14         VACCINATION PROCEEDINGS THROUGHOUT

Deteriotation
of lymph.

38. Dr. Charles, in his report above alluded to, makes some
interesting observations upon the superiority of the infecting power
of lymph obtained direct from England, over that closed up in the
same way in hermetically-sealed tubes from vaccination performed
in Calcutta. The Calcutta vaccinations from recent lymph taken
from the arm answered well in the early part of the season, but,
if removed and sealed in glass tubes thus early, and sent about for
use, it failed in its infecting power at and near to Calcutta; whilst
the same kind of lymph in sealed glasses, sent far up-country,
succeeded well. This seemed to show, Dr. Charles thinks, the greater
proclivity of certain parts of India to undergo the vaccine disease than
Calcutta at the same season of the year, and the unsuitability of
the climate of Calcutta in the early part of the vaccine season to favor
the propagation of the vaccinia. English lymph hermetically-sealed had
at the same time succeeded in Calcutta in the early part of the season.
This inferiority in the sealed Calcutta lymph to infect in Calcutta,
disappeared by degrees; and by the end of January its infecting power
became very great. The practical application which Dr. Charles made
of this recognised difference in the infecting power of the Calcutta
lymph, at different periods of the season, has been to induce him to
collect for store a large quantity of the lymph, at the time of the
season in which it exhibited its greatest infecting power, for distribution
at the commencement of the next vaccinating season.

Arm to arm
vaccination.

39. Arm to arm vaccinations are preferred and practised through-
out India where permitted. This proceeding is objected to by native
mothers in many parts. Presents are, however, provided for and given to
the people to allow of this, and to induce them to carry their children for
the purpose from place to place. This method is commonly in use
at Calcutta and its neighbourhood. It is with difficulty carried out
in many parts of the N. W. Provinces. It is permitted by the people
in some parts only of Madras, Bombay, and the Punjab.