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6
Fox, allowance must be made for the great disparity in the numbers of each
class living in the parish. The 113 cases of Small Pox from the vaccinated
class must be divided by 24, to admit of comparison with the 52 from the
unvaccinated; this gives 47. Taking then equal numbers of the vaccinated and
unvaccinated populations in St. Pancras, 47 cases occurred amongst vaccinated
persons to 520 amongst unvaccinated; that is to say, 11 unvaccinated persons
were attacked with Small Pox for every one vaccinated.
It has been proved by Mr. Marson, Resident Surgeon of the Small Pox
Hospital, that persons who are marked with not fewer than three or four good
vaccine scars are more effectually protected from the danger of Small Pox than
those who have a smaller number of scars, or in whom the scars are imperfect.
The mortality amongst those with four or more scars was rather less than half
of one per cent.; amongst those with three scars it was 1.85 per cent.; with
two scars it was 4.13 per cent.; with one scar it was 7.57 per cent.; amongst
those stated to have been vaccinated, but having no scar, it was 21.73 per cent.
The mortality amongst those unprotected by vaccination or previous vaccination
was 35.5 per cent. The mortality amongst those who had Small Pox after
having been in early life inoculated for Small Pox was 23 per cent., which
is about four times as great as amongst those who had been vaccinated, shewing
that inoculation for Small Pox is not so sure a safeguard against a natural
attack of the disease as is vaccination.
SMALL POX IN THE WORKHOUSE.
There were admitted into the Workhouse during the year 248 cases of
Small Pox; 42 of these were sent on to the Small Pox Hospital, but the others
were retained in special wards reserved for the purpose, and treated there.
The mortality was very low indeed amongst the vaccinated cases; there were
110 persons vaccinated, 35 unvaccinated, and 60 about whose vaccination no
information was obtained. There was one case of a person who had been
inoculated for Small Pox in infancy. Of the 110 vaccinatid persons, only two
died, whilst of the 35 not vaccinated, ten died, shewing a difference in the rate
of mortality represented by the proportions of less than 2 per cent, and 28 per
cent., that is to say, there was 14 times as great a mortality amongst the
unvaccinated cases as amongst the vaccinated. Of the 60 whose vaccination
is not mentioned, four died, which is a mortality of 7 per cent. The experience
of Mr. Marson, at the Small Pox Hospital, was that the mortality in 16 years
from Small Pox amongst unprotected persons was 35 per cent., while amongst
those who had any mark of vaccination, it was only 5¼ per cent.
It may astonish some persons, who have been led to regard vaccination as a
certain preventive of Small Pox, to hear that so many as 110 out of 206 cases
of Small Pox occurred after vaccination. It was a remarkable feature in the
late epidemic, that not only were vaccinated persons attacked in larger proportions
than usual, but that persons who had previously suffered from natural
Small Pox, or had been inoculated for the disease, were also attacked in
considerable numbers.
To judge of the extent to which vaccination was a protection from the
occurrence of the disease, it is necessary to bear in mind that there were in the
parish of St. Pancras about 24 times as many vaccinated persons as unvaccinatcd,
so that, although there were brought to the Workhouse three times as many cases
of Small Pox in vaccinated persons as there were in unvaccinated persons, yet
the attacks of Small Pox were eight times as many in proportion to the entire
populations concerned amongst the unvaccinated as amongst the vaccinated.