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valuable than to run the risk of getting a disease
for which no cure is known.
To these remarks of mine, which I know
represent the considered opinions of the very
large majority, if not all, of the medical profession,
I should like to add, with an appreciative
acknowledgment, the somewhat pungent and
forcible views expressed by the Medical Officer of
Health of Plympton St. Mary, in his annual
report, on this same attitude of a growing section
of the people towards vaccination. "I am
afraid"—says he—"that there is still a growing
evasion of vaccination, but this is, I think, more
due to an idea that an epidemic of small pox is
a remote contingency which need not be provided
against than to any definite disbelief in the efficiency
of vaccination to prevent small pox.
People now-a-days are so confident of the power
which Sanitary Authorities have of dealing with
any infectious disease when it arises that they
have become somewhat careless of personal protective
measures. That this is a foolish position
to assume should be obvious to any reasonable
person who gives a few minutes' thought to the
subject. The first line of defence against any
infectious disease is the repelling power of the
individual, and no wise man can afford to debar
himself of any measure which will increase his
resistance to disease. With regard to small pox,
the experience of all the medical profession
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