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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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see any justification for including typhus when typhoid was omitted, and he argued that typhus was not essentially confined to the tropics.

It was finally agreed, however, on the proposal of Sir Ronald Ross, that papers or these three diseases might be admitted. Dr. Bagshawe pointed out that if this were the case a new sectional editor might be needed, but it was agreed that this matter should be left for future adjustment, since it might be possible to have the work done by some of the existing editors.

7. It was agreed that, pending the authoritative decision of the Royal College of Physicians, the disease frequently called "Malta or Mediterranean Fever" should be called "Undulant Fever," with an explanatory note. It was similarly agreed that

Sandfly Fever" should be called " Pappataci Fever."

The Director mentioned that the first number of the "Tropical Veterinary Diseases Bulletin" would appear either at the end of October or the beginning of November, while the first number of the "Tropical Diseases Bulletin" would appear on the 15th of November.

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No. 22.

AGENDA AND MINUTES OF THE FOURTH MEETING OF THE TROPICAL DISEASES BUREAU MANAGING COMMITTEE held at THE COLONIAL OFFICE AT 4.30 P.M. ON THE 21ST FEBRUARY, 1913.

(1) To approve the minutes of the third meeting* (copy herewith). (2) To consider a proposal to publish a Journal on Tropical Sanitation.

(3) To consider the question of the insertion of critical remarks in the Tropical Diseases Bulletin.

(4) To consider a proposal for indexing the Bulletin.

(5) To consider the question of translation.

(6) To receive the accounts of the Agent to the 31st December, 1912 (copy herewith).

MINUTES.

PRESENT:

Sir JOHN ROSE BRADFORD (in the Chair).

Surgeon-General Sir ARTHUR BRANFOOT.

Sir WILLIAM LEISHMAN.

Sir RONALD Ross.

Mr. READ.

Mr. KEITH (Secretary).

Dr. A. G. BAGSHAWE, Director of the Bureau, also attended.

1. The Minutes* of the Third Meeting were approved.

2. Sir Ronald Ross explained his proposal for the publication of a Journal of Tropical Sanitation. The matter had been under the consideration of the Liver- pool School for some time, and he had associated with himself Colonel King, who had much Indian experience, and Dr. Simpson. He proposed to produce a journal which should contain not merely summaries of work which was being done in sanitary matters and critical reviews, but also original articles on any question of public health; for example, water supply, sewerage, epidemiology, &c.

It was desired that this journal should be circulated to all health officers throughout the Colonies and in India. It would probably, from a financial point

• No. 21.

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of view, pay satisfactorily as soon as it was known properly, say in a year's time. It was proposed that the journal should be a quarterly one, of about five hundred pages a year; it was estimated that for printing, binding, and issuing each part, £100 would more than suffice; that about £100 a year extra must be allowed for clerical work, and that each of the three proposed editors should receive an honorarium of £50 a number, making £600 a year. A fourth editor, a sanitary engineer, would ultimately be desirable, and it was felt by the other two proposed editors that, if the journal were produced under the control of the Managing Committee of the Bureau, they should be made members of the Committee, so as to share in the control.

Sir Ronald Ross anticipated that ultimately there would be a sale of at least one thousand copies; preliminary enquiries which he had made had resulted in a list of two hundred and fifteen persons who had expressed themselves as ready to take the journal at an annual subscription of one guinea, and it was reasonable to suppose that, if it came out under Government auspices, a number of one thousand would certainly be reached, with a possible increase to two thousand. Moreover, a large revenue could be expected from advertisements, though Sir Ronald Ross was not prepared to estimate how large that would be.

Contributions would be invited, but would not for the present be paid for. Payment to the editors was justified by the fact that they would have to do a great deal of work in connection with the journal. A work merely on the lines of the Bulletin would not be satisfactory.

If the matter could not be undertaken by the Committee, then he and his fellow editors were considering bringing it out as a private enterprise, or getting some publisher to undertake it.

Sir Arthur Branfoot pointed out that it was impossible to say what view would be taken by the Government of India of a proposal which might interfere with the position of the Bulletin and which lay outside the scope of the work of the Bureau as originally planned. Moreover, the financial position of the Bureau was, for the time being, uncertain; it was entering upon a new career with enlarged functions, and its income and expenditure were, in part, conjectural.

Sir John Rose Bradford raised the question as to the inclusion in original articles of criticisms of work being done in the Colonies or India. The Committee could not undertake to control such references in articles. Sir Ronald Ross stated that the editors would take responsibility of seeing that only reasonable criticism would be admitted; but Sir John Rose Bradford felt that there was a considerable difference between the proposed journal and the Bulletin of the Entomological Bureau. It was true that the Bulletin included original work, and was, therefore, in some degree, a precedent for the production of such a journal as was proposed under Government auspices, but the criticisms which were included in original work in the Bulletin were on matters of abstract science, and not comments on Government action or inaction.

On

He also pointed out that, in the first instance, it would be essential to draw on the funds of the Bureau. The estimated cost of the first number was put at about £300, including remuneration to editors, but that could be reduced if the editors waived their remuneration to begin with until the journal was established. the other hand, the cost of printing would be increased by the necessity of producing, as Sir Ronald Ross wished, two thousand copies, in order to permit of a large free distribution for the sake of advertisement.

In reply to Sir John Rose Bradford, Sir Ronald Ross explained that the advan- tage of official publication over private publication was that a large number of officers would be prepared to take the journal if it came out under official auspices, and that the circulation would thus be largely increased.

Mr. Read explained that his attitude in the matter was that he was anxious to secure the greatest possible success to the Bureau, and to extend its functions wherever legitimately possible, and he was afraid that if the opportunity now offered went past it might be difficult again to recover it.

Sir John Rose Bradford summed up the position; the idea of the publication of a Journal of Sanitation was an excellent one, but difficulties arose in connection with the proposal that it should be brought out under the auspices of the Bureau. In the first place, as Sir Arthur Branfoot had pointed out, the Tropical Diseases Bureau was entering its new career on a larger scale, and the position was not yet

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