8
vaccination among the people, but active opposition is rare. The Civil Surgeon
writes :—
" No inoculation is practised in this district and no protection exists against small-pox
but what vaccination has bestowed during the last few years."
Small-pox occurred in 79 villages, but the disease was severe no where
except in the large village of Hindoria. In Hindoria 269 children and young
persons were attacked, 39 of whom had been vaccinated, 44 deaths occurred,
8 of them in vaccinated persons.
The Civil Surgeon has received much assistance from the Tahsildars of
the district, Molvi Mahomad Ali and Pandit Bal Mukund.
Staff—
Native Superintendent 1.
Vaccinators
6.
Primary this year
...
Successful ...
Primary last year ...
Successful ...
11,492
11,096
11,948
11,753
14. Jubbulpore.— It was found that the district vaccine staff was short-
handed and the number of vaccinators was increased from 10 to 13. There is
now a vaccinator for each registration circle, and the number of villages in each
circle varies from 166 to 191, the population ranging from 22,000 to 42,000.
Dr. Townsend, the highest authority on vaccination in India, recommended that
the number of villages in a circle should never exceed 180 nor be less than 130,
and that the population should not exceed 60,000 nor be less than 30,000.
The Native Superintendent inspected 11,618 children in 808 villages. The
Civil Surgeon writes : —
" He returned a percentage of success of 82, that given by the Assistant Surgeon was
95, while the vaccinators themselves appraised their work at 95, naturally enough
I suppose."
The Assistant Surgeon, who in this district does the inspection performed
in smaller districts by Civil Surgeons, saw 1,747 children in 121 villages, 1,556
cases were successful. Of the total inspected by the Assistant Surgeon, 924
were males and 823 females. The Assistant Surgeon says that vaccination still
meets with opposition in many places, but the majority, especially the lower
classes, yield under a little persuasion. He was pleased to observe that the
Gonds of Kondam and its neighbourhood were anxious to have their children
vaccinated.
The Civil Surgeon agrees with the Assistant Surgeon in thinking that there
is still some dislike to vaccination. He writes: —
"The prejudices of Bunyas, Pandits, School Masters and Malguzars, show no sign of
abating "
He does not advocate compulsory vaccination in municipalities, as hitherto
things have gone on very well without it. Municipal towns have been free from
small-pox of late years, and the introduction of compulsory vaccination would
tend to set the people more against vaccination. The Civil Surgeon asks " what
good has it done in Bombay?"
During the past year there has been a good deal of small-pox in the district,
though not in municipalities. According to the Police weekly reports, there
were 1,540 cases with 274 deaths. According to the monthly vital statistics,
there were 168 deaths. The difference is inexplicable. The Civil Surgeon made
many inquiries with a view to clearing up the discrepancy, but without much
success. Perhaps the Sanitary Commissioner in his cold weather tour may be
able to discover the reason why such a difference occurs between the two sets of
small-pox death returns.