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APPENDIX A.
GOVERNMENT BACTERIOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.
Report for the year 1932.
By A. V. Greaves, M.B., (Tor.), M.C.P.S. (Ont.) D.T.M. (Liverpool).
INTRODUCTORY.
(1) Administrative.-Dr. R. S. Begbie Assistant Medical Officer of Health was appoin.ed to act as Assistant Government Bacteriologist. Dr. Begbie was confirmed in his appointment as from 3rd March, 1982.
(2) Buildings and Equipment.-No change of an important nature is to be recorded. A number of minor structural altera- tions, however, have been made which greatly increase the effi- cient working of the laboratory. In both general laboratory rooms ups.airs and downstairs the doors leading to the verandahs have been re-hung so as to open outwards, thus affording greatly increased space.
The centrifuges have been moved into the media preparation room in place of two incubators which have been brought into the general laboratory in the space previously occupied by the centrifuges. The vaccine lymph grinder has also been removed into the media room. Increased shelf space has been provided in both downstair rooms which results in a corresponding clearing of the working desks and greatly improved working conditions.
A small research labora ory and microscope desk has been built into the alcove of the office of the Bacteriologist for his personal use; hitherto no working place was available for this officer except in the general laboratory which was awkwardly placed from the point of view of telephone, administrative work,
etc.
A complete renovation of the buildings was carried out dur- ing he latter part of the year and minor repairs made. The resulting improvement in comfort and appearance is great.
The only addition to our equipment worthy of note is a new refrigerator. The other machine was already badly congested and the situation becoming acute in the early part of the year, a second was purchased. It has more than justified its existence already.
It is hoped that, a new and modern centrifuge will soon be obtained to assist the present old type model and to enable high speed work to be carried out.
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(3) Library. The following additions were made to the library during the year: --
1. Approved Laboratory Technic, Kolmer and Boerner, 1931. 2. Guide To Human Parasitology, Blacklock and Southwell,
1931.
3. Tumours Of The Breast, Cheatle and Cutler, 1931,
4. Surgical Pathology Of The Female Generative Organs,
A. E. Hertzler, 1932.
5. A System of Bacteriology, Vol. 9, Medical Research
Council, 1931.
6. Report of the Laboratory Conference on the Serodiagnosis of Syphilis, League of Nations Health Organization Com- mittee, 1932.
7. Report of the Permanent Commission on Biological Standardization, League of Nations Health Organization Committee, 1932.
8. Individuality of the Blood In Biology and In Clinical
and Forersic Medicine, Leone Lattes, 1932.
(4) Publications:-The Use of Takayama's Solution in the Identification of Blood Stains, by Dr. A. V. Greaves, Br. Med. Journal, 21st May, 1932.
(5) Research. It is a melancholy fact that research is prac- tically impossible under the conditions in which work is carried en at the Institute. The volume of routine work is so large in relation to the staff which has to handle i. that there is little possibility of devoting the necessary thought and tune to any problems except such as can be actually carried out along with routine work of a closely associa.ed nature. Also the absence of any clinical material, already referred to, severely limits the scope of such work. During the year the writer's attention has been largely devoted to attempts to improve the routine methods in use in the Institute and bring them into line with modern practice. Work of this nature is not of a kind that lends itself to record in an annual report and therefore cannot be detailed. Nevertheless a good deal has been done in this way. An investigation of the methods in use for estimating the concentra- tion of blood in solutions of blood stains was carried out and a useful method was devised for the purpose which has been incorporated into routine practice. A report of the method is in the press at the moment.
During the small epidemic of cerebrospinal meningitis which visited the Colony during the winter and spring a quantitative estimation of the total protein present in the spinal fluids of patients suffering from .he disease was made with the hope of later correlating the information gained with other clinical facts. The method used was tha. of McNaught (Jr. lab. & Clin. Med.
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