The square roots of these numbers show the number of times we should increase the actual distance of the sun in order that it might shine as a star of the corresponding magnitude. These numbers and the corresponding parallax are as follows:
| Sirius; | Distance = | 100,000: | Parallax = | 2″.06 | |
| Mag. | 1 | ” | 302,000: | ” | 0″.68 |
| ” | 2 | ” | 479,000: | ” | 0″.43 |
| ” | 3 | ” | 759,000: | ” | 0″.27 |
| ” | 4 | ” | 1,202,000: | ” | 0″.17 |
| ” | 5 | ” | 1,906,000: | ” | 0″.11 |
| ” | 6 | ” | 3,020,000: | ” | 0″.07 |
These parallaxes are those that the sun would have if placed at such a distance as to shine with the brightness indicated in the first column. They are generally larger than those of stars of the corresponding magnitudes, from which we conclude that the sun is smaller than the brighter of the stars.
PREVENTIVE INOCULATION. (II.)
By Dr. W. M. HAFFKINE,
DIRECTOR-IN-CHIEF, GOVERNMENT PLAGUE RESEARCH LABORATORY, BOMBAY.
In a previous paper I reviewed briefly the history of preventive inoculation and described the results of my attempts to secure a ‘virus fixé’ in the case of cholera. It will be remembered that the two vaccines finally obtained protected guinea pigs successfully against all possible forms of cholera infection.
It was now necessary to ascertain whether the same protection could be given to man which was observed in animals. For this purpose it was essential to first of all prove the perfect harmlessness of the operation. This was established by very careful observations of medical men and scientists who were inoculated in Europe soon after the results of the above investigations were published. The inoculation causes a rise of temperature and general discomfort, which lasts one or two days, and some pain at the seat of the injection, which disappears in a few days. The fever and discomfort induced are, on the whole, shorter in duration, though often more intense, than those caused by vaccination against smallpox. The effect disappears within a few days and the individual returns to his usual condition of health.
The next and all-important stage was to devise an experiment or a series of experiments on man so as to test the efficiency of the method against cholera attacks. This part of the investigation could only be done in a cholera-stricken country, where opportunities would arise of comparing the incidence of the disease in inoculated and uninoculated. Such opportunities are limited. Except in certain parts of India and China, cholera appears in localities unexpectedly and does not last long. In the places where the disease is endemic the cases are scattered over large areas. These features rendered the demonstration of the effect of the vaccine a matter of particular difficulty. In 1893 I went to India, and in the course of a year inoculated some twenty-three thousand people in the northern parts of the country; but no cholera appeared in their midst to show whether the vaccine was of value or not. In the spring of 1894 the inoculations were introduced into Bengal, and, with the assistance and co-operation of Prof. W. J. Simpson, of King’s College, London, at that time Health Officer of Calcutta, and of his staff, efforts were made to induce the inhabitants of the bustees of Calcutta to get themselves inoculated. These bustees are isolated villages consisting of groups of mud huts inhabited by the poorer class. Owing to the consumption of water from the ponds or tanks belonging to these villages, the inhabitants of the bustees are subject to periodic visitations of cholera. It was in one of these bustees that the first observation was made as to the effect of the cholera vaccines.
The spring is essentially the cholera season in Calcutta. About the end of March two fatal cases of cholera and two cases of choleraic diarrhœa occurred in Katal Bagan Bustee, in a population grouped around two tanks. This outbreak led to the inoculation of one hundred and sixteen persons in the bustee out of about two hundred. After the inoculation there occurred nine more cases of cholera, seven of which proved fatal, and one case of choleraic diarrhœa. All the ten cases occurred among the uninoculated portion of the inhabitants, which formed the minority, none of the inoculated suffering. The results were more interesting when analyzed in detail. Some of the cases had occurred in families in which some of the members had been inoculated and others not, and the disease selected the non-inoculated members, sparing the inoculated. Thus, in one house six members out of eight had been inoculated. The attack, a fatal one, occurred in one of the remaining two. In another house eleven members out of eighteen were inoculated. The eleven members remained free while four out of seven not inoculated were attacked.