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INOCULATION FOR PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. 
This question has again been brought before the Belgian 
Chamber of Representatives* by M. De Renesse, who spoke 
in favour of the system, and complained of the apathy of the 
government and the conduct of the special commission, in- 
stituted to inquire into the merits of inoculation, towards 
Dr. Willems its inventor. M. De Renesse observed that, 
since the promise of the Minister of the Interior to inquire 
into the subject, when it was last brought before the chamber, 
nothing had been done ; and he would, therefore, urge on the 
government the appointment of a new commission composed 
of men of experience and impartiality, and who had not been 
mixed up with the discussions upon this question. 
M. Vander Donckt defended the government and the 
commission from the accusations of M. De Renesse. He re- 
marked that M. Willems had shown himself very eager to reap 
the advantages of his invention, but that up to the present time 
nothing had transpired to prove that the system of inoculating 
cattle to prevent exudative pleuro-pneumonia possessed any 
value. The subject had just been again discussed in the 
Academy of Medicine, and the conclusion arrived at was that 
further experiments were needed to settle, if possible, the 
differences which existed among men of science, medical and 
veterinary, both in this and foreign countries, as to its utility 
and practicability. 
The Minister of the Interior denied that the govern- 
ment or the commission were hostile to the system. The 
government had done all it could do in the matter. It 
had appointed a commission which had reported most fully 
its investigations into the subject. Further time was needed 
to settle many of the disputed points, and as less of the 
disease had of late existed, obstacles to the carrying out of 
fresh experiments had beset the labours of the commission. 
The government had, however, just received another report 
from the commission, and as this was not yet in print, he, the 
Minister of the Interior, would read to the chamber the con- 
clusions which were arrived at ; they were — 
First. That if inoculation did appear in certain cases to 
have produced immunity, in others it had been altogether 
incapable of preventing the development of exudative pleuro- 
pneumonia. That these contrasts, and they were not a few, 
had been observed as much in foreign countries as in Belgium; 
and that there are not sufficient facts at present to convince 
* For previous report, see p. 93, ct scq. 
