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 
respects 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 
Mr C, W, ANDREWS, of the Geological Department of the British 
Museum, has returned from Christmas Island (the one south of 
Java, in about 10° 8. 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 voleanic rock and foram- 
