Whooping Cough. The number of deaths from whooping cough was only 124, this being a smaller number of deaths from this disease than that of any year since 1884. TABLE 30.-SHOWING DEATHS IN NEW JERSEY FROM WHOOPING COUGH WITH AGES OF DECEDENTS, FOR YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1904. CHART SHOWING DEATHS FROM WHOOPING COUGH IN NEW JERSEY, PER 10,000 POPULATION, FOR THE TWENTY-SIX YEARS ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1904. 1.14 1.02 1880 2.12 1882 1.58 1883 1884 1.4 1 1885 2.09 1886 1.34 1887 1.17 1888 1.97 2.57 1890 26 29.7 2 20 2.00 1.80 1.60 1.4 0 20 00 8 0 .6 0 40 Measles. The average number of deaths from measles in New Jersey during the past eight years, per 10,000 population, has been .82, while the average number for the previous eighteen years was 1.77. Reference to the accompanying chart shows that the mortality from measles has been less variable in recent years, and indicates that the epidemic outbreaks have been less widespread than formerly. The number of deaths for 1904 from this disease was 180, or .87 per 10,000 inhabitants. TABLE 31.-SHOWING DEATHS IN NEW JERSEY FROM MEASLES, WITH AGE AT DEATH, FOR YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1904. CHART SHOWING DEATHS IN NEW JERSEY FROM MEASLES, PER 10,000 POPULATION, FOR TWENTY-SIX YEARS ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1904. Malarial Fever. Forty-seven deaths were recorded as having been caused by malarial diseases during the year. Circular 112* calls the attention of local health officials to the sources of malarial infection, and points out the measures which are effectual for the destruction of the anopheles. The following diagram shows the decline in the mortality from malarial affections in New Jersey during the past twenty-six years: CHART SHOWING DEATHS FROM MALARIAL AFFECTIONS, PER 10,000 INHABITANTS, IN NEW JERSEY, FOR TWENTY-SIX YEARS. Small-pox. Cases of small-pox occurred during the year 1904 as follows: Atlantic City, 5; Bordentown, 1; Camden, 31; Delaware township, Camden county, 4; Egg Harbor City, 1; Franklin township, Somerset county, 1; Hopewell township, Mercer county, 1; Jersey City, 5; Lawrence township, Cumberland county, 1; Long Branch, 1; Medford township, Burlington county, 1; Midland township, Bergen county, 1; Montclair, 2; Newark, 1; Pater*This circular is printed on subsequent pages of this report. son, 3; Plainfield, 1; Swedesboro, 1; Tuckerton, 2; Trenton, 45; Willingboro township, Burlington county, 1; Woodbine, 1; Wood Lynne, 4, and Woolwich township, Gloucester county, 1. Twentyfour deaths were recorded. These outbreaks were, in each locality, due to new importations of the infection, and they show that vaccination and revaccination have not been practiced in New Jersey as extensively as the warnings of the past few years demanded. Neglect in securing the protection afforded by vaccination was not surprising previous to the widespread prevalence of small-pox in 1901 and 1902, for the mortality caused by this disease had been extremely small for the preceding eighteen years, but after the occurrence of 432 deaths from small-pox in 1902, there was reason to expect that all well-informed persons would be reminded of the risk of contracting the disease to which the unvaccinated are liable to be exposed, and that every considerate individual would defend himself against this preventable malady. It appears, however, that whenever the disease is reintroduced it finds susceptible persons in whom it can develop, and notwithstanding the known. preventive influence of vaccination, there is found in nearly every community more or less indifferent persons who cannot be aroused to a realization of the seriousness of the public nuisance which is produced by the appearance of small-pox in a community. Where the individual is unmoved by the personal danger which attends an attack of the disease, he might give some attention to the inconvenience which his sickness with this infectious ailment causes his neighbors, and he might be expected to be willing to take the trouble to be vaccinated often when by this precaution he can prevent the damage to business and the excessive expenditures for caring for the patient which this disease almost always involves. The vaccination of school children was sustained by the Court of Appeals of the State of New York in the following opinion: "The appellant claims that vaccination does not tend to prevent smallpox, but tends to bring about other diseases, and that it does much harm with no good. It must be conceded that some laymen, both learned and unlearned, and some physicians of great skill and repute, do not believe that vaccination is a preventative of small-pox. The common belief, however, is that it has a decided tendency to prevent the spread of this fearful disease and to render it less dangerous to those who contract it. While not accepted by all, it is accepted by the mass of the people as well as by most members of the medical profession. It has been general in our State and in most civilized nations for generations. It is generally accepted in |