PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TREET mmmmm C.O. 885
21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
8
world to find a really competent investigator, and one first-rate worker is worth any number of mediocrities, so that it is well worth while to encourage men who show signs of genuine ability. The Lister Institute is one of the places where advanced students of this kind could be usefully employed, but they need not of course be restricted to work in any one institution. They would form a valuable reserve on which we could draw for men to fill the important research appointments which are being created in our Colonies and Protectorates.
(e) The Quick Laboratory at Cambridge. This is under the direction of Professor Nuttall, F.R.S., the Quick Professor of Biology in the University of Cam- bridge and the leading authority in this country on the ticks which spread tropical disease. He receives from the Tropical Diseases Research Fund a grant of £100 towards the expenses of his laboratory, which have in the past been defrayed to some extent from his own pocket, and also a grant of £100 towards a studentship of medical entomology. The following brief statement of the work recently done by Professor Nuttall and his assistants will give an idea of its value from our point of view.
A remedy has been discovered for malignant jaundice in dogs and redwater in cattle-two diseases which are responsible for a vast amount of animal mortality in South Africa and neither of which has hitherto been affected by any known form of treatment. The parasite of East Coast Fever has been further investigated.
Investigations have been made into the part played by flies in the dissemination of infective diseases.
A report has been presented to the Royal Society upon investigations relating to spirochetes, and other pieces of research work, which it would be tedious to enumerate, have been carried out.
Arrangements have been made by Professor Nuttall for the instruction of our colonial officials in certain branches of medical entomology, and his laboratory is a convenient centre for working out any entomological material which may be sent home by investigators in the tropics. Some of the material sent home by Sir D. Bruce from Uganda has been worked out here.
It will be seen that this institution has a very practical bearing on medical work in the Colonies, and I think that we should do what we can to enlarge its sphere of action. The present laboratory is too cramped and is in an unsuit- able position, Professor Nuttall is now trying to raise a sum of £7,000 for the purpose of building a proper labora- tory in the country, near Cambridge. value set by practical people on Professor Nuttall's work, As showing the I might mention that General Smuts, who visited Cam- bridge when he was last in this country, has given Pro- fessor Nuttall a sum of £500 from Transvaal funds towards his laboratory. I think that it would be good policy on the part of the Government to give Professor Nuttall a substantial grant towards the capital cost of his new buildings and to increase the annual grant so as to enable him to obtain additional staff—it being, of course, under- stood that there would be a proportionate increase in the amount of work done at the laboratory on tropical disease. (f) The Natural History Museum, South Kensington.-- In past years a good deal of assistance has been given by the staff of the museum to colonial officials in the
9
identification of entomological specimens, but, until recently, the staff has been quite unequal to dealing with the vast amount of entomological material received from all parts of the world. In consequence of the recognition of the important part played by insects in the spread of disease, matters have now been placed on a better basis.
Funds, amounting to £2,000 a year, have been jointly provided by the Imperial Government and certain Colonial Governments for entomological research. A Committee has been formed with its headquarters at the Museum, and, concurrently with this new development, the entomological staff of the Museum has been substantially increased. In view, however, of the vast extent of this field of research there is ample opportunity for the profitable expenditure of further funds should they be forthcoming.
The course which has been adopted with regard to the above institutions is an illustration of the economy which which has been practised in the development of this tropical disease movement. There has been no question of establishing, for instance, an expensive Department of State Medicine, but advantage has been taken as far as possible of existing institutions. Thus, the London School of Tropical Medicine was developed from a branch hospital of the Seamen's Hospital, the money being mainly provided by private contributions. The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine was grafted on to the University of Liverpool, the money in this case being entirely provided by private subscribers. In the case of the other institu- tions, the Government remuneration for services rendered is certainly not excessive.
I think that we are moving on sound lines in developing existing agencies in this manner, and it seems to me that we have by no means reached the limit of our resources. The University of Edinburgh and the Imperial Depart- ment of Agriculture at Dublin have just arranged courses of instruction in entomology for our officials, and I have no doubt that there are other institutions which would be able to assist us in other directions. The arrangement is of general advantage, as the Government gets valuable assistance at a small cost, the outlook of the institutions themselves is broadened and they are put in the way of getting much interesting and valuable scientific material, and the tendency must be to bring this country into closer touch with the Colonies.
(C.) *
Turning now to the Scientific Committees which advise the Secretary of State, and taking them in the order of their creation, we have :—
(a) The Tropical Diseases Committee of the Royal Society. This Committee is composed of the gentlemen whose names are given in Appendix I., and it deals with the purely research side of tropical medicine. It is the outcome of a letter addressed by Mr Chamberlain on the 6th July, 1898, to Lord Lister, the then President of the Royal Society, in which the former said :—
It is my desire that a thorough investigation should be undertaken into the origin, tha transmission, and the possible preventives and remedies of tropical diseases, especially of such deadly forms of sickness as the malarial and blackwater fevers prevalent on the West African Coast; and, feeling assured that the object is one which will commend itself to the Royal Society, I would invite them to take the matter in hand in conjunction with, and after conference with, the Colonial Office.
16246
B