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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 217 



sion, whose report has recently been made. The 

 length of time for which vaccination protects 

 against small-pox varies greatly in different per- 

 sons, but in the mean it is about ten years. 1". 

 Re-vaccination is necessary ten years after the 

 primary operation ; 2*. Two well-marked vesicles 

 are necespary to insure a successful protective 

 vaccination ; 3°. There is no evidence as to any 

 increasing special disease or of general mortality 

 which can be considered as due to the introduction 

 of vaccination ; 4°. The use of animal vaccine is 

 preferable ; 5". Vaccination should not be per- 

 formed while scarlet-fever, measles, diphtheria, 

 whooping-cough, typhus, or erysipelas are epi- 

 demic or unusually prevalent in the neighbor- 

 hood : 6°. Infants should not be vaccinated before 

 they are three months old unless small-pox is 

 prevalent in the vicinity ; 7°, The greatest care as 

 to the cleanliness and disinfection of the instru- 

 ments used for vaccination should be insisted on. 



We heartily indorse most of these views and 

 recommendations. The objection to vaccination 

 during the prevalence of communicable diseases, 

 with possibly the exception of erysipelas, is, we 

 think, not a valid one. If any of these diseases 

 exists in the family where there are children un 

 protected from small-pox, vaccination should 

 undoubtedly be deferred until the danger of con- 

 tagion is passed. But in our large cities these dis- 

 eases are so continuously present, that, if vaccina- 

 tion were to be postponed until they disappeared, 

 we fear the operation would never be performed, 

 and we should soon have a vast amount of sus- 

 ceptible material which would furnish a rich field 

 for the propagation of small-pox. The admonition 

 in reference to the care of the lancet is well-timed 

 and important, and is a precaution which is too 

 apt to be overlooked, both in private and public 

 vaccination. Passing the lancet through an alco- 

 hol flame will accomplish the object in a perfectly 

 satisfactory manner, or, if the vaccine-point is it- 

 self used to scarify, the danger is equally avoided. 



Crudeli, as the result of a long observation 

 of malaria in Italy, finds that while a certain 

 amount of moisture is necessary for its develop- 

 ment, yet it is by no means confined to swampy 

 and low regions, but is often met with in elevated 

 regions. In a recent discussion of this subject be- 

 fore the Boston society for medical observation, 

 Dr. Bowditch reported a case of malaria which he 



believed to have developed in the Adirondacks. 

 Dr. Folsom had observed that many cases occur in 

 comparatively elevated localities, referring espe- 

 cially to an outbreak in a small town in the west- 

 ern part of Massachusetts, in which all the cases 

 occurred on the top of a hill. It was his experi- 

 ence that persons might live for a time in a well- 

 developed malarial region and remain free from 

 the disease while there, and subsequently have 

 the disease manifest itself after a year's residence 

 in another place. 



The subject of hypnotism, which has become 

 so famous through the recent experiments of 

 Charcot, engaged the attention of Dr. W. A. 

 Hammond of New York some six years ago. At 

 that time he hypnotized a young man in the pres- 

 ence of the members of the New York medico- 

 legal society, causing him while in this condition 

 to commit imaginary thefts and assaults. Dr. 

 Hammond prefers the name ' syggignoscism ' to 

 that of ' hypnotism ; ' meaning the agreement of 

 one mind with another mind, — a condition of 

 automatism in which acts are performed without 

 the conscious willing of the subject. Dr. Ham- 

 mond finds that persons who are educated and are 

 accustomed to direct others are not so easily ren- 

 dered hypnotic as those who have always occupied 

 subordinate positions. Mesmerism, so called, is 

 closely allied to hypnotism. The theory of Mes- 

 mer was, that there was an inherent quality or 

 power in the person operating, which accounted 

 for the effects produced ; whereas the peculiarity 

 is in the subject, and any one can put such a sub- 

 ject into the hypnotized condition. 



The problem op protecting from adulteration 

 the food supply of large cities is one of increasing 

 difficulty and complexity. For its successful solu- 

 tion it depends not only on energetic and intelli- 

 gent inspectors but on the active support of public 

 opinion. The recent report of Dr. Saunders, pub- 

 lic analyst for the city of London, shows that in 

 one case, at least, where the first of the above con- 

 ditions is conspicuously present the second is con- 

 spicuously lacking. The report states that the 

 public at large continues to show marked apathy 

 toward the working of the food inspection laws, 

 and that if the inspectors were not ordered to 

 secure samples independently of complaints being 

 made, no check would exist upon the adulteration 

 of the foods and drugs sold in the city of London. 

 During the year 1886 the department made one 



