Use of "var" in PHP4 OOP

hello,

What is the use of "var" in a class?

e.g.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
class People{

//var $name ;

function People() {
$this->name = "Tom";

$this->print_name();
}

function print_name() {
print $this->name;
}

}

$a = new People();
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

even i commented out, //var $name, the code make no difference....

.