392 



NATURE 



[February 24, 1898 



contain a number of organisms. In such a case the 

 vaccine would be left to mature — i.e. to get rid of these 

 organisms — which it will do in a few days at the outside. 

 As soon as such organisms can no longer be demon- 

 strated in plate cultures, or as soon as the exact period at 

 which they disappear has been absolutely determined, 

 the glycerinated vaccine may be used by the operator, 

 who may have full confidence that no secondary or 

 untoward conditions, which can in any way be attributed 

 to impurity of the vaccine lymph, will arise. 



In view of these facts, and of the splendid results that 

 have been obtained in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Cologne, 

 Dresden and Geneva — the vaccine Institutes in which 

 cities were specially visited and reported upon by Sir 

 Richard Thome Thorne and Dr. Monckton Copeman — 

 and in view, also, of the recommendation of the Royal 

 Commission on Vaccination, all who take an interest in 

 this question (and the number of these is far greater than 

 many people imagine) will hail with delight any measure 

 brought forward by the Government to facilitate the pre- 

 paration and encourage the use of glycerinated calf lymph, 

 especially wherever it is found necessary to apply the 

 compulsory clauses of the Vaccination Act, and also for 

 vaccination generally. 



Perhaps one of the main advantages adduced in favour 

 of vaccination with calf lymph is that the annnals may 

 in the first instance be carefully selected, so that only 

 such as are of sound constitution and good family history 

 need be employed ; but even then, under the old system, 

 owing to the outlay involved if the calves were killed at 

 once and not used for food, a post-mortem examination 

 could not be obtained, or thorough inspection of the 

 organs made. It was, therefore, not possible for the 

 vaccinating officer to state that there was no disease in 

 the animal. Now that such a large amount of lymph 

 can be obtained frt)m a single calf, it would scarcely be 

 justifiable to neglect this post-mortem inspection ; con- 

 sequently, as the lymph should not be used for a few days 

 after it has been taken and made into an emulsion, the 

 medical officer is able to assure both himself and his 

 clients, that the animal from which the special lymph 

 he is using has been taken is absolutely free from flaw or 

 blemish, whilst the after-treatment of the lymph with 

 glycerine enables him to certify that the effects of 

 accidental contamination from outside are completely 

 neutralised. 



It is somewhat humiliating to us as a practical nation 

 to find that a method worked out theoretically by an 

 Englishman should have received attention, and been 

 applied practically in almost every important European 

 country before it has been thought necessary to draw 

 attention to it at home. Still, we are glad that at last 

 Government has been brought to see its duty in this 

 matter, and to make preparations for acting up to the 

 light it has received. 



For the information of our readers we may quote Sir 

 Richard Thorne Thome's conclusions, drawn up after 

 visiting the establishments to which reference has already 

 been made : — 



"(i) It is desirable that vaccination, both primary and 

 secondary, carried out under the auspices of the Govern- 

 ment, should be performed exclusively with vaccine 

 lymph direct from the calf. 



" (2) There will probably be advantage in retaining, for 

 a time at least, the system of calf-to-arm vaccination at 

 the Board's Animal Vaccine Station for such parents and 

 others as may specially desire it, and for the purposes of 

 comparing its results with those following the use of calf 

 lymph preserved in one or another way. 



" (3) The distribution of calf vaccine from the National 

 Vaccine Establishment should be limited to glycerinated 

 or similar preparations of lymph and pulp material, in 

 air-tight tubes, or other glass receptacles. 



"(4) To give effect to the above it will be requisite 



NO. 1478, VOL. 57] 



that the Board's Animal Vaccine Station should be re- 

 organised, both as regards construction and administra- 

 tion. Notably will it be requisite that it should include a 

 properly equipped laboratory, under the direct super- 

 vision of a bacteriological expert." 



It is to be hoped that in any legislative measure which 

 may be formulated and passed, due effect will be given 

 to each of these four conclusions, although from many 

 points of view it would appear desirable that the second 

 recommendation should be made to cover a comparatively 

 short period, as most people who have studied the question 

 are now fully of the opinion that calf-to-arm vaccination 

 has no advantages over vaccination with glycerinated 

 lymph, and few parents who are likely to express any 

 opinion at all, may be expected to ask for calf-to-arm 

 vaccination of their children. 



We look upon this document as one of the most 

 important that has been published from the Department 

 for some time, and we heartily recommend a perusal of 

 its contents to those who are in any way interested in 

 the study of the vaccination question. 



NOTES ON SOME VOLCANIC PHENOMENA 

 IN ARMENIA. 



AS we descended from the central mountains of Armenia 

 towards the south along the road from Akstafa to 

 Erivan, we suddenly came upon a beautiful sheet of 

 water lying glassy and restful in the lap of the mountains- 

 Those on the left, sloped down to its shore with every 

 diversity of valley, creek and headland, and with gently 

 moulded outlines which told of subaerial waste, and gave 

 the impression of a mountain land the base of which 

 the waters had but recently begun to bathe. From the 

 heights on which we stood the lake seemed to follow a 

 somewhat narrow sinuous course, which suggested the 

 idea that we were looking on a dammed-up valley. But it 

 could not be the submerged end of a long valley invaded 

 by the sea, for we were still between 6000 and 7000 i^tt 

 above sea-level. On the right, beyond the lake, conical 

 hills, often nicked at the summit, with long ridges radiating 

 from them, rose in strong contrast to the more ancient 

 rocks of the northern slopes, and suggested plainly by 

 their geographical outline a volcanic region which had 

 been so recently active that there had not yet been time 

 for its distinctive features to have been obliterated. 



Soon we wound our way round the north-western end 

 of the lake, and found that we had to cross its principal 

 outlet, and then immediately descend rapidly into the 

 valley of the Araxes. Here, then, we might hope to see 

 some reason for this strange holding up of such a vast 

 body of water on the edge of the mountain land. 



As we turned round to the right beyond the little village 

 of Elenof ka we found the passage barred by long moraine- 

 like ridges. We had just seen snow-covered summits 

 and glaciers in the Caucasus, a little further north, and 

 moraines, telling of the former much greater extension 

 of those glaciers. We asked ourselves whether similar 

 conditions might not have produced glaciers and moraines 

 here also on the slopes of the Armenian mountains ? But 

 when we reached the first of the ridges we found that it 

 was not a moraine at all, but a lava-flow with scoriaceous 

 surface and more solid rock within. The stream with 

 its equalised flow had cut but a very small gap in these 

 barriers, one after another of which had been thrown 

 forward, and had built up a mass which, from the physical 

 geography of the country, we inferred must be thousands 

 of feet in thickness. What the depth of Lake Gokcha 

 was we were not able to ascertain, but it runs for forty- 

 three miles along the base of the mountains and widens 

 out in places to a breadth of twenty miles. To save room 

 our diagram (Fig. i) is taken across the narrow western 

 end, so that it does not indicate the proportion this 

 enormous body of water bears to the size of the valley 



