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The bodies of all persons dying of small pox in any hospital or workhouse,
should be buried direct from such establishments, and should not be
given up to the friends of the deceased. as much mischief may arise by the
friends bringing the body to their rooms in crowded neighbourhoods, and
there keeping it for several days previous to interment.
Great pains have been taken by the guardians of this District to promote
the extension of vaccination, and to carry out the provisions of the
Vaccination Act.
The Guardians, soon after the Vaccination Act, 1867, came into operation,
issued Notices, informing parents that they had not received certificates
of the vaccination of their children, and intimating to such defaulting
parents that legal proceedings would be taken against them for their
neglect. If this Notice be not duly attended to, a second Notice
is sent, requiring, within fourteen days, the children to be vaccinated'
and a certificate of such vaccination transmitted to the Registrar, by.
whom the birth of such child was registered, otherwise a summons
will be issued requiring such parents' attendance, to answer a complaint
which will be made to the Justices. Then in case of any parent not complying
with the provisions of the Act, in not producing the children after
vaccination to the Public Vaccinator for inspection, the penalty incurred by
such neglect will be sought to be enforced; a final Notice being sent,
intimating that, unless a reasonable excuse for such non-vaccination, and
non-transmission of certificate of vaccination respectively, be forthwith
rendered, a summons will bo issued, &c.
In addition to these several Notices to the parents of children, who have
not been duly reported as having been vaccinated, the Guardians have
requested the Medical Officers of the Union to fill up a printed Form, duly
stamped for transmission by post, and send it to the Clerk of the Board.
In the Form required to be filled up, there is a column for the name and
address of the person suffering from small pox, another for the names and
ages of the members of the family of the patient, and for a statement
whether the members of such family have been vaccinated or not, and for
the number of cicatrices on each vaccinated person which were found on
examination.
The Guardians, in making known the provisions of the Act, and in
enforcing the penalties for non-compliance therewith, have found that very
many of the children in this District, had not been vaccinated. In order
to induce all the poorer class of persons to take their children to the Public
Vaccinator, it would be most desirable that no private practitioner should
vaccinate gratuitously. But if medical practitioners will continue to vaccinate
gratuitously, then it is clearly their duty to see that the operation has
succeeded. For this purpose, every medical practitioner so vaccinating