( 2 )
3. The following statement shows the total number of operations per-
formed in each of the past three years in each of the vaccination circles, and in
dispensaries and municipalities :—
Calcutta ... ... ...
Suburbs ... ... ...
Metropolitan
circles ... ...
Darjeeling
„ ... ...
Ranchi
„ ... ...
Sonthal Pergunnahs „ ... ...
Eastern Bengal
„
...
...
Orissa
„ ... ...
Behar
„
...
...
Dispensaries and municipalities ... ...
Total ...
1878-79.
17,896
44,935
394,186
259,857
153,586
40,229
235,802
34,612
11,959
122,822
1,315,884
1879-80.
12,397
25,395
625,388
373,549
164,808
113,953
306,066
43,733
11,061
66,645
1,742,995
1880-81.
6,085
15,691
384,216
344,071
147,694
87,872
294,540
44,507
14,336
55,300
1,394,312
As compared with 1879-80, there was thus a decrease in dispensary and
municipal vaccinations, and also in the number of operations in each circle
except those of Behar and Orissa; as compared with the year 1878-79 there was
an increase in the Darjeeling, Sonthal Pergunnahs, Eastern Bengal, Orissa
and Behar Circles, against a decrease in the Metropolitan and Ranchi Circles,
in Calcutta and the Suburbs, and in dispensary and municipal vaccination.
The causes of the decrease in the operations of the department, as compared
with the previous year (1879-80), are thus summarized by the Sanitary Com-
missioner :—For the Metropolitan Circle—epidemic prevalence of fever; sickness
among the establishment, paucity of unprotected children, and difficulty in
procuring vaccinifers ; for the Darjeeling Circle—sickness of establishment from
the Superintendent downwards, strenuous opposition, and unhealthiness of the
district; for the district of Purneah—the practice of inoculation in the district,
and sparseness of population in Phansedewa, one of the tracts within the area
of active operations during the year; for the Sonthal Pergunnahs Circle—
non-receipt of returns from eleven of the licensed vaccinators, lessening of the
area of operations, the Sonthal disturbance, refusal of assistance for the
promotion of vaccination by the civil authorities and zemindars, and paucity of
unprotected children; for the Ranchi Circle—non-receipt of returns of a large
number of operations performed by some of the licensed vaccinators at
Hazaribagh, and opposition offered to vaccination by the Rajahs of Jushpore
and Korea; for the Eastern Bengal Circle—the difficulty that always attends
the attainment of success in a new area brought for the first time under
operation, insufficiency of the staff for the scattered population of the new
area, detachment of part of the establishment for the suppression of small-pox
in districts distant from the area in which they would otherwise have been
employed, and opposition of the Ferazis of whom there are a large number in
Mymensingh and Backergunge; for the Suburbs of Calcutta—diminished
activity of inland emigration, and absence of epidemic outbreaks of small-pox
which induce people through fear to resort to vaccination; for Calcutta—the
cause last mentioned, and the prevalence of measles during January, February,
and March 1881 when vaccination could not be well pushed on.
4. The total number of operations reported to have been successful
in 1880-81 was 1,363,925, against 1,689,590 in 1879-80, and 1,251,936 in
1878-79. The percentage of successful cases in primary vaccination, exclud-
ing municipal and dispensary vaccination, was 98.60, against 98.05 in 1879-80,
and 98.49 in 1878-79. The proportion was highest in the Metropolitan and
Eastern Bengal Circles, and in the Suburbs of Calcutta, where it was 99.66,
99.65, and 99.56, respectively ; the rate was lowest in the Ranchi Circle, where
it was 93.50. In secondary vaccinations, the recorded ratio of success was 30.05,
against 20.91 in 1879-80, and 46.89 in 1878-79. It is quite clear, as noticed by
the Sanitary Commissioner, that some of the figures under this head are