132
23
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
36
(both systematic and clinical) of tropical medicine by medical men intending to prac- tise their profession in tropical climates, is of opinion that it would not serve any good purpose to make tropical medicine a subject of the ordinary medical curriculum of this University, in the complete absence of any facilities for the practical and clinical study of tropical diseases.
16621.
SIR,
זיי. *
I am, &c., DONALDSON ROSE THOM,
Secretary of Senatus.
No. 44.
UNIVERSITY COLlege, London, to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received July 25, 1898.)
19, Wimpole Street, W., July 24, 1898. I MUST apologise for not replying earlier to your letter of March 11th.* I am afraid I did not appreciate that a reply was necessary.
The matter received the earnest attention of the Faculty of Medicine of University College and also of the Council of the College.
We have at University College a very complete arrangement for instruction in bacteriology, and my colleague, Dr. Sydney Martin, with whose name you are no doubt acquainted, informs me that the bacteriology of tropical diseases is very thoroughly dealt with, both theoretically and practically.
The Professor of Medicine, Dr. Roberts, also devotes a considerable number of lectures to the subject.
Both the Faculty and the Council however feel that, although they do not see their way at the present moment to institute a lectureship or professorship of the subject, the matter is one of great importance and one that will probably receive further consideration.
The chief difficulty in instituting such a chair is that clinical material is not forthcoming. And until some method suggests itself for collecting such material at this end of London, it seems almost useless to add another systematic course to the already overloaded medical curriculum.
I have, &c.,
RICKMAN J. GODLEE,
Dean of the Medical Faculty, University College, London.
37
It appears to me that by working on these lines the value of the medical informa- tion received from the Colonies will be much increased, the members of the Colonial medical service will be brought into correspondence with each other, useful knowledge acquired in one Colony will be quickly disseminated, encouragement will be given to work and to friendly competition, and in time, there is every reason to hope, important additions will be made to medical science.
These views are supported by a small Committee of experienced medical officers connected with the Colonies, who were good enough to meet at my invitation for the purpose of drawing up a model on which all medical reports can in future be based.
The members of the Committee were: -
Sir C. Gage Brown, M.D., K.C.M.G. (President),
Dr. Patrick Manson,
Dr. F. Irvine Rowell, C.M.G., formerly Principal Medical Officer, Straits
Settlements,
Dr. S. L. Crane, C.M.G., formerly Chief Medical Officer, Jamaica,
Dr. W. R. Henderson, Chief Medical Officer, Gold Coast.
I enclose a copy of the model medical report* which has been prepared by this Committee, and I trust that it will be adopted in the Colony under your administration and strictly adhered to. The reports should be made up to the end of each year, and should reach this Office before the 30th of April in the following year. All the reports will be submitted to Dr. Manson for compilation, and, after any necessary editing, will he printed and published.
The intention is that the purely scientific portion of the medical reports should be separable from the general and administrative statements, and, provided that care is taken to secure this object, there is no reason why the scientific portions and the general and administrative statements should not be submitted together in one report, if you consider this course to be more convenient, and to involve less labour, than the alterna- tive of two separate reports. The scientific portions alone will be included in the publi- cation referred to above.
With regard to the Meteorological Return included in the model, I fear that the information supplied under this head by some of the Colonies is untrustworthy, and therefore useless for scientific purposes. If this is the case in the Colony under your government, I shall be glad to procure any information or advice on the subject which may be desired from experts in this country.
I have, &c.,
J. CHAMBERLAIN.
16895.
No. 46.
CO.885
7
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
14876.
No.45.
MR. CHAMBERLAIN to the GOVERNORS of NON-RESPONSIBLE GOVERN- MENT COLONIES.
SIR,
(Circular.)
Downing Street, July 25, 1898.
DR. MANSON, who has succeeded Sir C. Gage-Brown as Medical Adviser to this Department, recently pointed out that the annual medical and sanitary reports sent from the Colonies might in many cases be improved.
He suggested that over and above the Blue Book returns, which will not be in- terfered with, some one form of medical reports should be adopted by all the Colonies not having responsible government, many figures and tables which involve unnecessary labour and expense being omitted; that these reports should be sent in on a definite date, and be brought out annually as one volume to be freely circulated in the Govern- ment service, presented to the more important medical libraries, and placed on sale; further, that the Colonial medical officers should be encouraged to contribute special papers on the diseases prevalent in their respective Colonies, which papers, after due editing, should appear as appendices to the annual reports.
• No. 12.
SIR,
GUY'S HOSPITAL to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received July 27, 1898.)
Guy's Hospital Medical School, July 25, 1898.
I AM directed by the staff of the Medical School of Guy's Hospital to express their regret that your communication of March 11tht has been so long unanswered, and to reply to it as follows:-
We entirely concur in Mr. Chamberlain's opinion that if some scheme can be devised by which it can be ensured that all medical officers selected by the Secretary of State for appointments in the tropics shall enter upon their careers with special knowledge of diseases which are prevalent in tropical climates, great benefit will result to Europeans and natives alike.
We notice that four of the medical schools of the metropolis give systematic in- struction in tropical medicine, supplementary to the instruction in this subject which is given to students in the ordinary curriculum at all medical schools, and that such special systematic instruction is open to all on payment of a small fee. We do not believe that any material advantage would accrue by adding to the number of the schools at which such special instruction is given, and are of opinion that any regula- tion requiring a candidate to have attended a course of instruction in tropical medici-,
• Miscellaneous No. 114.
↑ No. 12.
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