The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 1860.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 41, 19 February 1869, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 1860.

There can no longer be any douUfc that the small-pox iv a most virulent form has made its appearance in the neighboring colony of Victoria, nor is it less certain, that we cannot afford to ignore the presence of this dire disease in a country with which wo are iv almost weekly communication. The question therefore arises, what precautions are we to adopt against its spreading id New Zealand ? We say, against its spreading, for we look upon ifc as almost; certain that, should it break out to any great extent in Melbourne, it would be next to impossible to prevent its advent in New Zealand, unless, we close our ports against all vessels coming from the infected district, a proceeding which of course is not to be thought of for one moment. The passage from Melbourne to New Zealand occupies some five or six pays, and as an individual carries within him tlie germs of the disease for a period of twelve days without showing any signs of it, it will at once be seeo, that persons, who to all appearance are in good health at the time of their arrival here, may still introduce the infection amongst us. It therefore behoves us to take immediate steps to render the disease, when once introduced, as harmless as possible, and, thanks to science, we have the means within our reach, if we only choose to adopt them, • of staying the ravages of this, the most fatal and dreadful of all the ailments to which human nature is liable. Our object in alludiug to this subject i?, to impress upon our readers the imperative necessity of not only vaccinating children, but of revacciuating adults, and in order to give weight to our remarks, we propose to quote from certain authorities on this head. In England, the necessity has long sinoe beeu admitted, and so far back as 1853, an Act of Parliament was passed compelling all parents to vaccinate their children before they attained the age of 3 months. In 1855, there was further legislation on the subject, when vaccination was reodered compulsory on alladults not protected by previous inoculation or an attack of small pox. In New Zealand also, our legislators have admitted the necessity of insisting upon vaccinating children, but the Act passed by them in 1863 has not passed through the different stages of "amendments that are found necessary to make our New Zealand Acts of Parliament in any degree practicable, and consequently, though excellent in theory,ithas been found unworkable iv practice. The question of vaccination is, therefore, left to the option of the inhabitants of this colony, and in the hope of inducing them, aud more particularly the people of Nelson to whom we are more particularly addressing our selves, to adopt this very necessary precaution, we give the following extract from a medical treatise on this subject : — "Variola (small pox) occurring in persons unprotected by inoculation or vaccination is fatal, on the average, to one in every threes whilst intlioseattackedby.it, after efficient vaccination, the mortality is very small, only two or three per cent. A calculation was made by the Registrar General that the average number of deaths annually from small pox, in London, during the years 1660—1679, was 357 to 100,000, whereas in 1859 it was only 42 for the same proportion."

These -statistics prove most uumistakeably the efficacy of vaccination, but as many people ate of opinion that its effects lasts through a lifetime, we would call attention to the following extract from a report published by the G-eueral Board of Health in 1857, where it is stated that — During the fire years 1833-7, though small-pox infection had been 16 times imported into different regiments of the army of WirtembuTg, there had ensued among the 14,384 revaccinated soldiers, one single instance only of modified smallpox. In Prussia the practice of revaccination grew out of the knowledge that small-pox would attack a certain proportion of those who had been vaccinated only in infancy. During the ten years preceedmg 1831, cases of post vaecinalsmah-pox were increasing in number and fatality ; and within the three years 1831-3^ there had occurred no fewer than 312 deaths by small-pox. For the last 20 years the Prussian army has represented an almost entirely revaccinated population. And what has been the contrast ? One hundred and four annual deaths by small-pox was the last ! experience of the former system; two annual dnaths by small-pox has been the average for the revaccinated army. /Analysing, moreover, the 40 fatal cases of small-pox, which during the last 20 years have occurred in tlie Prussian army, we find that only four of the number were of persons who (it is said) had been successfully revaccinated. Having thus placed before our readers a few undeniable facts as to the value of a precaution which has been proved by experience to be so efficacious, we would appeal to their good sense, whether it is not far better to submit to the minor ills of vaccination than to expose themselves to the ravages of that fearful visitation, which has shown itself in Melbourne, and, as we fear, is only too surely the case, has already made its appearance in New Zealand.