small-pox; and, on the occurrence of the epidemic at an after
period, it may be easily foreseen how wretchedly and how fatally
this confidence in the spurious disease may be misplaced; I,
therefore, do not consider, that, in all the cases spoken of among
the inhabitants, as cases of small-pox occurring after vaccination,
there existed satisfactory proofs of the patient having previously
undergone the genuine vaccine disease; yet, I am sorry to say, that
from such occurrences as these, vaccination has rather lost ground
in the opinion of the negro population.

7th. Is small-pox an increasing malady?

Small-pox is not an increasing malady; it is generally introduced
here from the slave cargoes of vessels detained by the squadron, and
sent here for adjudication; were this source of its renewal removed,
I am persuaded that small-pox would, in the course of a few years,
be almost unknown in this part of Africa.

8th. Can the vaccine virus be retained on points and glasses, so as
to be fit for use?

The vaccine lymph, if taken on points, will not retain its virulence
seven days in this country: this observation is established by
repeated trials; if taken on glasses, I would not be disposed to
depend on its activity when kept longer than fourteen or sixteen
days, though I have known it sometimes to retain its original
properties for four or five weeks; if preserved in glass bulbs,
hermetically sealed, in the manner practised by the National Vaccine
Institution, I have known its properties unimpaired after keeping
for three months; repeated trials have convinced me of the
excellence of this mode of preserving the vaccine lymph, and, I
believe it to be the best and surest that has been yet devised of
transmitting the lymph from England to tropical countries: next to
this method, I believe the crusts have proved the most successful.

9th. Are the young negro population pitted with the small-pox?

The negro population are pitted with the small-pox in the same
manner as Europeans.

10th. Are there periodical vaccinations of large districts? or, is
each child vaccinated soon after its birth? if the latter, how soon?

The practice, in these cases, is, as long as the vaccine lymph
continues to produce a genuine disease, to keep it up by the weekly
vaccination of all comers. Children are rarely vaccinated under four
weeks old; but there is no rule