[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington, Parish of St Mary].

  • Islington (London, England). Parish. Vestry.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington, Parish of St Mary]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    10 Summary of Articles disinfected and returned to poor owners, during the same period, at a cost to the Vestry of 34 5 2 Disinfected. Disinfected and Re-covered. 31 Beds 21 Beds 24 Bolsters 6 Bolsters 62 Pillows 15 Pillows 10 Mattrasses 127 Total 42 Total Total 169 Total cost of 425 Articles replaced or disinfected, &c., as above 129 5 2 Add total cost of 807 Articles replaced or disinfected, as stated in first report, for which see Appendix 262 14 11 Total cost to the Vestry of the 1,232 Articles £392 0 1 Of the general conclusions to be drawn, and the lessons to be learnt from this small-pox outbreak, the remarks I have already made in the report referred to, must suffice. One thing is certain, that as sanitarians we must be constantly insisting on the necessity of vaccination, urging it on the people by word and by example, holding it up as the grand sheet anchor against the ravages of the disease in the future. Moreover, it must not be vaccination simply, as some would have it, that we must insist upon—that is, a single prick and a single vesicle—but it must be efficient vaccination, as explained by those who by the most elaborate enquiries have deter mined what constitutes efficiency. Conscious that what I am writing may possibly be read by those outside our profession, more even than by those within it, let me urge on parents that they should allow no mistaken feelings of kindness for their children, or dread of their suffering pain, to tempt them to urge their professional advisers to do less than what they know to be necessary for the good of the children. Such appeals cannot always be resisted ; but they should not be made. Four or five vesicles may seem a cruel torture for a baby to endure. I admit it involves a week or so of pain to the child, and perhaps a week or so of trouble to the mother. The true thought that should be ever present in the parent's mind, however, is not that, but how many weeks and months of trouble and pain may it save. The slight annoyance of a fortnight may save weeks of