A WIDER ASPECT OF THE SMALLPDX OUTBREAK. [To the Editor
of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—One of the most contagious of all the diseases of mankind has once more made its appearance in England and in the heart of London. But while our anxiety is naturally aroused as to the progress of what may become an epidemic, the wider significance of the V!sitation. is perhaps not sufficiently realized. The great wars of history have always left the nations with a decreased vitality and the progress of civilization has lessened the immunity of these islands from the epidemic diseases of the Continent. T1'e artificial and unwholesome conditions obtaining in countries ravaged by warfare supply a feeding-ground for diseases which have hitherto been confined to those districts where such conditions are normal. This fact has always been realized by the League of Nations, whose Epidemics Commission has established a sanitary cordon between the stricken districts of Eastern Europe and Russia and the countries of the West. It has been found that famine and the consequent migration of large sections of the afflicted population are the first causes of the spread of epidemics, and the courageous work of this Commission has done a great service in keeping the worst forms of epidemic disease from this country.
A new situation has unfortunately arisen in the question of the refugees of the Turko-Greek war, with which the monetary resources of the League is at present unable fully to cope. These wretched people arc swarming in hundreds of thousands into Greece, where it is wholly impossible to deal with them in an adequate manner. Starving, without clothes or covering, already decimated by malaria, they will become an easy prey to the other terrible diseases of the East, which are propagated freely by the cold and the absence of food. Unless prompt measures arc taken to ensure their feeding and the supply of necessary medicines, their presence in a country nearer and more accessible to our shores than any of the other afflicted districts will constitute a very grave menace to the nation's health.
To assist in the work of caring for these refugees, an appeal has already been launched in this country by the three societies constituting the All-British Appeal—the Imperial War Relief Fund, the Save the Children Fund and the Friends' Relief Committee—but they have been able so far only to send a small quantity of relief supplies. The Government has also given £10,000 worth of medical stores. But there is great and urgent need of more help. The call of humanity is one which can with difficulty be ignored, but it should also be remembered that our very self-protection is concerned in this work of relief and mercy. Side by side with efforts to improve sanitary and social conditions at home with a view to the avoidance of epidemic diseases, it is of the utmost importance that all possible steps should be taken to reduce the risk of -tfection from abroad. A practical effort is now being made in this direction by the All-British Appeal, on behalf of which donations will be gratefully received by the Hon. Treasurer, the Imperial War Relief Fund, General Buildings, Aldwych, London, W.C. 2.—I am, Sir, &c., Pocock Street, Blackfrairs Road, S.E. 1.
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