19

cases of small-pox ; this is 46.2 per cent. of deaths to attacks. Mr.
Ananta Chandroba in his report says:—" The past year has been
" remarkable on account of the epidemic of small-pox that prevail-
" ed during the last three months of the official year, and which has
" not yet (17th May 1876) died out. It is remarkable not so much
" on account of its extent, for some 5,000 cases only were reported,
" but rather on account of the suddenness of its advent, rapid spread
" over the city, virulence, and fatality. Indeed, such virulent
" small-pox has not been seen in the memory of man. In the course
" of January, February, and March 1876, 2,062 persons fell victims.
" During the first few months of the official year 1875-76 measles
" were very prevalent, and caused a considerable mortality ; and it
" was found on enquiry that not a few of the deaths from measles
" had been recorded as from small-pox. The following table
" shows the small-pox deaths by months as recorded by the Health
" Officer of the city of Bombay :—

                                   Table No. XIX.

" There was also another circumstance which struck many with
" terror, and that was a belief that there were many persons attack-
" ed by the disease who had been vaccinated in infancy, or were
" protected by a previous attack of the disease. How far this
" belief had any support by facts, I am unable to say, but I have
" not myself seen a single instance of small-pox in a person pre-
" viously protected by an attack of the disease. I know from per-
" sonal experience that people here are very apt to confound small-
" pox with chicken-pox, and persons having an attack of the latter
" are credited with having the former. That people protected by
" vaccination did get small-pox cannot be doubted, though the num-
" ber of such cases have been very small indeed. That Europeans
" and foreigners showed great predisposition to the disease, is
" also a fact; and strangely, too, there was a high rate of mortality
" among them. It was these circumstances which caused the Euro-
" pean community to be re-vaccinated in such numbers. I do
" not know of a single instance of small-pox in an European child
" who had been successfully vaccinated in Bombay."

54. With the view of obtaining precise information about
the epidemic of small-pox in the city of Bombay, I have addressed
the following letter to all practitioners and medical officers in the
city, No. 169 of 1876-77, dated Bombay, 1st May 1876 :—"Sir,—
It is very desirable the profession and the public should know