§ MR. LUPTON (Lincolnshire, Sleaford)To ask the President of the Local Government Board, if he is aware that the, official examiner of vaccine lymph stated in evidence to the Royal Commission on Vaccination, in answer to Questions 4154 and 4164, that it was then impossible to ascertain by microscopic examination whether lymph contains the virus of syphilis or not; and if, since then, any practical means have been discovered by which the presence of syphilitie germs in vaccine matter can be ascertained;.and whether he has any official information showing that the symptoms produced by inoculation with calf lymph are sometimes indistinguishable from those produced by syphilitic inoculation.
§ (Answered by Mr. John Burns.) I am aware of the evidence referred to. I am informed that since 1889, when the evidence was given, it has been claimed that the microbe of syphilis has been discovered. Whether or not it has been detected in vaccine lymph from the human subject I am unable to say, but, as my hon. friend is aware, humanised lymph is not now used for public vaccination in this country. Calves, as I understand, are insusceptible to inoculation with syphilis material.