OHAP. xvin. VACCINATION A DELUSION. 239 



dren were stated in the Kegistrar-General's weekly re- 

 turn of deaths in London to have died of small-pox, 

 " being one, four, and nine years of age, and all from 3 

 Medland Street, Stepney." On enquiry at the address 

 given (apparently by oversight in this one case) the 

 mother stated that the three children were hers, and that 

 " all had been beautifully vaccinated." This case was 

 investigated by Mr. J. Graham Spencer, of 33 Kigault 

 Road, Fulham Park Gardens, and the facts were pub- 

 lished in the local papers and also in " The Vaccination 

 Inquirer " of December, 1883. 



Several other cases were detected at Sheffield, and 

 were adduced by Mr. A. Wheeler in his evidence before 

 the Commission (6th Keport, p. TO); and many others 

 are to be found throughout the Anti-Vaccination peri- 

 odicals. But the difficulty of tracing such misstate- 

 ments is very great, as the authorities almost always re- 

 fuse to give information as to the cases referred to when 

 particular deaths from small-pox are recorded as " un- 

 vaccinated." Why this effort at secrecy in such a mat- 

 ter if there is nothing to hide ? Surely it is to the public 

 interest that official statistics should be made as correct 

 as possible ; and private persons who go to much trouble 

 and expense in order to correct errors should be wel- 

 comed as public benefactors and assisted in every way, 

 not treated as impertinent intruders on official privacy, 

 as is too frequently the case. 



The result of this prejudiced and unscientific method 

 of registering small-pox mortality is the belief of the 

 majority of the medical writers on the subject that there 

 is an enormous difference between the mortality of the 

 vaccinated and the unvaccinated, and that the difference 



