The Collegiate School, Kingston

The frightful prevalence of Smallpox in this city and its
steady and insidious spread through the island
generally [dem]and the most anxious consideration
[from] everyone who is interested in the preservation
of the public health. There is a growing belief that the
[disease] is passing beyond the control of medical
skill and knowledge, and combined with this, a
disposition to rely solely upon the direct and
immediate interposition of Providence, which when disjoined from any confidence in the utility of the
means with which that Power, acting upon a broad
and general scale, has supplied us, must be characterized  as grossly superstitious. The horrible
fatalism which characterizes the ''peculiar people”
in England  or the more ignorant of our own peasantry
has its strong influence also over many of their
superiors in education and social position. It is usual
to hear the opinion expressed that because the disease has not been exterminated nor its ravages
been greatly checked by the ordinary appliances, there
is therefore no use in adopting any precautions or
seeking any cures: everyone should be left to take his
chance. In the case of persons of this kind, indeed, the beneficent power of habit induces them to continue the
precautions which they affect to despise, and a happy
deficiency in logic – happy in this instance at least –
prevents them from carrying out the views to which
they adhere. But if the mischief begins with them, with
them it does not end. They who should be the chief
agents of social improvement in this respect, both in the
dissemination of just ideas on the subject and in their enforcement when necessary, are paralyzed in their
effort, by sharing, however unconsciously, the
superstitions of the ignorant. It is not long since we read
a letter to a contemporary print, sufficiently well written,
stating that vaccination had wrought no good in the prevention of Smallpox, and recommending by implication the abandonment ot all means of cure and
the substitution therefore of an invocation of the

To combat opinions like these, which are far more
fatally injurious than is commonly supposed, is every
one's duty, and it is especially the duty of members of the Medical Profession. We urgently need as much
statistical, medical and sanitary information as
possible from all quarters and especially from medical
men. It is possible and easy to show, by well tabulated
statistics, how much vaccination has done to mitigate
the intensity of that scourge, which before its
discovery, more than decimated the human race; how
its apparent inefficacy in many cases is to be accounted
for, and for what proportion of success we may in
general fairly look. In view of the prohibition by the Colonial Office of any attempt to revive the practice of
inocculation – notwithstanding the advocacy of one of
the most distinguished of our local physicians, this
would be a fitting time to learn something of its history, the reasons which led to the abandonment of the
practice, and the arguments to be urged for its revival.
People need to have their reason satisfied, especially at
a time like this, and in so personal and vitally important a
matter as health; and by enlightening public opinion,
a powerful sentiment might be created for or against the practice, and the arguments urged on the one or the
other side of the discussion might appear convincing. The endemic diseases of the colony, their probable
cause, and the means of their prevention and cure,
would also form very interesting and important subjects
for public discussion. Much might be done to promote
the public well-being, as well as to enhance the value
and regard in which the profession is held, by taking
the public along with them, and interesting them in
these concerns.

" In the month of January last, Smallpox made its
appearance in Kingston,'' and proceeds to narrate all the
circumstances connected with its origin and progress. " It appears that on the 17th of January, from information
received from the Chairman of the Board of Health, the
Commissioner called at a house situated at the corner
of Port Royal and East Streets where he found 15
Cubans, among whom two deaths, supposed to be from Small-pox, had a short time before occurred. From them
he learned that the deaths were attributable to fever and
not to Small-pox or any other eruptive disease. There
was however one person in the house who had suffered from Small-pox, presumably before coming to Jamaica,
and who retained fresh marks of it, but both he, and all
the rest of the household were, the Commissioner was convinced at the time of his visit, in good health.
Four days afterwards, however, smallpox appeared
among them, and spread with alarming rapidity in the
neighbourhood. The Report then narrates, with details
which we are unable to reproduce, the spread of the
disease through the city, and the measures taken for its prevention.
Referring to the shrinking from publicity on the part of
the lower classes, when any member of their
households might happen to be attacked by the disease, the Report says -