236 THE WONDERFUL CENTURY. CHAP. xvm. 



and cross-examining witnesses, consisted wholly of medi- 

 cal men, lawyers, politicians, and country gentlemen, 

 none of whom were trained statisticians, while the ma- 

 jority came to the enquiry more or less prejudiced in 

 favor of vaccination. The report of such a body can 

 have but little value, and I hope to satisfy my readers 

 that it (the Majority Report) is not in accordance with 

 the facts; that the reporters have lost themselves in the 

 mazes of unimportant details; and that they have fallen 

 into some of the pitfalls which encumber the path of 

 those who, without adequate knowledge or training, at- 

 tempt to deal with great masses of figures. 



But before proceeding to discuss the statistical evi- 

 dence set forth in the reports of the Commission, I have 

 again the disagreeable task of showing that a very large 

 portion of it, on which the Commissioners mainly rely 

 to justify their conclusions, is altogether untrustworthy, 

 and must therefore be rejected whenever it is opposed to 

 the results of the great body of more accurate statistical 

 evidence. I allude of course to the question of the com- 

 parative small-pox mortality of the VACCINATED and the 

 UNVACCINATED. The first point to be noticed is that 

 existing official evidence of the greatest value has never 

 been made use of for the purposes of registration, and is 

 not now available. For the last sixteen years the Regis- 

 trar-General gives the deaths from small-pox under three 

 headings. Thus, in the year 1881 he gives for London 

 (Annual Summary, p. xxiv.): 



Smallpox. Vaccinated, . . . 524 deaths. 

 Not vaccinated, . . 962 " 



No statement, . . . 885 " 



