256 



NA TURE 



[January 15, 1903 



needlessly pester nor afford the notoriety of cheap martyrdom to 

 any man sufficiently wrong-headed to be quite determined to j 

 resist the vaccinal protection of his child. 



As regards the example ot Germany, however, and the pro- j 

 spect ot similar immunity, which I have ventured to hold loith ; 

 as an inducement for the passing of a Revaccinaiion Act in this 

 country, it may well be asked, May not the operation of a Con- 

 science Clause result in a condition of national protection far 

 short of that of Germany ? It is unsafe lo prophesy here, but 

 personally I am not very much afraid of that contingency. 

 With such a well-organised system of vaccination and revac- 

 cination as could be easily and, I believe, very economically 

 established, there would, I think, be comparatively little default 

 throughout the country as a whole. The latest returns show that 

 in London conscientious objection is registered with regard to 

 about 1 per cent, of the children, and in the rest of England 

 about 5 per cent. These figures might in the future alter either 

 upwards or downwards, but with a well-thought-out Conscience 

 Clause the change might be downwards rather than upwards. 

 In some special localities, however, the amount of default might, 

 at least for a time, be very considerable, and such places would 

 be a danger both to themselves and to their neighbours. In 

 Germany, a large part of the trifling amount of small-pox that I 

 still remains occurs near the frontiers where there is opportunity j 

 for importation of the infection from other less protected J 

 countries. We,however,have a sea boundary and are less exposed 

 to such risks, so that the existence in our midst of imperfectly 

 protecied places might not be more than equivalent to the risk 

 which Germany runs from its imperfectly vaccinated neighbours. 

 Such places in England would have the benefit of being sur- 

 rounded by a vaccinated and revaccinated nation. Small-pox 

 would not readily reach them, and when it did the surrounding 

 communities would, through their systematic revaccinaiion, be 

 in a much better position than at present to resist the variolous 

 invasion. Moreover, when once small-pox gets a good footing 

 (though, unfortunately, not until it reallyihas a good footing) 

 in an imperfectly protected community, it has a wonderful effect 

 in temporarily promoting vaccination. When Gloucester had 

 attained a higher percentage neglect of vaccination than any large 

 town in England, the result of a great small-pox epidemic was to 

 leave it the best revaccinated town in the realm. In presence of 

 an outbreak in future, it would not be in the least surprising 

 to find the names of some children appearing on two lists in 

 the course of the same year, first as subjects of conscientious 

 objection and later as subjects of successful vaccination. Look- 

 ing to all the facts of the case, I think this country may be able 

 to afford a Conscience Clause, and it would certainly be infinitely 

 better off under a Revaccination Act with a Conscience Clause 

 than without any Revaccination Act at all. 



As reference has repeatedly been made here to the example 

 of Germany, it may be proper just to indicate, in a sentence 

 or two, its position with regard to vaccination and small- 

 pox. The facts are taken from a very useful tract pub- 

 lished by the council of the British Medical Association. 1 In 

 Germany, vaccination of children in the course of their second 

 year is compulsory, and also revaccination of all school children 

 in their twelfth year. That has been the law since 1874. In 

 the nine years 1S66-74, the small-pox deaths per million in 

 Prussia were, respectively, 620, 432, 188, 194, 175, 2432, 2624, 

 357. 95- I" the years 1S75-1S9S, the corresponding figures 

 have been 36, 31, 3, 7, 13, 26, 36, 36, 20, 14, 14, 5, 5, 3, 5, 1, 1, 

 3, 4, 3, 08, 02, CT2, 0"4. In Austria, without compulsory 

 vaccination, the animal rates 1S87-1896 have been 440, 

 640, 520, 250, 290, 260, 250, no, 47, 35. The figures for all 

 Germany do not begin until 18S6, and are as follows in the years 

 1886-99:— 4, 3-5, 2 3, 4-1, 1 2, 10, 2-1,3-1, 1 7, 0-5,0-2, o-i, 

 0-3, 0-5. In short, " small-pox epidemics are utterly abolished 

 from Germany, and only a few scattered deaths occur each 

 year, mostly on the frontiers (Russia and Austria)." 



As illustrating what has been said already about the protec- 

 tion derived from living in a vaccinated and revaccinated com- 

 munity, I quote in conclusion the following passage regarding 

 the Prussian army : — 



" The law of 1874 made no difference in the vaccination of 

 the Prussian army, which enjoyed good vaccination ever since 

 1834 : every recruit being vaccinated on joining — twice if 

 necessary. But the law of 1874, which only directly affected 



1 " Facts about Small-pox and Vaccination," &c. (British Medical 

 A-sociation, 429 Strand, W.C.) Price \\d. 



infants and school children, made a great and striking difference 

 in the small-pox mortality of the army. Previously there were a 

 few deaths, one or two, almost every year, but after 1874 there 

 was not a single death for len years, and only two deaths (1884 

 and 1898) in the whole period 1875-98. The first death is that 

 ot a reservist twice unsuccessfully vaccinated in the army. 

 This shows that the protection which an individual acquires by 

 vaccination is increased by his being surrounded by a well- 

 vaccinated community." John C. M'Vaii.. 



NO. 1733, VOL. 67] 



AN AMERICAN REPORT UPON THE WEST 



INDIAN ERUPTIONS} 

 J~)R E. O. HOVEV, associate curator of the geological 

 department of the American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York, was sent by that institution to Martinique and 

 St. Vincent to study the phenomeni accompanying the great 

 eruptions of Mont Pclee and La Soufriere of last year, and 

 the report referred to below deals almost entirely with his 

 personal observations. The report first discusses the May 

 erup ions of La Soulriere, the author being a member of the 

 first party, on May 31, to ascend that mountain after the erup- 

 tions of May 7 and 18. The parly found that the old crater lake 

 for which the volcano had been famous had disappeared, but 

 that there was a small lake of (apparently) boiling water in the 

 bottom of a precipitous pit nearly a mile in diameter at the 

 lop. The author and Dr. T. A. Jaggar, jun., who also was in 

 the paity making the ascent, estimated that the bottom of the 

 pit was about 1600 feel below the part of the rim on which they 

 were standing, or about 2400 feet below the highest part of the 

 rim. A strong column of steam was rising, occasionally 

 including cloud-, of du-t, from the south-east quarter of the lake. 



The wall between the great crater and the "New" or 1812 

 crater seemed intact, and from its lower third there issued a 

 strong stream of water, apparently from walers then col- 

 lecting in the 1812 crater. The rim of the crater and the 

 upper part of the cone was covered with a thick mantle 

 of mud, which rendered it unwise to attempt lo reach the 

 windward side of the volcano along the rim. Ten days later the 

 author, accompanied by Mr. George C. Curtis, of Boston, who 

 was his companion on the first and second ascent and during 

 most of his stay on the islands, made a third and successful 

 ascent from the windward side of the island and stood upon the 

 peak between the two craters. It seemed evident that the small 

 (1812) crater had not taken part in the May eruption, though 

 the summit of the mountain was covered with clouds at the time 

 of the visit. 



The explosions attending the May eruptions of La Soufriere 

 expended their strength radially in all directions from the crater. 

 The principal evidence of this is the trees, which lie prone in 

 directions pointing away from the crater, except for modifications 

 due to local circumstances of topography. The roots of the 

 upturned trees showed the effects of the sandblast action of the 

 volcanic tornado, being worn and charred upon the portions 

 toward the crater and preserving the fresh, unburned bark upon 

 the protected parts. The explanation for the explosions sug- 

 gested is that unusually great masses of superheated steam 

 arriving at the lip of the crater could not find room for expansion 

 upwards on account of the cushion-effect of the column of steam 

 and lapilli preceding them, and the lapilli falling therefrom, 

 and that they expanded with violence horizontally and down- 

 ward, following the configuration of the mountain. Extensive 

 landslides occurred for two or three miles along the leeward 

 coast. 



The particular feature of the May eruptions of La Soufriere 

 was the enormous amount of dust which was thrown high 

 into the air and dislributed over a vast, elliptical area, the 

 extent of which cannot yet be calculated for lack of data. The 

 dust appears to have been carried much farther to the east and 

 southeast by the upper currents of air blowing counter to the 

 trade winds, than to the west by the trades. Reports from 

 Barbados and from ships encountering the dust at sea indicate 

 transport by the upper air currents at a rate of about thirty-two 

 knots contrary to the direction of the prevailing surface wind. 

 The other ejecta of the eruptions were fine and coarse lapilli, 

 blocks and bombs. No stream of melted lava accompanied 

 either of the outbursts in May. The lapilli first thrown out 



1 Martinique and St. Vincent :a Preliminary Report upon the Eruptions 

 of 1902, by Edmund Otis Hovey. Bulletin American Museum Natural 

 History, vol. xvi. pp. 333-372, pi. xxxiii.-Ii. New York, October 11, 1902. 



