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7
cost of precaution and prevention, and prevention is probably
possible in the case of 25 per cent, of the total mortality, with a
direct saving of at least £10,000,000 a year, apart from the loss
from mere disablement by illness."
I therefore urge upon you the early erection of
the Isolation Hospital on the land you have secured.
I would also suggest that you should make an
arrangement with some of the neighbouring
authorities, who are at the present moment endeavouring
to make similar arrangements, with regard
to the isolation of small pox cases. Distance of
transport is of very little moment in treating small
pox patients, as thanks to the partial protection
afforded by primary vaccination the few cases that
occur in our midst are of such a mild character that
our only consideration is to get them away from a
community where, owing to prejudice and misrepresentation,
many persons are foolish enough to
neglect vaccination and re-vaccination from fear of
purely imaginary dangers, when the operation is
properly performed by a competent surgeon, and
thus render themselves particularly liable to this
loathsome disease. In Germany, where vaccination
and re-vaccination are efficiently and universally
performed, small pox is practically unknown, except
on the frontier ; even in towns like Hamburg, which
are in a state of insanitation which would hardly be
tolerated in this country.
I should like to refer to the condition of the
roadways in the Borough. These are mostly gravel
and flint roads, with comparatively little traffic, and
during the winter months are in a damp and muddy
state owing to the great amount of moisture to which
we are exposed in the Thames Valley. These
roadways are in many places the playground of the
children, and their condition is a matter of great
inconvenience to pedestrians and bicyclists. It has
been suggested by Professor Spinks, of the Yorkshire