THE COMMONWEALTH SERUM LABORATORIES. 
During the epidemic a large temporary staff was engaged in pack- 
ing and bottling, so that the personnel numbered no less than ninety. 
After the epidemie was over, and the demand for the vaccine had 
ceased, the services of the bulk of the temporary staff were dispensed 
with, and the rest devoted their energies to the development of the 
several departments of the laboratories whith have been deséribed 
above. 
At the present moment, the laboratories are able to supply nearly 
the total demand of the Commonwealth for diphtheria anti-toxin. This 
preparation is the most important biological product issued by them. 
Almost every variety of vaccine has been, and tetanus anti-toxin 
is just about to be, issued. 
Human tuberculin, for use in humans and bovines, is also produced, 
and bovine tuberculin is being made at the present time. 
The Jennerian lymph made by the laboratories is cleaned by 
glycerine, but it is hoped that at an early date an effort will be made 
to produce the Noguchi modification of this lymph. 
In the Diagnosis Laboratory, the isolation of strains for the making 
of products should result in a wide and exact knowledge being obtained 
of the bacterial types found in different Australian diseases. This 
laboratory should also provide a highly trained staff to undertake field 
work in the event of other epidemics threatening Australia. 
The Legislature of the State of Mississippi has passed au Act 
appropriating a sum of £70,000 for a new building for the University 
of Mississippi, to house the Department of Chemistry and ihe School 
of Pharmacy.. Mississippi has a white population of only 790,000, a 
little more than balf that of Victoria; while the coloured population is 
about 1,000,000. aoe 
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