8
Dr. Rice reports that the Municipality of Jabalpur cannot afford to pay
for a Superintendent, and therefore vaccination is restricted to localities where
the work can be inspected by himself or the Hospital Assistants.
Only two cases of small-pox are known by the Civil Surgeon to have
occurred; both were children of Eurasians of humble circumstances who had been
visited by friends from Kamthi and Nagpur recently recovered from the disease.
There was a great deal of chicken-pox in the district which was errone-
ously reported as small-pox; though thousands of cases occurred only four people
were said to have died. Dr. Rice had an opportunity of personally watching several
cases in adults as well as children; and as I believe that many cases of varicella are
returned as small-pox, even by educated Hospital Assistants, I give the symp-
toms in detail as described by him, a careful observer, to show how closely the
the milder form of disease resembles, in. its more striking features, the much
more serious one. Dr. Rice notes that the chicken-pox as seen by him was
chiefly of the vesicular character, attended with smart fever for the first two
days; the eruption commencing in the face and back, extending next day to the
chest, and finally reaching the extremities on the third day, fever coming on the.
second day, when the eruption was fully established. On the morning of the
third day the vesicles begin to dry up on the face, and in two days more they
become shrivelled crusts, leaving no scar or depression on falling off. The vesicles
were all accuminated and the contents generally clear, though some small ones
contained pus. These symptoms to the inexperienced or careless might well
be mistaken for those of small-pox, and indeed on the second day of eruption an
experienced practitioner may be deceived.
The zeal of Hospital Assistant Chuni Lall and of Sub-Assistant Surgeon
Hurry Mohun Bose is commended.
NARSINGHPUR.—Three Vaccinators have been employed, and 1,219 persons
vaccinated ; but the successful cases only number 50 per cent,—about 203 for each
Vaccinator. The Civil Surgeon reports that the men have been fairly intelligent and
zealous. No case is brought to the dispensary, each has to be sought out and
some persuasion used. The violent opposition is said to be on the wane, but
the feeling in favour of the operation is yet wanting.
HOSHANGABAD —Three Vaccinators were employed in the district,—one at
the Sadar station and neighbourhood, one at Harda, and the third at Seoni.
The Hospital Assistant at Sohagpur operated upon a few in that town who
were brought to him. He had no time to work away from the dispensary.
Operations commenced on 25th October at Hoshangabad and on 29th at Harda.
The English lymph failed, but fresh virus was obtained from Poona as well as
from Nagpur. The total number of cases operated upon shows a decrease of
920, when compared with preceding year, and a decrease of 745 in the number
of successful cases. The weather in November was unusually hot and sultry,
and the number of unsuccessful operations so great that the Civil Surgeon
thought it desirable to wait for a time. Again in March the Seoni Vaccinator,
being a medical pupil, had to leave his Circle to meet the Deputy Inspector
General of Hospitals at Harda. The Harda Vaccinator was a new man and
had to be instructed.
The supervision at Hoshangabad was undertaken by Dr. Cullen, who
visited 40 out of the 49 villages in the Circle (some of them a second time);
he also examined the work at Seoni and Harda but the outlying villages of
these Circles had to be left to the Hospital Assistants, who could only very
imperfectly inspect the work.