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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

mmmmm C.O. 885. *T

24 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

No. 6.

CROWN AGENTS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received 14th July, 1914.)

[Answered by No. 7.]

SIR,

Whitehall Gardens, London, S.W., 14th July, 1914. WITH reference to your letter of 9th May, No. 16075/1914, I have the honour to enclose a copy of a letter from Colonel J. R. Dodd, respecting the Zeiss microscopes selected by Dr. Bagshawe for the ankylostomiasis campaign in the West Indies. The cheapest mechanical stage that Messrs. Carl Zeiss can supply costs £2 15s., and we await your authority before ordering three of these for use in Trinidad. The cost of each of the microscopes (without mechanical stages) as originally ordered is £6 118. complete.

I have, &c.,

H. MARTIN,

for Crown Agents.

GENTLEMEN,

Enclosure in No. 6.

COLONEL J. R. DODD to CROWN AGENTS,

Killarney, 140, Richmond Park Road, Bournemouth,

12th July, 1914. Reference Yours No. G/Various 448, dated 7th July, 1914. I HAVE the honour to report that I have had an opportunity of seeing the microscopes and acetylene lanterns to be supplied by Messrs. Angus, which I consider satisfactory. I also went to Messrs. Carl Zeiss's establishment, but the microscopes to be supplied were not ready, vide attached telegram,† which I got in confirmation of this. I gather, however, that the instruments will not be provided with mechanical stages, which I consider would be most useful, indeed, almost essential, for the work for which they are intended, and I strongly recommend that they be provided. They are somewhat expensive as compared with the microscopes themselves, which are cheap and low-power instruments, but as these stages are removable and might be adapted to almost any microscope they would be worth buying.

I have, &c.,

25633

No. 7.

J. R. DODD, Colonel A.M.S., R.P.

COLONIAL OFFICE to CROWN AGENTS.

Downing Street, 17th July, 1914.

GENTLEMEN,

I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 14th instant, transmitting a copy of a letter from Colonel J. R. Dodd respecting the microscopes to be purchased for the ankylostomiasis campaign in the West Indies, and to inform you that Mr. Harcourt approves of your purchasing the mechanical stages as recommended by Colonel Dodd at a cost of £2 158. each, for the instruments to be supplied to Trinidad, charging the cost to that Colony.

I am, &c.,

H. J. READ,

for the Under-Secretary of State.

*No. 44 in Miscellaneous No. 304.

Not forwarded.

1 No. 6.

MY DEAR Cowell,

No. 8.

BRITISH GUIANA.

DR. A. E. SHIPLEY to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received 20th July, 1914.)

Christ's College Lodge, Cambridge,

18th July, 1914.

I THOUGHT the most useful thing to do with Ferguson's Report* was to show it to Dr. MacCallan, who was with me at the time. I enclose his criticisms, which I think are of value.

Enclosure in No. 8.

Yours very sincerely,

A. E. SHIPLEY.

16th July, 1914. MY DEAR MAster,

THE treatment of ankylostomiasis by Dr. Ferguson in British Guiana is carried on without hospitalization of patients affected, the coolies taking thymol as the anthelmintic daily in doses of ten grains for a period of four months, about. The dose is omitted every Saturday evening, partly to give the patient a rest and partly because on that night the coolie is apt to indulge in alcohol, which, being a solvent of the drug, would carry it into the system and produce thymol-intoxication, the condition being one of collapse, with frequent fatal results.

The working out of a method of treatment which enables the patient to con- tinue his work is of great economic importance. Dr. Ferguson has treated more than 3,000 patients in this way, giving 100 doses of 10 grains on succeeding days (except Saturday), and he states that he has had more than 2,000 cures.

In the Government paper, which exposes his results, it is not unnatural that full clinical details are not given, nor are there records of examination of the fæces of patients made at varying times after the cure has been effected. It would, of course, be interesting to have such details.

This method of treatment is admirably suited for application to coolies and the inmates of prisons (who are on hard labour), since they can continue their work without difficulty. There appears to be no necessity for the administration of a purgative to clear out the thymol and the dead worm.

In all cases the disease was diagnosed after a microscopical examination of the fæces, and the case was pronounced to be a cure when ova were no longer found: this was usually found to be the case, as has already been said, after about 100 doses.

In

The drug was given in compressed pulverettes, coated with chocolate. The local conditions with which alone I am familiar, those of Egypt, probably differ considerably from those found in the plantations of British Guiana. Egypt the population lives free and untrammelled in villages and it is unlikely, that a large number of ankylostoma-affected persons would persevere for four months with daily doses of the drug. Nevertheless, it shall be tried.

In places where gangs of coolies or labourers work constantly together, and where they can be persuaded to take the drug regularly, the treatment promises to be very successful.

If any criticism is to be made of the treatment, I should say first that the large bulk of the vegetarian diet of the patients would militate against the action of the drug on the parasite (which is the ankylostoma duodenale, as in Egypt). Secondly, that in my experience compressed thymol, as given in British Guiana, is of infinitely less value than the finely divided drug given in cachets, since it must frequently travel throughout the length of the intestine without becoming broken up. Thirdly, that it is only suitable in plantations, prisons, or schools, and is not applicable to the general population.

My conclusions are:--

(1) Continuous small doses for coolies and prisons-(like Ferguson). (2) Three-day treatment for the general population-(like MacCallan).

Yours very sincerely,

C. F. MACCALLAN.

* British Guiana, Combined Court, No. 771.