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16
Let anyone who entertains a doubt upon the prevalence of
Small Pox during the last century consult the records handed
down to us in the Bills of Mortality both of London and the
great Continental towns.
In the year 1723, Dr. Jurin, the President of the Royal
Society, asserts that Small Pox destroys a fourteenth part of
mankind. Later we find Dr. Lettsom, also a President of
the Royal Society, making a statement in regard to London
and its environs at a time when the population was barely
one million. From this disease, he declares three
thousand in every year die. The significance attaching to
this statement when interpreted into language applicable to
the conditions existing in the metropolis of to-day, allows us
to indulge in a striking comparison. Taking into consideration
the extent of the present population, did we live under
the same conditions in regard to small pox mortality now as
then, we might confidently expect an annual occurrence of
18,000 deaths.
Yet again we learn from the eminent statistician Dr. Farr,
that the annual mortality from small pox among every
million persons living, amounted during the twenty years
ending 1679 to 4170, during the thirty years ending 1757 to
4260, and during the ten years ending 1780 to 5020. These
figures relate to the annual mortality alone, they do not speak
of the deformities resulting from that disease in those who
recovered. They do not tell of deafness and of blindness, nor
of that disfigurement of feature which to many would come
in a more hideous guise than death itself. When we turn
our attention to extracts from the bills of mortality preserved
in continental countries, a result no less imposing is observed.
The Medical Officer to the Privy Council, Mr. Simon, has
collected some figures from this trustworthy source which
illustrate the prevalence of the disease at the close of the