SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
' Diagnosis Laboratory.—In the Diagnosis Laboratory, material is 
dealt with which comes to the laboratories for the isolation of bacteria 
for the making of products. Diagnostic agents for the use of clinical 
bacteriologists and other medical men are produced here, and biological 
products entering the country, and others sold in the open market, in 
Australia, are examined. 
Director's Laboratory.—In the Director’s Laboratory,. at the present 
time, an effort is being made to classify the Australian pneumococci; 
and a pneumococcal serum specific to type 1 pneumococcus, and another 
serum, polyvalent, against all the types, are being made and stan- 
dardized, 
Plague Laboratory—In the Plague Laboratory, up to the present, 
plague vaccine has been made only in small quantity. 
, 
__ As no visitation of plague has occurred in Australia since the estab- 
lishment of this laboratory, it has not been greatly used. 
Jennerian Lymph Laboratory.—In this building, vaccine lymph is 
produced for use against small-pox. 
The policy of the laboratories in respect of vaccine lymph is to 
hold large stocks in cool storage (14 deg. to 18 deg. Fahr.), so that in 
the event of a sudden epidemic of small-pox a couple of million doses 
might be issued in the course of three or four weeks if the occasion 
required. 
Vaccine lymph kept at this low temperature has been shown by 
Blaxall and others to retain its potency for many years, and their 
experience has been confirmed by that of the laboratories here. 
The Commonwealth Serum Laboratories were ready for occupation 
in August, 1918. In the same year epidemic influenza was raging in 
different parts of the world, and from both South Africa and New 
Zealand warnings had been received by the Commonwealth Government 
which caused it to adopt a very strict—and largely effective—quaran- 
-tine régime. 
It was also considered desirable that an attempt should be made 
to produce a vaccine against the B. influenze, and against the pneu- 
mococci and streptococci, which were the chief causes of the fatal 
complications in the epidemic. 
The production of this vaccine was first undertaken in a small way 
in November, 1918, but no great demand for the preparation arose 
until about the end of January, 1919, when the output of the labora- 
tories quite suddenly increased to 170,000 doses per day, In the 
course of a fey weeks, more than 3,000,000 doses were issued.» 
After the initial stages of the influenza epidemic had passed, the 
Commonwealth Government determined to supply the vaccine free to. 
all public health authorities throughout the Commonwealth, That 
policy was responsible for the enormous demand made upon the labora- 
tories. So great was this demand that it required the services of the 
whole staff to be directed to the production of the vaccine, and the 
development of the laboratories in other directions was completely. 
interrupted until about April, 1919. 
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