The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-03-03 00:00:00

Copy of Report received by the Secretary of State for the
Home Department, from the Board of the Vacchte
Establishment, Feb.l2, 1823:

VACCINE ESTABLISHMENT.

TO THE mom. HONOURABLE ROBERT PEEL,
Secretary of State for the Home Department, &c. &c. &c.
Sia—The importance and value of this Establishment is made
manifest daily, by the immediate and certain return it makes to all
applications for means of protection against one of the greatest
scourges in the form of disease which has ever afflicted mankind.
It belongs to the improvidence of the lowest orders of the people
to remain careless and inactive, so long as the hour of danger is dis.
tart and itticertain, and to become, perhaps, unreasonably alarmed
when it arrives. Our calls, therefore, are generally accompanied
by Information that the small pow is committing great ravages
in the neighbourhood, and the demands for assistance are urgent
and pressing. These remarks apply to our own country more particu-
larly ' • but we have frequent applications also from abroad, end
even from Vaccine Institutions established in foreign capitals,
where it is admitted to be difficult to keep up the supply ; and the
request for matter is made under a conviction that that which Is re-
ceived front this Establishment is more genuine and efficacious.
Happily the arrangement which we have made enables us to sup-
ply every want, wherever and from whatever quarter it comes to
us ; and we have sent out 77,809 charges of Lymph since our last
lleport.
It cannot be necessary now to enter upon an estimate of the corn-
, parades merits of Vaccination and Inoculation,as protectives against
the small pox ; for the Board has been engaged in endeavouring to
ascertain what proportion of persons vaccinated take the small poi
afterwards. By the information which we obtain fro= our sta-
tionary vaccinators in the metropolis, it seems that not more than
eighteen out of the 8,090 which are vaccinated upon an average an-
nually, are susceptible of the varioloutt disease afterwards. The
Returns from the corresponding vaccinators in the country are
less favourable ; but we are fully justified In concluding, that the
number of those who take the small pox after vaccination, and pass
through a safe and handless disease, is not greater than the num-
ber of those who die under inoculation. The estimate of this loss,
where inoculation was greatly practised, was one in 3410.
By the Bills of Mortality we find that 725 persons have died of the
small pox this year, within the range of those Bills ; but we have
not been made acquainted with any fatal case after vaccination.
We arc. &c.
(Signe3) HENRY HALTORD,
President of the Royal College of Physicians.
‘VILLIASI NORRIS,
President of the Royal College of Surgeons.
LYSIN, Vice-President.
_

Wu. G. Marmr, M.D.
H. JAMES CHOLNEI EY, M.D. CCenwn of the Royal College
FIIANCIS WILLIB, M.l .
Jr of Physicians.
Joilx WARBURTON, M.D.
C. Ulm, M.D. Registrar.

FIELD SPORTI FOR MARCH.

I From the Awash of .S'parthig.l
The sporting season expired on the first of last month. except as
it relates to woodcocks and snipes, which seldom take their depar-
ture from this country before the middle or latter end of February,
unless the weather he remark*4y
.open. Contrary to the expecta-
tions formed from the early *meal of some woodcocks at the
commencement of the present season, these hate been very scarce.
blares are not a legitimate object of the shooter, but have been
coursed, as well as hunted, during the last month ; and some,
perhaps, to keep up the old custom, will kill a March hare,
but which, in a season like the one just pssed, is by no means ad-
visable.
Fox hunting still continues ; and there never was a seamen when
this noble diversion experienced less interruption from hard wea-
ther ; the same remark will, of course, apply to the chase of the
hare. But, since the uncommon mildness of the season has been
thus propitious for hunting, it has had a directly contrary effect on
the operations of the shooter, by rendering feathered game wild,
and, in many cases, unapproachable. There is, in consequence,
more than the usual number of birds left, and, if the ensuing breed-
ing season Fusee favourable, an abundance may be confidently ex-
pected.
Barg' had approached each other for the purpose of conjunction,
in soar* few insurnsm, even before the end of list year. Par-
tridges, very early in Jantregy, rose and flew in that loose and
scattered manner which indicates the approach of the pairing ',m-
oon. Thrushes were loud in song et the same period ; while the
redbreasts commenced those annual combats which unifonnly pre-
cede the season of have. Rooks, too, at the sameperiod, assembled
in numbers at their breeding places, surveying their old nests with
their usual boisterous loquacity, evidently with a view of arranging
the usual preliminaries of annual courtship. A fall of snow, how-
ever, which occurred on the night of February 3, somewhat re-
tarded the operations of these early-nestling birds. On the 10th of
Fehntery the snow bad, in a great degree, disappeared—all the early
birds became remarkably active ; and, on the 12th, the writer
observed about a dozen hares in the park of Sir T. 1). flesketh
chasing each other, at about three o'clock in the afternoon. The
day was uncommonly fine.
As:Gras:G.—Jack and pike will ecgcrly take a small live bait In
this month ; but as they are now full of spawn, or spawning, the
fair sportsman will refrain from killing them : indeed, from Febru-
ary till Michaelmas, jack and pike are hardly worth cooking ; for,
when big-bellied, the spawn is very unsavoury, and, at the same
time, unwholesome ; and, for some time after spawning, the flesh
is thin, tough, and tasteless : yet we find these fish in abundance
at the fishmongers' shops in the metropolis during the months of
March and April, at which season they are easily taken by snaring,
haltering, and other unspertsmanlike ways pursued by unprinci-
pled poachers. Perch generally spawn in March, and as this fish,
when taken in rivers, tide-reservoirs, and docks, towards the au-
tumn, is acknowledged to be among the firmest of fish, and the
best flavoured of any the fresh waters afford, we hope the angler
will forego the pleasure of taking them this month, and put by his
pp rch-tackle and trolling instruments fur three or four months.
But these remarks apply only to the heavy fish, or spawners : those
of two or three ounces weight we consider, at all times and seasons,
fair game ; they are generally very numerous, and to thin or reduce
them is quite necessary, to preserve the other species from being
destroyed by those voracious fish. Smell perch also, when pro.
perly cooked, are of excellent flavour, and very nutritious. Several
dozen of small perch are generally taken during a day's gmdgeon-
fishing, a branch of angling which commences this month.
Carp, chub, roach, dace, bleak, flounders, and eels, will now
take a bait freely, if the weather prove mild for the season ; so
that the angler may enjoy much sport in his favourite diversion,
without destroying either jack, pike, perch, or trout, which are
all, at present, unfit fhr the table.
Roach-fishing is particularly good all this month. They are now
found in the shallows, and an expert angler may, in many places,
take from twenty to thirty pounds weight of them daily. Dace are
also now emerging from their winter quarters, and are to be found
on the sharps, rolling and rubbing themselves among the gravelly
pebbles. and quite disposed to take a proper bait, whether it be at.
tached to a tripping or floating line. Minnows, millers thumbs,
popes, and all the other small fry used by the angler for baits, will
now take a worm.
March is one of the best months In the year for laying eel-lines
at night, in rivers, as these fish have now pretty well recovered
from their late torpid state, and are strong on the feed in dark
nights. If proper places be selected, and the peg or chain lines
choicely baited, cast in, and got up early next morning, the angler
may expect to find many of his baits taken, and some good eels
securely hooked.