440
In May a bacteriological laboratory was fitted up, the instruments being obtained from Berlin, and much valuable work has been done particularly in reference to Plague, Cholera, and Diphtheria.
VACCINE INSTITUTE,
The Institute was open during the year with the exception of the summer months, viz., from the end of May to the commencement of October.
673 tubes of calf lymph were issued in addition to those supplied free to the different bospitals &c. A special report on the working of the Institute is given in Appendix B.
Vaccinations.---Three hundred and thirty-two (332) vaccinations were performed during the year with the following results:---
Primary cases, Re-vaccinations,.
Successful, 143 ...147
Unsuccessful.
9
31
Totul,
152
180
332
Lunatics.-There was a considerable increase in the number of lunatics under treatment as will be seen by reference to Table VII. 128 cases were admitted to the Asylums, 16 being Europeans and 108 Chinese, 81 of the latter were transferred to Canton.
Fees. The fees received from patients in the Government Civil Hospital during the year amount- ed to $17,758.35; of this the Board of Trade paid $1,557 and the Police $1,056.09. The fees received from patients in the Lunatic Asylums amounted to $1,048.30; those from patients on the Hospital Hulk Hygeia $1.190.30 and those from patients in Kennedy Town Hospital $22.50, giving a total of $20,019.45 as against $15,917.88 in 1895.
Gifts of Flowers, Newspapers, &c. The patients have been indebted to several residents of the Colony for frequent gifts of flowers, newspapers, &c.
I take this opportunity of again thanking the several members of the staff for the assistance rendered during the past year.
Dr. WILM of the Imperial German Navy at my suggestion was lent to this Department for special plague work at Kennedy Town Hospital and rendered inost efficient service.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
Dr. PH. B. C. AYRES, C.M.G.,
Colonial Surgeon.
J. M. ATKINSON,- Superintendent.
Appendix A.
My paper is briefly an account of eight cases of diphtheria which have been under treatment in this Hospital during the year 1896.
Out of the eight one, namely, the first, proved fatal.
From such a small number of cases any deductions would necessarily be of very little value, but taking into consideration the fact that anti-toxin was used in all but one the notes of the cases may prove of interest.
Seven were treated with auti-toxin, the first two with "Kitasato's" preparation which I was able to obtain from Prof. KITASATO's Laboratory in Tokyo through the courtesy of Dr. NAKAGAWA, his assistant. I may inention that I visited this Laboratory in the summer of 1895 when on sick leave in Japan.
The remaining five were treated with Behring's Diphtheria remedy, which we have obtained through a German firm in this Colony.
I have here specimens of these anti-toxins together with a bottle of Burroughs and Welcome's anti-toxin with the directions for their use, which I now hand round.
There are also on the table microscopic slides showing stained preparations of Loeffler's bucilli, obtained some from the false membrane on the throat and others from cultures of the bacillus on
agar-bouillon."
"
L
LÖFFLER in 1890 reviewed the evidence upon which this bacillus is now generally held by bacterio- logists to be the special infectious agent in true diphtheria.
The following are the chief points in his demonstration :
i.
The bacillus is found in all true cases of diphtheria.
ii. The Klebs-Loeffler bacillus is found only in diphtheria.
iii. Pure cultures of this bacillus induce, when inoculated into certain lower animals, the
characteristic diphtheritic inflammation.