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Small-pox.

23. Small-pox was more prevalent throughout the province during 1889
than in either of: the two previous years. Like
cholera, it shows a tendency to recur in an epide-
mic form during certain years. This epidemic periodicity or fluctuating explosion
of disease cannot be explained on any mere biological basis. We know that
these epidemic visitations recur in a way which mere contagiousness cannot
explain, and we further know that although their advent cannot be controlled,
yet timely sanitary measures can mitigate their ravages.

The efficacy of vaccination in diminishing small-pox mortality is proved by
the statistics of every country in Europe, and the following table will show how
small-pox has decreased in this province, as the ratio of successful vaccinations
has increased:—

STATEMENT No. 19.—Showing efficacy of vaccination in diminishing small-pox mortality.

The death-rates are for calendar years.

In the first five years of the series 1868—1872 the mean ratio of successful
vaccination was 8.92 per 1,000 of population as compared with a death-rate
from small-pox of 2.02 per 1,000. In the next five years 1873—1877, the vacci-
nation rate rose to 25.72, the small-pox mortality falling to 1.56. In the third
period 1879—1883 the vaccination rate increased to 31.2, with a corresponding
decrease in the death-rate from small-pox to .58 ; and in the last quinquennial
period the proportion of the population protected was 34.6, and the mortality
from small-pox .38.

This diminishing mortality from small-pox in the light of the above figures
must be accepted as due to the beneficial results of vaccination, and is practical
evidence of the protective powers of vaccination against small-pox.

The above table also shows how three years of comparative immunity from
small-pox are usually followed by two years of greater prevalence of the
disease.

The next table exhibits the deaths from small-pox, as well as the ages of
the diseased and the number of persons successfully operated upon in each dis-
trict for the past three years :—