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SCIENCE 



[Vol. XVII. No. 428 



the family, the ethics of the professions, the ethics of politics, the 

 ethics of friendship, the ethics of religious association. The 

 scheme of duties will be treated with special reference to the 

 moral instruction of children. 



The provisional programme for the special courses in this de- 

 partment is as follows: "Introduction to an Ethical Theory," 

 three lectures by W. M. Salter ; " The Treatment of the Criminal 

 by the State," three lectures by Dr. Charlton T. Lewis; " Ethics 

 and Jurisprudence; " " The Ethical Ideal of the State ; " " History 

 of Temperance Legislation." The names of special lecturers not 

 given will be announced later. 



The tuition for the entire school, including all the lectures in 

 the three departments, will be ten dollars. Notice of the place 

 determined upon will be published at an early date. For fuller 

 information in reference either to the instruction or to arrange- 

 ments for boarding, and the like, application should be made to 

 Professor H. C. Adams, dean of Summer School of Applied 

 Ethics, 1603 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Penn. 



HEALTH MATTERS. 

 Vaccination in France. 



The London Medical Recorder, Feb. 30. 1891, says, "The French 

 Academy of Medicine is just now the scene of a straggle between 

 those who are in favor of a law making vaccination compulsory, 

 and the others who think that the present permissive system goes 

 as far as is consistent with personal liberty. The general in com- 

 mand of the ' volunteers,' that is to say, of those who object to 

 compulsory protection, is no less an authority than Professor Leon 

 Le Fort, and last week he made a vigorous rally from behind his 

 intrenchments, and, with heavy artillery in the shape of argu- 

 ments, he prevented the further advance of the attacking forces. 

 There are several points in Professor Le Fort's address which 

 merit attention, especially as the matter is at present under con- 

 sideration in this country. First of all, — and the news wiU come 

 as a surprise to those who have been in the habit of regarding 

 France as being at the prow of civilization, — all statistics based 

 on the mortality returns from the dififerent diseases must be in- 

 complete, and therefore misleading, for tbe cause of death is only 

 recorded for statistical purposes in the more important French 

 l^owns, and presumably not at all in the rural and smaller urban 

 'districts. What the total annual mortality from smaU-pox in 

 -Trance may be, can therefore only be matter of conjecture. 

 StUl, the professor admits that it is certainly higher than it ought 

 to be or need be. Another fact, hardly to the credit of French 

 provincial authorities, is, that nowhere outside Paris is any at- 

 tempt made to isolate the sufferers from small-pox. He is there- 

 fore compelled to fall back upon the Paris returns ; and these show 

 that the mortality has been steadily diminishing, from 32 per 

 100,000 inhabitants, during the period 1865-76, 55 per 100,000 in 

 1880-87, to 5 per 100,000 in 1889. The retm-ns of the Small-pox 

 Hospital at Aubervilliers testify to the same diminution, the ad- 

 missions and deaths having been as follows : — 



"There are no available means of ascertaining the proportion of 

 cases of small-pox per 100,000 inhabitants in the country, still less 

 the proportion of deaths to cases of infection. We are, however, 

 told that country doctors have the greatest difficulty in procuring 

 lymph, and the people have the greatest difficulty in getting vac- 

 cinated, even supposing they were so disposed. 



"Let us compare these figures with the German statistics. It 

 must be borne in mind that vaccination has been compulsory 



throughout Germany since 1835, and in some parts since 1815. 

 The returns are as follows : — 



Deaths per 

 100,000 Inhabitants. 



" In 1865 the war led to a relaxation of the stringent rules in 

 respect of isolation, and forthwith the number of deaths from 

 9maU-pox jumped up to 46 per 100,000, and in the following year 

 to 63. During the Franco-German war, small-pox was imported 

 into Germany by the returning soldiers, and more particularly 

 by the French prisoners of war; and the mortality from variola 

 in 1871 attained 59,839, and 77,000 in 1872, equal to 338 per 100,- 

 000 civilians, and 31 per 100,000 of the military population. In 

 1874 the vaccination law was consolidated, and a vaccination 

 service founded for the supply of lymph, and by 1877 the number 

 of deaths (810 in 1876) had fallen to 88. This level, however, was 

 not maintained, for in 1383 the figures had again risen to 1,007. 

 Thereupon the German Government enjoined more stringent 

 measures for isolation, and then the downward tendency returned, 

 and in 1886 the number of deaths was 140 only. 



" In England in 1885 — a time when vaccination had long been 

 in full swing, but when isolation was not seriously enforced — 

 the number of deaths from small-pox in London alone was 1,419. 

 In 1886 the number fell abruptly to 34 ; in 1888, to 9 ; and in 1889, 

 to 1. This diminution coincided with the introduction of iso- 

 lation on a large scale, which reached its apogee with the law for 

 compulsory notification in 1889. 



" Professor Le Fort argues from these figures, that, though 

 vaccination has an undoubted and valuable influence in affording 

 protection and in mitigating the severity of the disease, the most 

 effective and reliable means of preventing the spread of the disease 

 is rigorously enforced isolation. 



" While it is impossible to deny the salutary influence of iso- 

 lation, it seems a trifle inconsistent to object to vaccination as an 

 infringement of the liberty of the subject, while rallying to the 

 principle of compulsory isolation, which is as directly in con- 

 travention of personal liberty as any measure well could be. To 

 take a patient, mow. volens, and shut him up for eight long weeks 

 in a hospital, is surely as obvious an attack on his liberty as to in- 

 sist on his submitting to the trivial operation of vaccination. This 

 question of personal liberty, unfortunately, does not admit of any 

 categorical reply. Different people have different ideas as to 

 what constitutes liberty, and as to what limits, if any, are to be 

 assigned to its play. Still, the great object that we have in view, 

 is to secui'e cheerful submission to an infliction imposed by reason 

 rather than by law ; and if thiS could be attained by persuasion, 

 instead of coercive legislation, then the choice would be easy." 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The Legislature of Arkansas has continued the geological 

 survey of that State, and Dr. J. C. Branner has been re- appointed 

 State geologist by the governor. It is expected that the work will 

 be completed dui-ing the next two years. A report on manganese 

 will be published by this survey in about a month. 



— Miss Emma Garrett has resigned her position of principal of 

 the Pennsylvania Oral School for the Deaf, to take effect June 20, 

 in order to devote her time to establishing a home for the training 

 in speech of deaf children before they are of school age. Miss 

 Garrett will continue her Normal Training School for Teachers 

 of the Deaf, established in 1881. She will have a summer school 

 this year to accommodate some teachers desiring training at that 

 time. For further particulars address her at Scranton, Penn. 



— Bulletin No. 13 of the Hatch Experiment Station of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College is a report on insects, by C. 

 H. Fernald of the Division of Entomology. The history of the 

 insects, and the methods of destroying or holding them in check, 

 have been worked out at the station or compiled from tbe most 

 reliable sources. This last has been done because there have been 



