173
9850.
SIR,
120
No. 188.
GAMBIA.
ADMINISTRATOR SIR R. B. LLEWELYN to MR. CHAMBERLAIN,
(No. 25.)
(Received April 20, 1899.)
[Answered by) No. 193.]
Government House, Bathurst, Gambia, April 1, 1899. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 83, dated the 25th of November last. on the subject of the establishment of a School of Tropical Medicine in London, and the appointment of a Commission to investigate into the causes and cure of Malaria.
2. I real and explained this despatch at a meeting of the Legislative Council held on the 30th ultimo, and it was unanimously agreed that both schemes were praiseworthy, and the contribution of £200 payable by this Colony was voted.
3. As the balance of this Colony in the hands of the Crown Agents is sufficient, and the general condition of the finances is most flourishing, I beg to submit that this contribution be paid at once, if you will authorise it, and apply to the Crown Agents for the money.
I have, &c.,
R. B. LLEWELYN,
Administrator.
121
to London for further study. The same applies to Edinburgh and other medical schools. If. Sir, the very complete course-theoretical and practical-provided by the University of Edinburgh counts for nothing, and if our students are compelled to go to London, there will be no inducement for students to attend the classes or work for the certificate; and this will strike a blow at the success of the movement.
A thorough knowledge of the subject cannot be obtained by a few months study in London. Regular laboratory instruction, combined with attendance on lectures, and the stimulus of examinations, are necessary in order to lay a solid foundation in this department of medicine. The material available for clinical instruction cannot, indeed, be so abundant in Edinburgh as in London or Liverpool, yet the Royal Infirmary is never without cases of the most varied forms of tropical disease sufficient for clinical purposes.
As one who has long taken a lively interest in this subject, who has done something to awaken the profession to a sense of its importance, and who is deeply concerned on scientific grounds in the entire success of the movement which owes its impulse to you, I venture, respectfully, to ask whether it is not possible for the Government to accept the certificates in tropical medicine granted by these Universities who shall have provided for a thorough course of instruction on the subject without imposing on the student additional study in London or elsewhere.
The efforts now being made to carry out your views will, I fear, prove abortive unless they obtain the recognition of the Government. With this recognition the future of tropical medicine as a branch in the medical curriculum will be assured, and the universities will vie with one another in perfecting the means of instruction on this important subject.
I have, &c.,
A. DAVIDSON, M.D., F.R.C.P.
10614.
No. 189.
Examiner for the Colonial Office.
PUBLIC RECORD
OFFICE
Reference :-
7
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COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
The Right Honourable
DR. DAVIDSON to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received April 27, 1899.) [Answered by No. 199.]
Joseph Chamberlain, M.P., Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies.
30, Morningside Drive, Edinburgh, April 25, 1899.
SIR,
In response to inquirics addressed by you to the universities and medical schools respecting the teaching of tropical medicine, the University of Edinburgh has established a Lectureship on the subject, to which I have been elected by the University Court. The University has further decided to afford special facilities for instruction in all that relates to the micro-organisms of tropical diseases, and has instituted a certificate of proficiency on tropical medicine for those who, by attendance on the lectures, and by going through the prescribed course of practical" instruction under the Professor of Bacteriology, shall have acquired a competent knowledge of the subject.
The University of Edinburgh is, perhaps, more than any other medical school, resorted to by young men from the Colonies, and a very considerable proportion of the students from England and Scotland pursuing their studies here contemplate tropical practice in connection with the public services or in other capacities.
The Court of the Medical College for Women, whose course qualifies for the university degree and for the diplomas of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, has also instituted a Lectureship on the subject, to which I have been appointed. I may mention that there are nearly one hundred women being educated in this College, most of whom are destined to practise in the tropics as medical missionaries or otherwise.
The success of this movement for affording instruction in tropical medicine in the universities and medical schools must depend largely on the recognition by the Government of the university certificate as evidence of proficiency. Lord Lister, the other day, in speaking at the opening of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, pointed out the great disadvantage under which its students laboured in having to go
• No. 111.
7604.
(No. 69.) SIR,
No. 190.
HONG KONG.
MR. CHAMBERLAIN to GoVERNOR SIR H. A. BLAKE.
Downing Street, April 28, 1899. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 37, of the 22nd of February," and to request you to convey my thanks to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong for having voted a contribution of £500, to be paid in two yearly instal- ments of £250 each, towards the expenses of the School of Tropical Medicine and the Commission appointed for the investigation of Malarial Fever.
I have, &c.,
7504.
GENTLEMEN,
No. 191.
HONG KONG.
J. CHAMBERLAIN.
COLONIAL OFFICE to CROWN AGENTS.
Downing Street, April 28, 1899.
I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to request you, with reference to the circular from this Department of the 9th of November last,† to transfer to the fund for the payment of the expenses of the School of Tropical Medicine and of the Commission appointed for the investigation of Malarial Fever, the sum of £250 from Hong Kong funds.
2. A further sum of £250 should be paid over next year from the funds of the same Colony, making a contribution of £500 in all.
I am, &c.,
• No. 182.
† No. 95.
C. P LUCAS.
1918
122