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RESEARCH
Research carried out in the University of Hong Kong during the year has included the study of the therapeutic use of radioactive cobalt. This study has been made in connexion with a telecurie apparatus which it is proposed to install in the Queen Mary Hospital, which would thus be amongst the first hospitals in Asia to use large quantities of this isotope for the telecurie treatment of cancer. At the same time considerable progress has been made on research in connexion with the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, one of the commonest forms of cancer in Hong Kong.
The field covered by the University is extensive; it includes chemical investigations into plant products of South-East Asia reputed to have medicinal or other value, the preparation and study of certain sulphur compounds, the preparation of an official memoir of the geology of Hong Kong and the New Territories, research into certain marine biological problems, the mode of production and the significance of the Korotkoff sounds, and the carrying out of specific studies on leprosy, tuberculosis, diseases of the liver and related medical problems.
In the economic field, a study of the prospects of industrialization in Eastern Asia has been in preparation for the Institute of Pacific Relations.
A seismograph was installed at the Royal Observatory during the year, to replace some of the equipment lost during the Japanese occupation. This instrument is being used in the study of earthquakes and also of the microseisms caused by typhoons. In connexion with an extended survey of the Colony's rainfall special equipment was installed for measuring the evaporation of moisture from a vegetation- covered surface and the percolation of water through the soil; these observations will lead to a knowledge of the water-need of different crops in the dry season. A study of the winds and weather prevailing at Kai Tak, required for the planning of the proposed extension to the airport, was carried out by the Observatory in collaboration with the
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