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The school has, therefore, amply justified the recognition which it sought for and obtained from the Government; and, in view of the large amount of money which has been contributed from private sources, I am not surprised that the Committee have asked in a recent appeal, for a “grant from His Majesty's Government of £500 per annum for, say, five years, renewable at the end of that term on inspection and report by officers of the Colonial Department.
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30. Before leaving this branch of the subject it may perhaps be useful to summarize in the fewest possible words the more important part of the research work which has been or is being carried out by the schools. A great advance has been made towards the solution of the Malaria problem. In the West Indies, filariasis, and the causes of its prevalence, have been made the subject of enquiry, and simple measures have been suggested by which it might be eradicated. Investigations have been made into the nature, cause, and prevention, of beri-beri, a disease widely spread and responsible for heavy mortality, especially in the Malay Peninsula. In Uganda, some progress has been made in examin- ing the causes and conditions of the deadly sleeping sickness, while in West Africa and Uganda, a new disease (trypansomiasis) has been discovered and is now being scientifically investigated.
31. At no other place in the United Kingdom, up to the present time, have such opportunities presented themselves for the study of tropical diseases as at London and Liverpool; and it may be open to question whether the multiplication of tropical schools on the same lines as those which have been established at these two centres is to be desired ; but this does not imply want of the appreciation of the attention which is being given to the subject in the other medical schools of the kingdom. The correspondence which passed, e.g.,
with Edinburgh University, with King's College, London, and with Queen's College, Belfast, showed the wide interest which was being taken in this branch of medicine and the desire of important medical Schools that their efforts in this direction should be duly recognised by the Government. Lately I have been glad to learn that the Special Board of Medicine of Cambridge University have proposed to institute a Special Examina- tion in Tropical Hygiene and Medicine, open to all duly qualifield medical practitioners, with a view to granting a diploma in these subjects.
32. The results of what has been done must still be mainly in the future, and it would be matter for satisfaction if no more had been achieved than to stimulate active enquiry and to give additional and special knowledge to a certain number of young medical meu destined for the Colonies; but, as a matter of fact, some practical steps have already been taken based on the experience which has been gained.
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33. My circular despatch of 17th November, 1900, enclose.l copies of a short memo- randum, drawn up by Sir Michael Foster and approved by Lord Lister in the previous July (both being members of Malaria Committee), on "Measures to be taken for the prevention of malaria." The recommendations contained in this leaflet were based on the assurance that "Recent researches have shown that, at least in the vast majority of cases, probably in all cases, the organisin is introduced into the blood, and thus the disease contracted, by the bite of a mosquito, generally, if not always, one species or other of the genus known as anopheles," and practica! suggestions were made for the prevention of mosquito bites, eg, by the use of thin meshed gauzes for dwelling houses; by avoiding sleeping or living near native huts or other haunts of malaria-infected anopheles; and by taking measures directed towards the extirpation of these insects, such as filling up pools and puddles which are their common breeding places.
34. On the following 20th April, 1901, I addressed another circular desparch to thẹ Colonies embodying the recommendations of a Committee appointed to consider "what practical suggestions, if any, could be made to the Governors and Administrators of the different tropical Colonies and Dependencies with a view to diminishing the risk fron malaria to health and life, more especially in the case of Government officials.'
35. The appointinent of this Committee was due to a letter from Dr. Manson to the Colonial Office, dated 24th >eptember, 1900, in which he wrote that "the experiments based on the mosquito malaria theory, which have been instituted by representatives of the Colonial Office and the London School of Tropical Medicine, have reached such a stage and have proved so successful that I venture to subunit that the time has come for energetic practical action based on this theory." He made various suggestions, in which Lord Lister and Sir M. Foster expressed general concurrence, one being that a