February 24, 1898] 



NATURE 



391 



<li\4sion as the left method does to the right in an ordinary 

 multiplication, e.g. 



(I) 

 321)241713(753 



(2) 

 321 



753 



963 



1605 

 2247 

 241713 



(2) 

 24171- 



96 



407-5 

 160 



2247 

 224 



Anfield Road, Liverpool. 



RoBT. W. D. Christie. 



Earthquake in North Britain. 



It may be of interest to you to note that on Wednesday, 

 February i6, at about 1.35 p.m., a sharp shock of earthquake 

 was felt here. Houses were shaken, dishes rattled and tumbled, 

 and much alarm was created, though no damage was done. At 

 the time mentioned there was a loud report, as if of a heavy 

 shot fired underground : earth movements — such as would result 

 from violent concussion — immediately followed, lasting for about 

 two seconds ; the character of the movements then seemed to alter 

 from vertical to horizontal, the latter being sustained for nearly 

 four seconds. About two minutes after the first report a second 

 was heard, louder and sharper than the first, but no tremors 

 were felt. Judging from the sounds, it would appear that the 

 wave travelled from west to east. 



I may state that within recent years several shocks of earth- 

 quake have been felt in the district. 



Kilsyth, N.B., February 18. James M'Cubbix. 



ON THE USE OF GLYCERINATED CALF 

 LYMPH FOR PROTECTIVE VACCINATION 

 AGAINST SMALL-POX. 



THE terms of the Report of the Royal Commission on 

 Vaccination, published towards the end of the year 

 1896, made it evident that there was a general feeling on 

 the part of the Commissioners that the use of calf lymph 

 should be encouraged as far as possible ; and it was 

 patent to those who grasped the full significance of the 

 Report, that in order to fall in with popular sentiment, 

 even apart from other considerations, some effort would 

 be made by those in authority to examine carefully into 

 the claims advanced on behalf of calf lymph vaccination 

 as carried out at home and in European countries. For 

 some time past it has been recognised by those who 

 have been cognisant of Dr. Monckton Copeman's work 

 on the "glycerination" of vaccine lymph, and especially 

 of that derived from the calf, that the advantages con- 

 nected with the use of this lymph are of such a nature 

 that many of the objections that have been urged against 

 the use of calf lymph are practically eliminated. Although 

 this work has been going on in our midst, it appears 

 that, in order to obtain any knowledge of the practical 

 outcome of Dr. Copeman's investigations, we are com- 

 pelled to turn our attention to the large vaccine establish- 

 ments of France, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland, 

 where, under State control, the use of glycerinated calf 

 lymph has now come to be recognised as the method, of 

 all others, which is attended with the greatest success. 



The addition of a certain bulk of glycerine to vaccine 

 material does not at first sight appear to be a very 

 important matter, but, as Dr. Copeman has demonstrated, 

 this glycerine does exert an extraordinary influence. 



Taking the method employed in the Institute in Berlin 

 as an example, we find that the vesical pulp collected from 

 a single calf weighs from 10 to 15 grammes ; to this is 

 added a mixture of glycerine and water of equal parts, 

 fourteen times the bulk of the vesicular pulp ; it then, 

 if used carefully, forms a sufficient volume to vaccinate 

 15,000 individuals. 



All this we learn from the Report drawn up by the 



Medical Officer of the Local Government Board, in 

 conjunction with Dr. Monckton Copeman, published in 

 " The Supplement containing the Report of the Medical 

 Officer for 1896-97 to the Twenty-sixth Annual Report to 

 the Local Government Board." 



The advantages early claimed by Dr. Copeman for 

 this method are : 



(i) That the addition of glycerine in this diluted form 

 has the effect of ensuring the destruction of micro- 

 organisms that are sometimes found even in the calf 

 lymph collected under the very best conditions. It 

 has been maintained that certain of the cases of erysipelas 

 that have followed vaccination with calf lymph have 

 been due to the accidental presence of certain of these 

 organisms. Again, the possibility of infection with 

 tubercle has sometimes been raised, though there is very 

 little evidence of such infection being conveyed by vaccin- 

 ation ; still the point has been raised, and it is right that 

 it should be considered as a possibility. Glycerination 

 of the lymph entirely does away with any danger from 

 either of these or other allied sources. The addition of the 

 glycerine kills off not only non-pathogenitic microbes, 

 but such pathogenitic organisms as are ever likely to be 

 found in vaccine lymph. This in itself, then, is a for- 

 ward step of vital importance to those who, whilst fully 

 convinced of the advantages of vaccination, and of the 

 enormous preponderance of these over the possible 

 disadvantages, are desirous that such disadvantages as 

 there are shall be removed, and that every cause of 

 objection should be done away with for those who have 

 conscientious, even though unfounded scruples, against 

 the use of lymph taken from the child, or from the calf 

 under ordinary conditions. 



(2) The dilution with glycerine appears to have 

 absolutely no effect in diminishing the specific activity of 

 the lymph, although it affects the bacterial flora of the 

 lymph in such a marked degree. It is even maintained 

 that such specific activity is actually increased, though it 

 is difficult to see how this can be the case. It is possible, 

 however, that various changes set up by bacteria are 

 inhibited, and that in consequence the active elements in 

 the lymph remain in a stable and unaltered condition 

 for a longer period. 



It is interesting to note in this connection that, although 

 the lymph is diluted some fourteen or fifteen times, it 

 remains sufficiently active at the end of three or four 

 weeks to produce a good crop of vesicles when the 

 same amount of the dilute fluid is used as is ordinarily 

 employed of the undiluted vaccine. It is evident, there- 

 fore, that the amount of active principle present in 

 ordinarj' vaccine is far in excess of what is necessary. 

 That being the case the amount of available fluid is 

 multiplied by fifteen, and to that extent the production of 

 a good supply of trustworthy calf lymph is facilitated, and 

 it becomes a comparatively easy matter to supply a pure 

 lymph at a small cost. Hitherto at the animal vaccine 

 establishment in Lamb's Conduit Street the amount that 

 could be obtained from a single calf was, at the outside, 

 only sufficient for the vaccination of some 200 to 400 

 patients, and this had to be done under somewhat un- 

 favourable conditions— namely, directly from the calf to 

 the arm of the patient — in order that there might be as 

 few organisms in the lymph as possible, as naturally any 

 organisms would multiply comparatively rapidly in stored 

 lymph to which antiseptics could not be added. With 

 the lymph from a single calf, used according to the new 

 method, 4000, 6000, or even 1 5,000 vaccinations may be 

 carried out, of course not at once from calf to arm, as 

 the lymph may be kept under observation for some time, 

 during which test-plate cultivations may be made, 

 and the presence or absence of micro-organisms demon- 

 strated. The glycerine does not kill certain organisms 

 instantaneously. Consequently test-plates, made im- 

 mediately after the emulsion has been prepared, may 



NO. 1478, VOL. 57] 



