The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-19 00:00:00

THE 'VALUE OF VACCINATION.

The present epidemic of smallpox in London has
formed the subject of discussion at the Epidemio-
logical Society, at which Dr. Seaton, the President,
delivered an important address. He said that in the
ordinary course of events, London was visited by an
epidemic of smallpox about every three 'years,
and other great towns every four or five. The most
striking facts which he mentioned, however, were in
reference to the vaccination question. Nearly half
the fatal cases of smallpox occurred in two eastern
parishes of London, in which the guardians bad
shaken hands with the promoters of the Anti-
Vaccination League. In Bethnal Green the disease
was almost always extant, and this is not surprising*,
seeing that there are 4,000 children about whose
vaccination no return could be made. Among the
unions who bad carried out the Act thoroughly Dr.
Seaton mentioned Poplar, which had suffered
severely during former epidemics, 112 persons dying
from smallpox in the outbreak of 1867. Now, thanks
doubtless to the Vaccination Act, it has returned only
eleven deaths out of the 281 of the eastern unions.
In Paris the large increase of small pox during
the siege is attributable to the entry of so many un-
protected people from the country. •
THOSE GUARDIANS.

The relation between parish guardians and the
smallpox question is a serious one. It is no secret
that some of the London functionaries favour the
anti-vaccination agitation, and one country board
absolutely refused to put the Act of Parliament into
operation. The medical profe3sion generally are in
favour of vaccination; but if any third-rate practi-
tioner desires to obtain a little notoriety by
lecturing on the opposite side, nothing is easier than
to get a parochial magnate to, take the chair ; it adds
dignity to the proceedings, and it gratifies the said
magnates, who dearly love to snap their fingers at
the law. A. man can, indeed, disbelieve in
vaccination if he pleases ; but compulsory pro-
tection of this kind is ;the law of the land.
guardians have much to do with the administration
of this Act; and yet it is the special doctrine of the
Anti-Vaccination League that people should at all
costs refuse to comply with the law. On the whole,
considering the prevalence of the epidemic, it may
be as well to inquire into the application by guar-
dians of the compulsory principle.
LEGAL FICTIONS. • -

The persecuting entanglementS of our legal code
have of late years not been so forcibly presented to
us as in a case which came 'before the South
Lancashire Judge of Assize last week. In
the summer a barman named Swift was
indicted for " assulting, beating, and wounding
with intent to murder " a Mr. Proctor, a Liverpool
publican. In asecond count he was charged with " as-
saultin g,bea tin g,and wounding" the said Proctor " with
intent to do grievous bodily harm." At the first trial
his counsel raised a technical objection on the ground
that a wound was, in a legal sense, a breaking of the
skin, and that in this case the skin had not been
broken. The judge held that the objection was
sound, and the indictment was quashed. At
a second trial last week the accused was
led into the dock in a weak state, and
was charged under the amended indictments
of " intent to murder," and "intent to do grievous
bodily harm." The prisoner's counsel at first con-
tended that the man having once been put up on his
trial could not be again indicted, but this the judge
overruled, on the ground that the p,ccused had not been
tried before by a jury. Later on the prisoner's counsel
said the man would plead guilty to the .second charge
but the prisoner, on being asked if he would plead,
said that he would not, Eventually it struck the
judge that the man seemed to be a wretched maniac
AS he had to be held up at the bar by two warders.
The surgeon at the borough gaol refuted
this theory, however, and the case was
allowe 1 to proceed. The prisoner was again
asked if he withdrew the plea of guilty, and a
warder, speaking for him, said he did. The Judge,
who did not seem to think the prisoner understood
all that was going on, said he must be put upon his
trial. The case' was, however, adjourned, and the
accused was carried, apparently helpless, out of
court. _

THF. FRUGAL MARRIAGE QUESTION.
What seems an irrational extension of autlio-

rity, has been promulgated in a circular just distri-
buted by the directors of one of the chief London
banking establishments among their clerks. It is
ordered, upon pain of instant dismissal, that no one
in the service of the directors Shall contract marriage
while in receipt of a salary under £l5O a year.
Viewing the diCtatorial circular in a philosophical
spirit one would be inclined to think it wise in

its object, but, taking into considera-
tion the fact that bank proprietors are in the
habit of increasing the emoluments of their
clerks by very insignificant augmentations annually,

the hardship. of the regulation forces itself upon us.
In London it is very hard for a young couple to live
on less than £l5O a year, and doubtless the directors
have been influenced by many examples of woe; but
cut and dried rules are scarcely a promising way of
regulating matrimony, It is very awkward for even
the happy possessor of £l5O a year to maintain a
family ; therefore, for the thike of consistency, the
directors should impose a limit in this direction too.