386 
EDITORIAL. 
believe, had a long and extended experience in this form of 
prophylactic practice, attended with highly important and 
satisfactory results. 
But although inoculation was not a new thing in Austra¬ 
lia, it seems to have been so little practiced that it has been 
only with great difficulty that fresh virus could be obtained 
with which to operate when needed. The difficulties en¬ 
countered were caused by the great distances which separate 
the herds ; the large numbers of animals collected in single 
herds, and the stale condition of the liquid or of the diseased 
lungs from which it was taken, which were in fact, not seldom 
either inert or in a state of putrefaction, when delivered at 
their place of destination and required for use. Many far¬ 
mers were so far influenced by these reasons as to object to 
the operation, which thus became to a considerable extent, 
practically ignored. But the subject has now received a new 
impulse, through the demonstrations of Drs. Germont and 
Loir, of the manner in which pure and effective cultures can 
be obtained, by employing the process recommended by 
Pasteur for gathering and preserving the virus, by collecting 
and keeping it in sterilized glass tubes, and thus securing 
matter so protected as to preserve its activity for five or six 
weeks. The result of this demonstration has been the foun¬ 
dation of a laboratory devoted to the culture and preserva¬ 
tion of pure virus, and prepared to answer any demand that 
may be made from any part of the Australian territory. 
May we not find a suggestion here which might be of 
profitable adoption nearer home ? It may be true that the 
establishment of a depot for the supply of prophylactic virus 
is not really a necessity in the United States, but it is a little 
remarkable that there should be such a lack of facilities for 
obtaining the necessary virus for preventive inoculation as 
actually exists in this country, especially while there are other 
contagious diseases with which we are obliged to contend, 
and which may be prevented by inoculation, among which 
we may include anthrax under its various forms. Cannot 
some of our experienced pathologists who have laboratories 
under their control be induced to provide the various kinds 
