4
years and in the season of 1868-69 and 1869-70, and we get a total of 65,571
persons vaccinated in the four years 1866-67 to 1869-70. Of this number about
four-fifths or 50,000 would have been under 6 years of age. Calculating by the
rates of births and infant mortality that prevail in England, the number of
children under 6 years of age at any one time in the District of Nagpore
would be 103,000, and this number relatively corresponds with the proportion
that the children under 14 years bear to the total population according to the
Census of 1866. The number of vaccinations then performed by the vaccine
establishment and the local vaccinators together in the Nagpore District
amount to 50 per cent of the population under 6 years of age, but as these
operations were extended over four years, the ratio of operations to population at
the age of 10 would more correctly show the proportion of vaccination to
unvaccinated children, and this would not be more than 50,000 to 160,000,
or 31 per cent.
16. These figures are not very encouraging. There is, however, reason to
believe that the large number of vaccinations that has been performed has
greatly checked the prevalence of small-pox among the population, for
although it has been very prevalent in the surrounding districts, Nagpore has
experienced comparative immunity.
The Oomrair Sub-division has been almost entirely free for the last
two years, but in the spring of the present year it spread into the Katole Division
from Chindwara, and the town of Mohpa and several villages in that locality
have suffered severely. That it did not spread further in the Nagpore District,
must I think be attributed in great part to the measures adopted by the local
authorities in the commencement of the season to keep up and extend the
protective influence of vaccination.
17. In the Wurdah District 3,461 vaccinations were performed in the
course of the past season by 3 Municipal vaccinators under the supervision of
the Medical Officer who reports: " At Wurdah, Anjee, Sailoo, Paonar and Deolee
(towns of the district within a day's ride from the Sudder) I vaccinated about
84 children. Many of these that were vaccinated by the vaccinators of "Wurdah
and Hingunghat, have been seen by me either on the 4th or four subsequent days,
or after the scabs had fallen off, and I was quite satisfied with the results in all.
As for Arvee, I was unfortunately not able to judge of the work done by the
man attached to that Tehseelee, as he was, on both my visits, out in the interior
carrying on his work, but the Native Doctor assured me that the work had been
satisfactorily done at the Dispensary under his immediate supervision. I mean
the cases vaccinated in the town of Arvee itself. The Vaccinator at Arvee was
more fortunate than those at Hingunghat and Wurdah, for the people in these
parts appeared to know and appreciate the good effects of vaccination. In two
villages through which I passed, I was glad to learn from the Malgoozars of
those villages that the inhabitants looked out anxiously for the visits of the
Vaccinator, and stated to me that their villages had been wholly exempt the
year previous from small-pox, and this they had the good sense to attribute to
the virtues of vaccination. In Wurdah, and Hingunghat Circles, the Vacci¬
nators met with a good deal of opposition and the Malgoozars appeared to be
equally as powerless as the Vaccinators. In one or two instances Malgoozars
refused to co-operate and were severely reprimanded and cautioned, but
throughout the Vaccinators had enough to do in contending with the prejudices
of the people. In many villages parents absconded from their homes with their
children on the arrival of the Vaccinators and could hardly be persuaded to
return. With only 3 men in the District, much cannot be expected."
18. In the Chanda District 4,618 and in Bhundara 2,259 vaccinations are
returned, but the returns are not accompanied by any remarks from the Civil
Medical Officer.