View report page

42
I have records now of nearly 50 years, during which no
nurse, servant, or other employe of this hospital has ever
contracted Small Pox, even in a modified form. They are
re-vaccinated when they enter the service of the hospital, and
they consequently never take the disease. The only exception
to this rule was that of a gardener who was temporarily
engaged in 1881. This man refused to be vaccinated, took
the disease, and died. That these people are not protected
by a previous attack of Small Pox is shown by the fact that
when engaged only 20 to 25 per cent, (the per-centage varying
somewhat in each year) have previously suffered from the
disease.
Such facts as these must, I think, carry conviction with
them to all unprejudiced minds, and do not appear to me to
be open to augument. To those who, like myself, have the
every day experience of a Small Pox Hospital before them,
the fact that any body of sane persons can in the present day
doubt the benefit conferred by efficient vaccination and
re-vaccination, is the most astounding reflection of all.
Yours faithfully,
HERBERT GOUDE, F.R.C.S. Edin.
Resident Surgeon,
Small Pox and Vaccination Hospital, Highgate Hill,
Upper Holloway, N., April 1st.
All deaths which have occurred in Institutions outside the
district, that is the Metropolitan Hospitals, including those
of the Asylums Board, are taken into account in calculating
the death-rate, they are this year 66 in number, and add a
little over 1 per 1,000 to the death rate. This should be
remembered when comparing the rates for the past ten years,