48
Persian Gulf. In the same way members of the Sassoon family were all re-vaccinated;
and though they all bore very large scars of previous vaccinations, in some instances,
performed at Bagdád, the operation proved successful in all, and with vesicles in some of an
excellent appearance.
6. It is a curious fact, worthy of being noted, and carefully observed in future, that
Natives do not take re-vaccination at all so easily and well as Europeans. In the instance
of the employés of the Dockyard, of the many scores of Natives re-vaccinated, none, beyond
a few individuals here and there, proved successful, though they were vaccinated at the same
time, with the same lymph, and with the same care by me as the officers and crew of the
" Magpie" and others, that took the disease so well. It may be that more of the Natives are
protected by a natural attack of small-pox than Europeans, who have vaccination only to fall
back upon. Possibly, want of proper attention and care to prevent the lymph being rubbed
off, which it is liable in these men of work to be, in a dozen different ways, is at the bottom
of it. More information on the subject, however, is needed before one could pronounce any
decided opinion on it.
Lymph.
7. The Lymph in use throughout the year was of the best quality. Animal vaccination
does not only give us an abundant supply of excellent
lymph, but has made us quite independent of any assist-
ance from the mofussil, which formerly was always indispensably necessary during every hot
and monsoon season. Several tubes of English lymph were supplied by the Superintendent
General of Vaccination. With one exception they all proved successful; but as our own
lymph was good and genuine enough to require any replacement, no care was taken about it.
Animal Vaccination.
8. We have been singularly successful with our animal vaccination during the past
year. Some 130 heifers were inoculated, and, with two
exceptions only, they were all successful. Of the two
failures one occurred in a heifer inoculated on Wednesday, the 12th of April 1871. The
heifer was healthy-looking ; the skin was pretty clean and clear ; and the lymph used to
inoculate with was partly fresh and partly preserved in capillary tubes. The other failure,
occurred in a small heifer, inoculated on the 8th day of May 1871. In this, however, the
skin was much irritated and abraded; and, consequently, the lymph, though fresh, could not
have any effect. With these two exceptions, all the operations proved successful, not in
the animals alone, but their lymph took well in the human subject. The following table
shows the number of heifers inoculated in each month with the result of the operations :—
Number of Heifers inoculated. .
. .
Operations, Successful
Do. Unsuccessful.....
April
1871.
16
15
1
May
„
16
15
1
June
„
14
14
...
July„
8
8
...
August
„
6
6
...
September „
7
7
...
October
„
6
6
...
November „
10
10
...
December „
8
8
...
January 1872.
8
8
...
February „
11
11
...
March
„
20
20
...
Total.
130
128
2
Out of the 12,094 primary operations, 8,200 and almost all the re-vaccinations were
performed with animal lymph. Of the 8,200 primary operations 7,324 were successful,
giving us a percentage of success of 89.3. The amount of success I can consider to be fair for
the time that animal vaccination is carried on. I have no doubt, however, that with