§ MR. HOPWOODasked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether he has received further and complete information, through the Foreign Office, from the French Government, on the subject of the infection of fifty-eight soldiers of the 4th Zouave Regiment, to whom it is alleged that syphilis was communicated by vaccination with matter from Arab children; and, whether he has any reason to doubt the correctness of the fact, as reported in "Le Petit Colon" and the "Journal d'Hygiène" of Paris, June 30th, and August 25th 1881, and in the "Daily News" of that or succeeding month?
§ MR. DODSONI regret that I have not succeeded in obtaining any fresh information on the subject to which the Question of my hon. Friend relates, and it does not appear that the French Government have any in their possession. With regard to the alleged fact that the disease referred to was communicated by vaccination with vaccine matter, I am advised that the statement in The Journal d' Hygiène that two children served as vaccinifers for 280 men, and that 58 of these men—and it does not appear how many more—were operated upon with lymph from one single child is so opposed to all experience of vaccination that it cannot possibly be accepted. My 622 hon. Friend must, therefore, permit me to say that, so far from admitting the fact that the disease was communicated by vaccine matter, I cannot but entertain the gravest doubts on the subject; and the more especially as it is expressly mentioned that the children from whom the lymph was said to be taken were in excellent health.