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116
February 25th (mean temperature, 29.8). August was the
hottest month (mean temperature, 59.1); and February the
coldest (mean temperature, 35.0). May exhibited the greatest
range in temperature, viz., 43.0:— from 76.8 to 33.8; and
November the smallest range, viz., 25.9:— from 59.4 to 33.5.
The dryness of the atmosphere, i.e., the difference between the
dew-point temperature and air temperature, was 5.2, or 1.3
below the average of 45 years. Rain fell on 167 days, the total
amount registered in the year being 27.49 inches, 2.44 more
than the average of 72 years. Most rain fell in July (6.75
inches), and least in September (0.73). The means of the
readings of the barometer were 29.777 inches; the means of
January, 30.053, and of March, 29.432, being, respectively,
highest and lowest. The relative proportion of wind was:
north, 90; east, 67; south, 103; and west, 106.
VACCINATION.
Table X (Appendix) is a return respecting vaccination in
1887, compiled by Mr. Shattock, the Vaccination Officer, whose
energetic discharge of the duties of his appointment it is always
a pleasing duty to recognise. The return shows a loss of 5.9
per cent in the cases, against 3.9, 4.6, and 5.4 in the three
preceding years, "from removal of children to places out of
parish unknown, or which cannot be reached, and cases not
having been found." In the Metropolis, as a whole, the loss is
somewhat greater than in Kensington. In England and
Wales, as we learn on the authority of Dr. George Buchanan,
Medical Officer to the Local Government Board, "the returns
give evidence of about 95 per cent, of the infantile population
having received the benefits of vaccination within the first year"
after their birth; it follows that the infant population is made
up of "19 vaccinated to each unvaccinated individual."
With regard to the protection against small-pox afforded
by vaccination—differing in degree as this does according as the
vaccination is more or less "successful"—it should be unneces-