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were given an interview on this subject and expressed the opinion
that it is in the interests of the community that immunisation be
extended. The Ministry of Health has recommended immunisation,
and the Society of Medical Officers of Health, medical
superintendents of fever hospitals and the medical profession
generally throughout the world have found this procedure safe and
satisfactory. In many countries, such as the United States of
America where conditions are more favourable, excellent results
have been obtained.
The Council cannot close the slaughterhouses or prevent the
"Christmas holocaust of animals" or deal with an epidemic on the
theory of "disintegrating etheric matter," and on the other hand
cannot merely allow the disease to spread and refuse to offer such
means of protection as exist. The Council has the duty of providing
facilities for immunisation for those members of the public who wish
for this protection and it is deplorable that the public should be
informed that the Council is thereby engaging in an activity which
will injure the health of the community.
False hopes are not put forward Under present conditions it
is hopeless to consider that by this means the disease can be stamped
out since it is certain that it will not be widely enough applied.
The individual, however, can adopt this method of protection
against a very serious disease with a very reasonable chance of
success. It is not suggested, for instance, that the same result can
be obtained in the Borough of Hackney as was obtained in the
Greenwich Hospital School. The conditions are not the same, but
it is, at any rate, instructive to know what the results of immunisation
have been at that institution.
Surgeon-Captain Sheldon F. Dudley, R.N. (Deputy Medical
Director of the Navy), at a Joint Conference held on November 7th
and 8th, 1935, by the Invalid Children's Aid Association and
Central Council for the Care of Cripples, summarised his experience
at the Greenwich Hospital School as follows :
"For many years, in a residential school of about a thousand
boys, diphtheria had been an endless source of sickness, worry
and loss of time. Every known method of prevention with the
exception of artificial active immunisation, had been energetically
employed, without any appreciable effect on the
prevalence of diphtheria. The boys were then inoculated, and
all anxiety concerning diphtheria ceased. Numerous carriers
continued to arise but they were allowed the freedom of the
school and no longer lost training and recreation in the isolation
block—a splendid testimonial to the efficacy of anti-diphtheria
inoculation after all other methods of prevention had failed."
G. H. DART,
Medical Officer of Health.