1898] NOTES AND COMMENTS 147 



lymph the standard objections of the anti-vaccinator are done away 

 with, at least to the unprejudiced mind. The duty of the State is 

 clearly to secure not only the primary vaccination of the largest 

 possible number of infants, but also the re-vaccination of the entire 

 population at the age when the effect of primary vaccination may 

 be presumed to have worn off. This is the verdict of science, and 

 here the functions of science cease. 



How all this vaccination may best be secured is a question of 

 practical politics, hardly suited to the columns of a scientific journal. 

 We may state, however, that we can see no logical halting-place 

 between stringent compulsion and the repeal of the Vaccination 

 Acts. For stringent compulsion it may be urged that risk of small- 

 pox is one that affects not so much the man who refuses to have his 

 child vaccinated, as his child and his neighbours, and that in other 

 rc-pects we do not hesitate to coerce the individual for the benefit 

 of the community. But it may be fairly argued, on the other hand, 

 that compulsion has been tried, and has failed ; and that the remedy 

 lies in education. The "conscientious objector" conscientiously objects 

 in strict proportion to his ignorance and inability to weigh evidence : 

 he is at the mercy of the irresponsible faddist, who deluges him 

 with fallacious argument and ex parte statements. Were the money 

 necessary to secure compulsory vaccination spent in a reasonable 

 system of education of the masses as to the value of vaccination — a 

 matter now entirely neglected — it is possible that in the long run a 

 larger percentage of vaccinations might be secured than under the 

 present unsatisfactory system, or under the illogical makeshift 

 proposed by the present Government. 



Christmas Island 



Mi; C. W. Andrews, of the Geological Department of the British 

 Museum, has returned from Christmas Island (the one south of 

 Java, in about 10° S. and 105° E.) after an absence of fifteen 

 months, ten of which were spent on the island itself. This pro- 

 longed stay has enabled him to make fairly complete collections of 

 the flora and fauna, and also to explore and examine the structure 

 of nearly every part of the island. This, Mr Andrews informs us, 

 is very interesting from a geological point of view. It appears to 

 be probably a raised atoll, the central plateau of which is the old 

 lagoon, while the elevations which occur round this are the remains 

 of the islands. Coastwards the land descends in most places by a 

 succession of three or four cliffs, separated by terraces of varying 

 width. In some places these cliffs unite, forming a lofty precipice 

 some 500 feet in height : in these places good sections showing the 

 structure of the island can be seen. At Flying Fish Cove the lower 

 five hundred feet consist of alternations of volcanic rock and foram- 



