The Vaccination Bill came before the House of Lords on
Thursday. Contrary to expectation, Lord Lister supported the clause relieving the conscientious objector in a speech which was able and statesmanlike in a high degree. The supreme object was to secure the maximum of vaccination. It was better to pass the Bill as it stood than to see it dropped and to go on with the old system, under which one- third of the children evaded vaccination. The anti-vacci- nators had two weapons,—the possible communication of malignant disease, and martyrdom of the parent who defied he law. The Bill would knock both these weapons out of their hands, for the glycerinated lymph could not produce disease, and the conscience clause would stop the fines and Imprisonment. The Barton Regis Guardians had set up a onscience clause of their own, and it had resulted in an in. rease, not a decrease, of vaccination. An additional argn- ent for passing the Bill was the promise of the Govern- ent to introduce a revaccination measure next year.
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