The history of small-pox in Australia, 1788-1908 / compiled from various sources by J.H.L. Cumpston.

  • Cumpston, J. H. L. (John Howard Lidgett), 1880-1954.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The history of small-pox in Australia, 1788-1908 / compiled from various sources by J.H.L. Cumpston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

    11/208 (page 3)
    to this epidemic (see p. 150). That there were two distinct periods of undue activity of small-pox amongst the aborigines seems to be beyond doubt. The origin of either or of both, and the relationship, if any, between the two occasions are matters on which no definite statement can be made. Quite apart from these two occasions is that epidemic of which fleeting glimpses are caught from the references quoted by Cleland. From these it appears to be clear that there was an epidemic of small-pox introduced into the Northern Territory at some time during the decade 1860-1869, probably in the earlier years. This epidemic doubtless is closely associated with that of which there are incomplete official reports made at the time, which affected the natives in the Geraldton and Gascoyne districts, Western Australia. All the facts available with regard to this occurrence in Western Australia are given on page 65. The history of small-pox among the aborigines may, therefore, be con- sidered to be completely summarized by the statement that the evidence available instances three separate occasions upon which small-pox attacked the aborigines in large numbers and with extensive mortality, and that, while there is no certainty upon the matter, it appears probable that the first if not the second outbreak was introduced on the eastern coast, and the third outbreak by Malay fishermen on the northern seaboard. It would have been highly interesting if some trained observer could have recorded the epidemiological facts associated with the occurrence of this disease amongst a population to whom the disease was presumably previously unknown, but as it is, the student can only lament the lack of exact details and regret that nothing is known of the methods by which the disease was transferred from one to another of widely scattered and almost completely isolated communities, and that no light is shed upon the reasons for the slow rate of spread from district to district. Nalive-pox.—The known facts with regard to the condition called native- pox may now he reviewed, but while it may be permissible here to speculate as to the exact identity of this condition and to wonder to what extent it represented modified small-pox, vet after all this must remain a matter of speculation, or of certain historical interest without any real value from the epidemiological point of view. A statement made in 1848 is not without interest in this connexion. The following extract from the New South Wales Medical Gazette, August, 1872 (p. 352), includes this statement :— Mr. Aaron delivered a lecture at the School of Arts in 1848, which was published in the Atlas. The lecturer stated at the time that small-pox was unknown in New South Wales, but that native-pox was prevalent, and of such a character that, if properly fostered by want of sanitary regulations, it would in all probability prove nearly as fatal as small-pox itself. The references quoted hereunder constitute all the information that can be obtained about the disease known in the earlier days as native-pox. They are unsatisfactory, for, setting aside the references in the daily lay press there are only three sets of references. (1) A brief reference by Dr. Hall in 1863. (_') Short references to the subject by Dr. Thomas and Dr. Cutts in 1865 and 1867. (3) A discussion at the Medical Association meeting at Adelaide in 1884.