2
time. The Civil Surgeon of Darrang pleads that he could not inspect a large number
as the cases were scattered and their inspection would have entailed a prolonged stay
in camp and neglect of other important duties. The decrease in Manipur is attributed
to the changes of officers during the year. The small number inspected by the Civil
Surgeon, Naga Hills, was due to the civil surgeon having gone round in December,
when the villagers were scattered in the fields cutting their crops. The Inspectors of
Vaccination in Cachar and Kamrup increased their amount of work by 8.69 and 11.99
per cent., respectively. The large falling off (25.99) in the amount of inspection work
done by the Inspector of Vaccination in the Nowgong district is naturally accounted for
by the large increase in the verification done by the civil surgeon himself. The
decrease in Sylhet was caused by some of the inspectors having been put on cholera
duty. The decrease in the Garo Hills was due to the death of the permanent Inspector
of Vaccination. In the Lushai Hills there is no Inspector of Vaccination, and inspections
are made by the Assistant Surgeon and the Hospital Assistants. I personally inspected
2,187 cases during my tours in the Sylhet district, of which 2,173, or 99.36 per cent.,
were classed as successful, though the number and quality of the vesicles were not
equally satisfactory in all. The same may be said of the cases which I inspected in
other districts.
7. The diagram, if compared with that of the previous year, shows that the death-
rates of Darrang, Nowgong, and Sibsagar from small-pox were higher during 1903, and
that of Sylhet much lower.
8. Appendix I is a statement showing the number of children available for vaccination,
and the number of operations actually performed on them in towns where the Vaccination
Act is in force. From this it appears that 67.77 per cent. of the children available
for vaccination were protected, the highest (85.71) proportion being in the Union of
Golaghat and the lowest (39.41) in the Municipality of Gauhati. As to Silchar, the civil
surgeon states that out of 114 children shown in column 4, 11 left the town and 31 were
not well enough to be vaccinated. Many children, says the Civil Surgeon of Sylhet,
were suffering from various diseases, some left the town, and children under three months
were not generally vaccinated. The small number of operations at Gauhati is attributed
to the slackness of the municipal vaccinator, who also reported that about 80 children
in the town were in bad health, and, consequently, could not be vaccinated. The muni-
cipal vaccinator of Shillong states that he was unable to find any more children, but the
new civil surgeon is not satisfied with this explanation, and is making further inquiries.
The vaccination of thirty children at Jorhat was postponed on account of extreme youth
and bad health, and six left the town.
9. The Vaccine Depôt, Shillong, was under the charge of Major E. R. W. C. Car-
roll, I.M.S., Civil Surgeon, Shillong, during the whole of the year. In all, 520 calves were
inoculated. Of these, 7 died without yielding any lymph ; and from 69 others lymph
was not taken, either on account of illness or because the quality of the vesicles was not
satisfactory. So lymph was taken from only 444 calves. The number of tubes loaded
was 429,080, or an average of 966.39 per calf as compared with 401,870, or an average
of 815.75, in the previous year. Lymph was supplied to all the civil surgeons in Assam,
as well as to various medical officers and managers of tea gardens, to medical officers
of regiments in Assam, and to others, on requisition. Complaints were received from
Sylhet and Goalpara regarding certain early supplies of lymph of the season. In the
case of Sylhet the deterioration was perhaps due to the lymph having been kept for
a long time before distribution to the vaccinators.
10. The total expenditure for the year was Rs. 10,815-6-6, including the Superin-
tendent's allowance of Rs. 600, and the amount of Rs. 762-15-6 realized from the Mani-
pur State. The cost per loaded tube works out to nearly 5 pies ; but if the Superinten-
dent's allowance be excluded, the total expenditure comes to Rs. 10,215-6-6, or 4½ pies
per loaded tube.
DAVID WILKIE, M.B., Colonel, I.M. S.,
Principal Medical Officer and Sanitary Commissioner,
Assam.