14
Nimar and Wardha in the order noted: their reports have been all carefully
drawn up, and the district officers bear testimony to their efforts in supervising
the work of vaccination.
The Civil Surgeon of Hoshangabad was unable to be absent long from his
station on account of illness amongst the residents, but such inspection as he was
able to make appears to have been most thorough, and his reports are especially
valuable, as throwing light on the amount of protection afforded by vaccination
against small-pox. Further remarks on inspections will be found under the head
of work done in each district.
28. As regards the percentages of success as given by vaccinators and
checked by Civil Surgeons and Native Superintendents, although in the great
majority of instances the vaccinators' percentages have been cut down (in some
cases very considerably, in Bhandara and Chanda they have been slightly raised
by the Native Superintendent, and in Sambalpur both by him and the Civil Sur-
geon. The Civil Surgeon of Chhindwara has reduced his vaccinators' average
from 99.75 to 92.25. I am unable to reconcile this with the statement contained
in the body of his report, which will be found under the head of Chhindwara
district. In Balaghat the percentage, as ascertained by the Native Superinten-
dent, is more likely to be correct than that of the Civil Medical officer who did
little inspection.
In Nimar the low percentage as ascertained by the Civil Surgeon, 86.48, was
owing to two causes:—1st, one of the vaccinators fell sick in the middle of the sea
son; thus he was unable to ascertain the result of many of his cases ; 2nd, another,
by hastily leaving his circle before ascertaining the results, vitiated his work.
In Raipur the Civil Surgeon's percentage cannot be accepted, as he did not
inspect, and the Assistant Surgeon who did so for him saw a very limited number
of children. The Native Superintendent's percentage is low; 88.67 is probably
near the mark.
In Betul the low percentage is accounted for by the bad work done by three
vaccinators, one of whom had to be dismissed on this account. On inspection the
Civil Surgeon found in his bundle a quantity of points charged with blood, and
probably pus, and with these and crusts he appeared to have worked almost
exclusively.
In Hoshangabad, as far as I can gather from the Civil Surgeon's report,
the majority of the vaccinators have worked well; still the percentages obtained
by them as ascertained by Dr. Browne are low, only one man reaching 92.45,
his own estimate of his work being 94.45. In another instance a vaccinator per-
formed 2,304 operations with 98.38 per cent of success, which is reduced by the
Civil Surgeon to 58.14. Dr. Browne is perhaps more particular than others in
his definition of a successful operation, having excluded numbers as doubtful
which the vaccinators had put down as successful.
In Seoni the low percentage is not accounted for : the Civil Surgeon
inspected 1,578 cases, and states in the body of his report that 90.19 per cent were
successful; that this is lower than in the previous year, but on that account more
likely to be correct. From the return accompanying his report it appears that
he has miscalculated his percentage, which is really only 80.22, very nearly
approaching that found by the Native Superintendent.
In Jubbulpore the comparatively low percentage was chiefly due to the bad
work of one vaccinator whose percentage of success was found on inspection to
be only 37.84.
Small-pox in connection with vaccination.
29. Nimar.—Small-pox has been present in this district to a small extent
since January 1881; but each outbreak has been local, never showing any disposi-
tion to spread or take in an epidemic form. As about four-fifths of this district