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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference
LILTICO.885
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT.TO |
6196
No. 11.
THE MALARIA INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
SIR,
(Received February 26, 1900.)
The Royal Society, Burlington House, W.,
February 24, 1900.
In reply to your letter (36275/99) of February 9th,* enclosing a copy of the Report of the Malaria Expedition of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and a Memorandum thereupon by the Governor of Sierra Leone and of another by Dr. Prout, and asking for the opinion of the Malaria Committee on the suggestions made therein, I am directed to make the following statement:-
1. The Committee distinctly approve of the proposal that the pools serving as breeding places of the anopheles, the great agent of the spread of malaria, should be filled up or cleared, but they also think that, if possible, the occurrence of these pools should be prevented. This, they have reason to think, might be secured by some ade- quate canalisation of the streamis the overflow from which gives rise to the pools in question. They would not advise, however, a very large expenditure for this purpose, since the observations recently made by the observers sent by the Committee to Free- town show that the breeding of the anopheles is not limited to these pools. In the wet season this guat frequents and breeds in the running streams, even those of the higher grounds. The removal of the pools cannot therefore be expected to lead to the extermination of the anopheles-it will lessen, but not wholly abolish, malaria; and the accomplishment of the removal does not, in the opinion of the Committee, justify such an expenditure as would be justified if the removal secured extermination.
2. The pouring of kerosene or similar fluids on to the surface of the pools may be useful, but cannot be very much relied on, and in any case can only have a temporary
effect.
3. The Committee cannot too strongly insist on the advisability of protection from the bites of anopheles by means of mosquito curtains, gauzes, nets, &c. This not only prevents individuals being infected by the parasite carrying anopheles, but also prevents the healthy insects from becoming infected by biting a person suffering from malaria. A mosquito curtain round the bed is perhaps the easiest mode of protection, but the prevention of the entrance of the mosquito at night by means of wire gauzes on the windows and doors is still more effectual; and the Committee would strongly recommend that when new houses are built they should if possible be made mosquito- proof in some such way as that proposed by Dr. P. Manson.†
4. With regard to the advantages of a high altitude for dwelling-houses, the Committee, while admitting that a higher situation is in general more healthy than a lower one, do not feel confidence in the mere difference of altitude being a security against attacks of malaria. Whether any particular position will prove free from malaria or no can only be learnt from actual experience, and the Committee cannot certainly recommend that the expense of constructing a railway from the town to a high situation should be incurred on this ground alone.
5. In conclusion, the Committee consider it most important that all the inhabi-~~~ tants of malarious districts should be taught, and so far as is possible induced, to act upon the two following propositions, to which recent enquiries have led:-
I--That an attack of malaria is, at least in the majority of cases, if not in all, the result of the bite of an infected anopheles, and that therefore every effort should bo made to reduce the likelihood of being bitten by an anopheles, by protection at night with nets and gauzes, and by interfering with the breeding places and so diminishng tho number of anopheles. It may be added that a diminution of anopheles in dwelling- houses may be largely assisted by thoroughly fumigating the rooms during the day- time: this has proved very useful in Italy.
II. That a person suffering from malaria is, so long as the parasite is to be found in the blood circulating through the skin, an infectious person. If bitten at this time by an anopheles he will communicate the discase to the insect, and so propagate the infection. In this way a single person going to a district where the anopheles were
• No. *.
↑ See No. 6.
7
previously free from parasites may start the disease among the insects, and so prove the origin of an epidemic.
6583.
I have, &c.,
M. FOSTER,
Secretary, Royal Society.
No. 12.
THE MALARIA INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE to COLONIAL OFFICE. SIR,
The Royal Society, Burlington House, W., February 27, 1900. In reply to your letter (891/1900) of January 13,* enclosing a letter from Dr. Daniels relating to the destruction of the mosquito in British Central Africa, I am directed to state that the remarks made in my letter, in respect to the report of the Malaria Committee in West Africa, apply, mutatis mutandis, to the suggestion con- tained in Dr. Daniels's letter.
6584.
I have, &c.,
M. FOSTER,
Secretary, Royal Society.
No. 13.
THE MALARIA INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE 10 COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received February 28, 1900.)
SIR,
The Royal Society, Burlington House, W., February 27, 1900.
Is reply to your letter (28242/99) of December 14,† with reference to a com- munication from Dr. Prout, the Colonial Surgeon of Sierra Leone, suggesting the es- tablishment of a well-equipped laboratory in one of the British West African Colonies, I am directed to reply as follows:-
The Committee do not recommend the expenditure necessary for the establish- nient of one large or central laboratory in any of the West African stations.
But they most thoroughly concur with Dr. Prout's remarks as to the great desir- ability, indeed, necessity, of encouraging the Colonial Medical Officers to investigate thoroughly the tropical diseases which come under their observation. With this view they would strongly urge Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to take such measures as may seem to him desirable to secure that whenever a medical officer shows special aptitude for, and success in, any such investigation, he should be cordially assisted in his re- search, should indeed, if possible, be specially detailed for such work, and in any case should not, without grave reason, be called away from a station where he is thus fruit- fully labouring to mere routine duties at some other stations.
Further, the Committee, while not advising any large central laboratory at any one station, are of opinion that when a medical officer has taken up some useful research, and finds that his progress is hindered by the want of some laboratory ac- commodation and equipment, this should be, so far as possible, supplied to him. In thus recommending a laboratory the Committee have in mind merely some small building, possibly a single-roomed one, which can at a small cost be fitted with a rela- tively simple equipment, and where the investigation can be pursued free from ordinary distractions.
I have, &c..
• No. 4.
up
M. FOSTER,
Secretary, Royal Society.
↑ No. 265 mm Miscellaneous No. 119.