§ MR. CORRIE GRANT (Warwickshire, Rugby)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether, in view of the experiments of Dr. Rao, bacteriologist to the Government of Mysore, showing that glycerinated calf lymph contained organisms and was in no case sterile, he will consider the propriety of using some other lymph mixture which could be guaranteed to be free from disease germs.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. WALTER LONG,) Bristol, S.Dr. Rao tested the properties of glycerine and lanoline in eliminating extraneous micro-organisms from vaccine lymph. His experiments showed that under the conditions of a tropical country neither medium could be trusted always to render the lymph absolutely sterile, but lanoline was superior to glycerine, inasmuch as it interfered less with the proper activity of the lymph in vaccination. On the other hand, the bacteriologist of the Local Government Board has found that under the conditions of this country glycerine is better than lanoline for the purpose of eliminating extraneous micro-organisms from the lymph and does not unduly interfere with the proper activity of the lymph. I do not at present propose to make any change in the methods adopted by the Local Government Board for preserving vaccine lymph.