16
increase is so far satisfactory, there is still room for improvement; and the exercise of a little
more energy would, I think, in a few instances, be productive of much good. Under this
head I would more especially allude to the dispensaries of Pen and Bhiwandí. On the other
hand I can testify from personal observation to a strong desire and active exertion being dis-
played by those holding the charge of the Sáwantwádí, Kalián, Dápulí, and Alibag dispen-
saries, to extend their operations, and thereby afford a considerable amount of protection to
the people in their neighbourhood. Reports from all the dispensaries have been submitted
with their returns, so that it is unnecessary that I should more particularly allude to them
here, as they themselves fully detail the difficulties, &c., encountered in propagating dispensary
vaccination during the year.
Imperial Establishment.
8. As a separate report is to be submitted on the Assistant Superintendents, in accord-
ance with Circular No. 44 of 1873-74, dated 4th April
1873, by the Superintendent General of Vaccination, I
will not remark further on them here than to state, that I have, with one solitary instance,
found them always ready and punctual in the performance of any duty I may have pointed
out. The clerk has been most attentive to his duties, and I have had no reason to com-
plain during the year of his neglect of any one of them. He has a good deal to do, for, des-
pite all my efforts to curtail correspondence, &c., as much as possible, I find it growing apace.
Lymph and Vesicles.
9. The quality of the lymph, as exhibited in the result columns, used throughout the
year was apparently less active than that in use during
the year 1871-72; but this depreciation, as I think I
can fully show, is more apparent than real. In the year 1871-72 the percentage of success
for the whole Circle, excluding dispensaries, were 96.4 and 75.1 in primary and re-vaccination
respectively, while this year the percentages are shown in either description of operation as
94.08 and 66.8. The chief reason, I entertain, for the lowering of the percentage of success
to a still high rate, is not a depreciation of the quality of the lymph, but the result of a
more correct rendering of the returns by the vaccinators, consequent on a closer and more
frequent inspection of the work, and its comparision with the " results " as recorded. This
makes the vaccinator more careful in filling in his register, as he now knows any attempt to
make his work appear more efficient than it really is, will be almost certain to suffer detec-
tion, and he must reap the consequences. The lymph in use during the year has been both
active and good, and the " results " submitted, if they be correct, as I have every reason to
suspect they are, prove that, in giving so good a rate of success as 94.08 per centum in primary
and 66.8 in re-vaccinations. I have seen the lymph in process of development of nearly every
vaccinator whose charge I have visited, and I had only on one occasion to be dissatisfied with
it. This instance was in the case of 3rd grade vaccinator Bhiku Rághu, then working in
the Ratnágirí Taluká, whose lymph was so bad that I had to order him to stop work till I
could replace it; and, as the man ought to have known better than to work with lymph
which had been too evidently deteriorating for a time, I fined him heavily.
10. With nearly all the vaccinators I have experienced some difficulty in endeavouring
to prevent their taking lymph from vaccinifers before it fully ripens. They invariably count
the date on which they vaccinate, as well as that on which they extract the lymph in making
their estimate, from dates, and thus when it ought to receive seven clear days it gets but
six, much to its deterioration and inefficiency. I think myself that lymph ought to be always
taken on the corresponding day of the week succeeding that in which it was used, and this I.
have been endeavouring to impress on the vaccinators as I visit them; but I think a ready
means of securing this time being given to it, would be to have the days of the week printed
on the weekly reports, and let the vaccinator write the dates over them. By this means