would have it, that we must insist upon—that is, a single
prick and a single vesicle—but it must be efficient vaccination, as
explained by those who by the most elaborate enquiries have determined
what constitutes efficiency. Conscious that what I am
writing may possibly be read by those outside our profession, more
even than by those within it, let me urge on parents that they should
allow no mistaken feelings of kindness for their children, or dread of
their suffering pain, to tempt them to urge their professional advisers
to do less than what they know to be necessary for the good of the
children. Such appeals cannot always be resisted ; but they should
not be made. Four or five vesicles may seem a cruel torture for a
baby to endure. I admit it involves a week or so of pain to the
child, and perhaps a week or so of trouble to the mother. The true
thought that should be ever present in the parent's mind, however,
is not that, but how many weeks and months of trouble and pain may
it save. The slight annoyance of a fortnight may save weeks of