CO885-(18-19) — Page 492

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and from the Colonial Laboratory at Hong Kong, I have the honour to forward the following despatch from the Administrator of St. Kitts-Nevis.

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Arrangements should be made for supplying medical officers in the tropics with copies of the papers published by the Schools of Tropical Medicine or for notifying them of the sources from which these can be procured.

I have, &c..

BIOKHAM SWEET-ESCOTT,

Governor.

31 August, 1908.

J. NUMA RAT,

Medical Officer, District 6.

mini

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

19

Reference :-

C.O.885

19 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

SIR,

Enclosure in No. 50.

(St. Christopher-Nevis. No. 313.)

Government House, St. Kitts, West Indies, October, 1908. WITH reference to Your Excellency's despatch, No. 339, of 13th August, I have pleasure in transmitting copies of minutes by Dr. Rat, Dr. E. R. Branch, and Dr. W. M. McDonald on the reports from the Tropical Schools at London and Liverpool and from the Colonial Laboratory at Hong Kong which accompanied the Secretary of State's circular of 13th July last.

2. The only observation I would venture to offer is that the reports appear to me to add to the evidence already in existence of the value of these institutions and of the great work they are doing on behalf of those whose lot is cast in the tropical countries of the world.

His Excellency

I have, &c.,

T. LAURENCE ROXBURCH,

Sir Ernest Bickham Sweet-Escott, K.C.M.G.,

Governor of the Leeward Islands,

His Honour

The ADMINISTRATOR,

Antigua.

MINUTE BY DR. RAT.

Administrator.

THE paper on yaws by C. W. Branch is one which should be of great interest to all medical men stationed in places in which that disease prevails. It is the best paper in support of the theory of the identity of syphilis and yaws which has appeared since Mr. Hutchinson's well-known preface to my essay on framboesia was published.

There is undoubtedly the greatest resemblance between the two diseases, and it is this fact which led me, though I did not believe in their identity, to appeal to Mr. Hutchinson, the greatest English authority on syphilis, to consider the facts which I had collected in connection with yaws and express his views thereon.

The recent researches of Castellani, however, scem to point to a very different conclusion on this subject from that at which Dr. C. W. Branch has arrived, as they show the possibility of an individual being infected with either of these discases while suffering from an early attack of the other a fact to which I had already drawn attention in 1891.

I may observe that Dr. C. W. Branch is in error in attributing to Mr. Hutchin- son the theory that syphilis is derived from yaws. The idea is mine, and can be found stated and discussed by me on page 34 of my Essay on Framboesia and alluded to by Mr. Hutchinson on page viii. of his preface to this essay.

The result of the researches which are recorded in these and similar reports must undoubtedly confer the greatest benefit on humanity, but medical officers in these parts would naturally feel greater interest in observations connected with those diseases with which they come in frequent contact. Among these I would draw special attention to affections of the lymphatic system which are widely pre- valent in the West Indies and not only cause life-long sufferings to their victims, but are seriously affecting the physique of the descendants, both of Europeans and Africans in these islands. The habit of attributing these morbid conditions to filariasis has unfortunately prejudiced the minds of those who come in contact with them and tended to withdraw attention from other possible causes.

His Honour

The ADMINISTRATOR,

MINUTE BY DR. E. R. BRANCH.

MENTION is made on page 2 of this report of the publication by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in No. 3 of Vol. I. of these annals of a treatise by Dr. C. W. Branch on " Yaws and the prevalence of Syphilis in the West Indies."

The subject of non-venereal syphilis is ably discussed in Dr. C. W. Branch's treatise. No doctor in the Leeward Islands will dispute the supreme importance of this topic to the profession and the public in this Colony, where syphilis in all shapes is so rampant.

I may be excused, therefore, for taking this opportunity to notify to my colleagues that Dr. C. W. Branch's treatise is published as a separate pamphlet by Messrs. Williams & Norgate, of 14, Henrietta Street, London.

These reports show the marked advance that is being made in the study of tropical medicine within recent years, and demonstrate very clearly the importance to the medical profession in the tropics of the Schools of Tropical Medicine in London and Liverpool.

18 August, 1908.

His Honour

The ADMINISTRATOR,

EDMUND R. BRANCH,

Medical Superintendent, Cunningham Hospital.

MINUTE BY DR. W. M. MCDONALD.

THE question of the identity of yaws and syphilis is very important and

interesting.

I cannot enter fully into the discussion of the subject here, but may add that

I believe that these diseases are entirely different.

If the diseases were identical, the typical yaws eruption would be most certainly seen more commonly in adults. I have seen in this district many cases of venereal syphilis in adults, but have only seen one case of yaws in an adult.

Venereal syphilis is entirely confined to adults. Yaws is chiefly found in children.

The spirochetes of the two diseases have been proved to be different.

A syphilitic patient can contract yaws and a yaws patient can contract syphilis.

I, personally, should be very pleased to have an opportunity of reading the reports issued by the London and Liverpool Schools of Tropical Medicine.

W. M. McDONALD,

Medical Officer, District No. 3.

20 September, 1908.

40505

No. 51.

MR. F. P. JEPSON to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received 5 November, 1908.)

Quick Laboratory, New Muscums, Cambridge,

3 November, 1908. [Published as Appendix IV. in [C'd. 4476], March, 1909,]