SMALL POX IN LONDON.

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 51, 7 February 1902, Page 4

SMALL POX IN LONDON.

The outbreak of smallpox in Loudon I (says the New Zealand Times) has been widespread and of considerable propiopoit'oiih. Our- cablegrams have informed us of the increa.-ang number of deaths and of the precautions taken by shipowners against loss through the i the disease his (au>ed in ship- I ping. From statistical returns just to hand it appears that no part (f London has e-caped. Much to the surprise of m ist people, the east end has escaped very lightly, and in the wealthier and less crowded parts of London, St Pancrass, for instance, the disease has been, most disastrous.' It is manifest that, however conducive to disease filthy sur- ' roundings may. be, the fact that indi- j yiduals have been themselves careful to ; ayoid as far as possible contagion has reduced the death rate. Of those who contracted the disease, vaccinated*:patients suffered least "in-".mortality, the death rate among the vaccinated being twenty per cent as against sixty per cent of the rinvaccinated. The deathrate it likely to be less than mentioned among the vaccinated patients because they have hitherto shown the ..larger, pereentrge of recovery.' Among ch rid ren who contracted the disease no recovery of an unvaccinated case is reported, while the numberof deaths among those who had hot been vaccinated since childhood, and those who had rrot been vaccinated at all, was considerably less disproportionate. But the lesson to be learned from the outbreak and spread of the disease in L aid on is, as far as we are'concerned, that there ought to be no abatement of the vaccination law in New Zealand.

Some time ago there was a great deal of discussion as to the utility of vaccination at all as a. preventative of smallpox. It cannot be shown that vaccination gives hum unity from contagion, but it has been demonstrated that it mitigates mortality. No vaccinated child under- five years is reported as having contracted the disease, nineteen out of twenty of the unvaceinated children have died. Among children over- five and under- ten years of age only one vaccinated child -died-out of fifty affected, and of those who were unvaceinated thirty deaths were recorded. Again, twenty three out of twenty four vaccinated children of 15 years recovered, whereas out of fifty seven unvaceinated thirty eight died. And when the cases of adults of forty are considered it is found that thirteen out of fourteen unvaceinated persons died.

All this demonstrates to us the neriecessity for practising vaccination as a public and private duty. In the public i interest there ought to be no exceptions allowed, unless it can be shown that the child is physically unfit at the time. , parents will be doing an injustice to their children if they neglect their- duty with regard to vaccinatsiou. • There are numbers of parents ■who do not believe vaccination does any good, hut the outbreak in London and the statistics affecting the mortality of the vaccinated and unvaceinated set at naught all their real and sentimental objections. It has not been shown'as yet conclusively what caused the outbreak of the disease, but it is proved beyond doubt, that those persons who anticipated the disease by being revaccinated have escaped contagion altogether. llt may therefore be concluded that vaccination and re-vaccination are alike desirable if not imperative in the interests of the public health.

To Clear a Fire I"—-A dull or smouldering fire may be cleared for broiling by throwing over it a handful of salt. If salt is thrown on any burning substance it checks the blaze, but if sprinkled over coal makes it burn brighter, last longer, and there are fewer clinkers.