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pose, they said, of practising vaccination. No vacancy occurred whilst they were
with me. This, I believe to be the only way in which properly instructed men can be
secured as Government Vaccinators. It has been suggested that a class should be
opened at some of the medical schools for the instruction of Vaccinators. This would
not, I think, answer. Men might, no doubt, be taught the theory of vaccination, but
they could never understand even this, unless it were combined with actual practice.
Except in the eold weather, the latter would be impossible, and even then it could not
be effectually carried out. It would be found difficult to induce parents to bring their
children to be operated upon, and daily afterwards to exhibit the progress of the
vaccine vesicle. After these difficulties had been overcome, the Vaccinator would still
be unacquainted practically with the modes of persuasion by which he must induce the
people to except vaccination. His tact in this last respect has no little share in his
success.
19. Although believing that properly instructed Inoculators should, as far as possi-
ble, be appointed as Vaccinators, I do not think they should be permitted to monopolize
vaccination. If this were the case, they might combine to impart into its practice
some of the profitable traditions of their former craft, and so place it beyond the reach
of the poor. Converted Inoculators are by no means the best Vaccinators. Those in
this Division are greatly inferior in skill and also in tact and energy to many of the
educated, high-caste Vaccinators. A few of the latter should be retained in the service
as a check upon the old Inoculators, and to show them that, in the event of their
abusing their trust, their services might be dispensed with, without detriment to the
progress of vaccination.
20. Besides the better instruction of applicants for appointment as Vaccinators,
I have given it as my opinion, that the other chief requirement for the improvement
of the quality of vaccination in my Circle is the substitution of the operation direct
from arm-to-arm, for that by means of dried lymph. There may be difficulties in the
way of this, but they are worth overcoming. In Lower Bengal, Bombay, and the
Punjab, arm-to-arm vaccination is all but universal. From having this season
throughout the various districts vaccinated with my own hand no fewer than 836
children, and seen at least as many more vaccinated in my presence, I can pretty con-
fidently assert that caste prejudice is not one of the difficulties in the way of arm-to-
arm Vaccination. The operation is thus shown in its simplest form. There is no
carrying way of lymph which still excites so much suspicion. It is asserted that
lymph preserved on ivory points is effective for two days after removal from the vesi-
cle. This may be true, but I have rarely met with a Vaccinator who, after taking the
trouble to charge points, would fail to use them on account of the lymph having got
old. Regarding the comparative excellence of the two modes of operating, I need
say nothing. Of the 836 children vaccinated by myself, nearly all from arm-to-arm,
only 3 failures were reported to me. In Lower Bengal, in the metropolitan Circle,
the ratio of successful cases is nearly cent. per cent.: in the Benares Circle it is only
88 per cent.
21. This year, I have met with many proofs tending to show that vaccination
is coming gradually to be appreciated by the people. In the Akbarpore Tehseel of the
Cawnpore District, 1 visited a village in which the unprotected children had been
vaccinated for the past three years. The people welcomed the visit of the Vaccinator
and told me that, since they had taken to vaccination, small-pox had never been seen
in their village. The inhabitants of the neighbouring villages had observed this and
were, of their own accord, having their children vaccinated ; many similar instances
came to my notice during my tour. In order to prove to the people more clearly
the benefits of vaccination, it has been proposed that the operations of the Vaccinators
should be limited to a certain prescribed tract of country. This would be a change
but not an improvement. It is difficult to understand in what way the protective
power of vaccination can better be exemplified than by the vaccination of entire