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needed to combat them with success must be gained by studies carried on in the foreign regions in which they occur.
Further, these diseases, as experience has shown. present problems of extreme complexity and difficulty, problems which lie beyond the powers of investigation possessed by the ordinary medical practitioner, and, indeed, call for the exercise of the very highest talents and the use of the very best appliances of modern inquiry. To combat success- fully any one of these diseases it is not enough to offer assistance to the local medical officer on duty at the spot where the outbreak of disease is taking place, or even to send out such promising young men as may be induced by a small honorarium to undertake the inquiry. Success in the solution of such difficult problems cannot reasonably be expected unless one is prepared to meet such an expenditure as will secure the services of investigators of acknowledged experience and ability, and will provide these with all the means of inquiry which they need; such larger expenditure is the only one which is truly economical.
Influenced by the above considerations, seeing that these diseases affect the welfare not of the Colonies alone, but of parts of the Empire not under your care, not only of the residents in the foreign places where these diseases may rage, but also of the Army and Navy, which may occasionally visit these places, seeing that the matter is one essentially of Imperial importance, I would venture to suggest, for your consideration, the question whether the organisation which you have carried out with such valuable results might not, to the great benefit of the Empire, be expanded into some larger scheme. It would be out of place for me to enter into any details now. I will content myself with saying that the scheme which I have in my mind, put broadly, comprises the follow- ing points :--
(1) The formation of a fund large enough to cover estimated expenditure, the fund being of an Imperial character, shared by more than one Department, and contributed to by various parts of the Empire.
(2). The administration of this fund by an authorised body.
(3) The expenditure of this fund partly and chiefly in inquiries conducted in the localities where the diseases occur, by special investigators sent out for the purpose or otherwise, but also in part in the maintenance of an establish- ment at home in which inquiries begun in the fields of the diseases, could be more conveniently and effectively completed. It might be desirable to have similar establishments in other places besides England.
I have, &c.,
M. FOSTER,
Secretary, Royal Society.
The Right Honourable
J. Chamberlain,