xi
Vaseline lymph.
It will be seen by reference to the above table that the percentage of success given
by vaseline lymph is slightly below that shewn by the buffalo calf
lymph.
There are, however, several reasons to account for this :—
(1) Vaseline lymph requires special care and skill in its preparation, and with a
depôt such as now exists with want of appliances, proper accommodation
and staff, it has been found impossible to devote that constant supervision
in its preparation which is essential in order to do it justice and give the
best results.
(2). Vaccination by vaseline lymph presents some special points in its per-
formance, which it is necessary to observe in order to secure good
results :—
(a) Scarification instead of puncture; this is an important point, as
the lymph being less liquid than the lymph obtained from fresh
buffalo calf vesicles, it is not so readily absorbed by punctures.
(b) The paste should be first placed on the sites selected for operation
and then the scarifier applied, this tends to bring the lymph
into more intimate contact with the parts.
(c) Strict attention to cleanliness. Vaseline lymph is a putrescible
substance, and unless all instruments introduced into the tube
are properly sterilized each time, decomposition is readily set
up and the lymph becomes bad.
The Vaccinators being new to this form of lymph could not be expected to
master all the points at once, consequently their first attempts included
many failures.
(3). Another point is that the native of India is slow to adopt new ideas
unless he sees some advantage to himself, and for this and other reasons
such as being expected to do a larger number of operations and not
having the same excuse for lingering in villages, &c, &c., the Vaccinators
may have regarded the new lymph as an unwelcome change at first and
consequently may not have taken the necessary care essential to its
success.
This, however, can be easily set right by proper supervision and inspections.
It should be noted, however, by the way, that although the change may
not have been welcome at first to the Vaccinators, yet the village people,
as far as my experience goes, are glad of it, as it saves them having
to lend their calves, which they are very loth to do in many districts
and occasions them less trouble and bother than vaccination from
buffalo calves.
These various reasons, therefore, easily account for the slightly smaller per-
centages of successes shewn by vaseline lymph. I shall treat, however, further of this
subject in paragraph No. 10.
Human lymph.
More vaccinations were done by this means this year than last, but this was due
to the greater number of operations being carried out in Native
States where buffalo calves were not readily procurable. The
results are certainly good as far as they go, but this mode of vaccination Iras obvious
disadvantages and objections.
No vaccinations were performed with either kid or donkey lymph.
Inspections made by De-
puty Sanitary Commis-
sioner.
4. The total number of inspections made by the Medical Officers who held the
post of Deputy Sanitary Commissioner during the. year amounted
to 4,569 ; of these 4,095 were vaccinations done by the Special
Staff and the remaining by the District Staff. The details of the
former are given in the following table :—
TABLE No. III.
NAME OF OFFICER.
Surgeon-Captain C. H.
James, I.M.S.
Surgeon-Captain G. Y. C.
Hunter, I.M.S.
Total
Total
number
inspected.
2,842
1,253
4,095
PRIMARY.
6
1,116
673
1,789
5
188
115
303
4
311
147
458
3
260
65
325
2
170
48
218
1
174
30
204
0
137
35
172
RE-VACCINATIONS.
3 or
more.
226
92
318
2
35
24
59
1
40
12
52
0
185
12
197