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it was made clear that compulsion might have to be resorted to in certain areas. most areas the Sub-Committee understood from their witnesses that no difficulty would be experienced.

It was also agreed that the minutes and evidence of the Sub-Committee should be kept on record in the Colonial Office, but that they need not be printed.

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No. 48.

COLONIAL OFFICE to THE LONDON SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE. SIR,

Downing Street, July 15, 1907. I AM directed by the Earl of Elgin to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 5th of July,* intimating the acceptance by the London School of Tropical Medicine of the grant of £1,000 to be spread over three years to maintain an Entomologist at the School.

2. The request of the School for a grant of £250 for the provision of a suitable laboratory and equipment was referred to the Tropical Diseases Research Fund Advisory Committee and was considered by the Committee at an extraordinary meeting on the 10th of July, but the Committee were unable, in view.of the many demands on their funds to recommend that the proposed grant should be made. Lord Elgin regrets, therefore, that he is unable to meet the wishes of the School in this respect.

I am, &c.,

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SIR,

No. 49.

C. P. LUCAS.

COLONIAL OFFICE to THE ROYAL SOCIETY. [Copy to Commissioner, July 22, 1907. No. 170. L.F.] [Answered by Nos. 52 and 53.]

Downing Street, July 19, 1907.

I AM directed by the Earl of Elgin to inform you that the Commissioner of Uganda has recently pointed out that no use is at present being made of the fine laboratory which was erected at Entebbe at a cost of £2,900 in connection with the sleeping-sickness investigations, and has suggested that it shall be utilised for further research into the causes of the disease.

2. Lord Elgin would be glad to know whether in the opinion of the Royal Society it is advisable that scientific investigation should be resumed locally, and, if so, to be advised what steps can best be taken for the purpose.

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No. 50.

I am, &c.,

R. L. ANTROBUS.

THE LIVERPOOL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE to COLONIAL

MY DEAR SIR,

OFFICE.

(Received July 25, 1907.)

[See No. 57.]

17, Langham Street, Portland Place,

London, W., July 23, 1907.

In accordance with your request I forward you a brief epitome of the reasons for which the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine trusts that it will be found possible to considerably increase the grant which it now receives from the Govern-

ment.

• No. 45.

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1. General Financial Condition. Since the foundation of the School in 1899 approximately £60,000 has been spent by it (exclusive of free services and over £1,200 in cash, given by medical men working with the School). The greater part of this sum consisted of voluntary contributions from private individuals (the Congo Free State has contributed £6,000 to the expenses of the School). During its first six years the School received no pecuniary assistance from the British Govern- ment, at present £500 per year is given. In all about £3,050 has been obtained from the Colonial Office. In addition the various Colonial Governments, and the Colonial Office, have generously assisted expeditions sent out to the tropics to study special questions.

The annual expenditure of the School for work done in Great Britain is from £2,000 to £3,000 per year. The greater part of this sum is necessarily spent in meeting the permanent expenses of the teaching side of the School. The amount which can be allotted to pure research work is very uncertain: at the most only some £700 can be given to the research laboratories to cover salaries, laboratory maintenance (rent, light, heat) animals, instruments, drugs, &c. If the contribu- tions to the School diminish this allowance is at once curtailed. Any additional annual assistance obtained from the Government would be expended in providing a permanent regular income for the research laboratories of the School.

So long as the School is without an annual income which can be devoted to research, perhaps only for a definite term of years, it is impossible for its laboratory work to be carried on with any constancy, especially since the uncertainty of its annual income makes it impossible to provide any permanency of employment for research workers. The London School of Tropical Medicine, through the generous support of the Government, has been able to create two positions for research on their staff, one for a helminthologist another for a protozoologist. It is hoped that similar assistance will be extended to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

The Liverpool School is endeavouring to help itself in this matter by the institu- tion of a Research Professorship in Tropical Medicine which will be named in memory of Dr. Dulton, who died while serving on an expedition of the School's. Unfortunately the money for this worthy object comes in but slowly.

2. An increase in the annual grant to the Liverpool School would serve :-

(a) To mark the Government's appreciation of the private munificence which has already contributed, and is still contributing, considerable sums towards the support of an institution the purpose of which is to serve the public;

(b) An increase in the grant would also serve as a recognition of the benefits which have already accrued to those living in the tropics through the research work done by the Liverpool School, e.g., prophylaxis of malaria by mosquito destruction; prophylaxis and treatment of "Sleeping Sickness ";

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and it would enable that work to be prosecuted under much more favourable circum- stances in the future, since continuity of the investigations would be thus assured.

Let me mention two instances in which lack of funds has made it necessary to discontinue important observations at most inopportune moments. Early in 1905 Thomas and Breinl published their first communications on the value of atoxyl in the treatment of trypanosomiasis. They were unable to continue this work and nothing more was done along these lines at the Liverpool School until towards the end of 1906, when the work was resumed and the experiments were commenced which have resulted in the discovery of the greatly increased efficacy of "atoxyl in the treatment of experimental nagana in rats when followed by the ordinarily inert bichloride of mercury. A year was lost through want of money in 1905, and Thomas and Breinl were forced to discontinue the work in which they had had two years' experience. At the present moment the combined treatment of atoxyl and mercury should obviously be tried on larger animals and on other forms of trypanosomiasis. Lack of money prevents this. Indeed it has already been necessary to reduce this year's grant to research by £128, and a further reduction is imminent.

3. Although the most direct appeal in the present matter is made to the Colonial Office, it is certainly one in which assistance might well be granted by the Home Government.

Many of the tropical diseases are due to a peculiar group of parasites, the

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