CO885-(7-8) — Page 22

PUBLIC RECORD

OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

7

||||||||||||||||||||

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

29383.

100

No. 149.

CEYLON.

Downing Street, January 6, 1899.

MR. CHAMBERLAIN to GOVERNOR SIR J. WEST RIDGEWAY. (No. 4.) SIR,

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram of the 29th of December last,* reporting that a contribution of £1,000 will be made from Ceylon funds towards the cost of the School of Tropical Medicine which it is proposed to estab- lish at the Albert Docks Branch of the Seamen's Hospital, and of the Commission which has been appointed to investigate the question of malarial fever, and stating that you would render any other assistance in your power.

2. You will have received the telegram which I sent to you in reply, on the 31st of December last, expressing my thanks to you and your Government for this generous contribution, and for your promise of help in other ways.

3. I now wish to renew my thanks. You will be assured that I fully appreciate the ready and liberal response which has been given to my invitation to Ceylon to support an enterprise designed to promote the welfare of the tropical Colonies.

1315.

SIR,

No. 150.

I have, &c.,

J. CHAMBERLAIN.

MR. A. L. JONES to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received January

1899.)

[Answered by No. 159.]

Liverpool, January 6, 1899.

I BEG to call your attention to the enclosed papers showing the arrangements it is proposed to make in Liverpool for the study of tropical diseases.

In a letter from the Colonial Office, dated 11th March, 1898 (and numbered 26144/97), addressed to the Medical Secretary of the University College, Liverpool, it is stated that:-

"Mr. Chamberlain would be glad if any scheme could be arranged by which an opportunity for special instruction in tropical diseases could be offered to the Medical Schools of this country, and would be prepared to support it by selecting preferably for Colonial medical appointments those candidates who could show that they had studied this branch of medicine, especially if some certificate or diploma to that effect were forthcoming."

The Committee hope that the Colonial Office will extend to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine the recognition indicated in the above extract.

Arrangements have already been made with the Committee and Staff of the Royal Southern Hospital, whereby the practical work of the School will be immediately entered upon with such funds as are promised, but they desire to point out that for the complete development of the scheme on a scale commensurate with its importance, they hope to obtain largely increased help. They venture, moreover, to express the hope that the Colonial Office may see fit, in addition to giving a formal recognition of the certificate granted by the School, to sanction;*

(1.) An annual grant towards its maintenance.

(2.) A donation towards carrying out the larger scheme, including additional buildings, which the Committee would desire at once to enter upon.

I desire also to state that it is hoped that an expedition organised by this Schoo! may proceed to study tropical diseases in West Africa.

I have, &c.,

ALFRED L. JONES.

• No. 145.

+ No. 147.

↑ No. 12.

101

Enclosure 1 in No. 150.

THE LIVERPOOL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL DISEASES, in connection with University College and the Royal Southern Hospital.

16.

In a letter dated 9th November, 1898, published in the London papers, the Secre- The foun- tary of State for the Colonies pointed out that the Medical School of University College, dation of Liverpool, with others situated in large seaports, "possesses exceptional facilities for of Tropical the School the study of tropical disease." Stimulated by this, and considering the serious char Pathology. acter and wide prevalence of tropical diseases, knowing also the very large number of such cases which find their way to Liverpool owing to the connection of this city with the trade of West Africa and other tropical countries, and remembering that the Royal Southern Hospital and the newly-opened Thompson-Yates Laboratories of Pathology and Physiology offered every facility for teaching and research, Mr. A. L. Jones very generously came forward and offered to support the movement for founding a School for Tropical Diseases in Liverpool by an annual grant of £350, suggesting the formation of a Committee to consider how best to inaugurate a scheme.

With the consent of the Authorities of University College and the Royal Southern Com- Hospital, the following gentlemen, representative of the shipowners and merchants of mittee. the city, the Royal Southern Hospital, and of University College, were appointed to serve on that Committee:

Chairman.

A. L. Jones, Esq. (Messrs. Elder, Dempster and Co.).

Vice-Chairman.

William Adamson, Esq. (President Royal Southern Hospital).

Members of Committee.

Charles W. Jones (of Messrs. Lamport and Holt, and Member of the Council of

University College.)

William Carter, M.D., Lond., F.R.C.P., Lond., Physician to the Royal Southern Hos-

pital, Professor of Therapeutics, University College, Liverpool

W. Alexander, M.D., F.R.C.S., Senior Surgeon of Royal Southern Hospital.

R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S., Principal of University College, Liverpool.

Rubert Boyce, Holt Professor of Pathology, University College; Bacteriologist to the Liverpool Corporation; Pathologist, Royal Infirmary; and Consulting Patholo- gist, Royal Southern Hospital.

2

The Port of Liverpool offers very great advantages for the investigation of tropical The facilities discases. Some of the largest steamship lines in the country keep up constant com- afforded in

Liverpool for munication between Africa, South America, and the East, the intercommunication with the study of West Africa being especially great.

Tropical Diseases.

The Royal Southern Hospital, from its very close proximity to the Docks, has an- Hospital nally treated large numbers of patients suffering from malarial and other tropical accommo affections. In recent times the Government subsidized a number of beds in the Hospital dation. for the use of soldiers returned from the Ashanti war. Pending the erection of a new block, one floor of the Hospital will be set exclusively apart for the study of tropical diseases. This consists of a well-ventilated and well-lighted ward, containing 12 beds, and of an adjacent capacious ward laboratory for the immediate examination of bloods, urines, fæces, and other excreta. This laboratory will be furnished with the apparatus applicable to modern clinical research. The same floor contains a small isolation ward, the ward sister's room, and the ward kitchen.

dation.

The Thompson-Yates Laboratories of Pathology and Physiology are situated Laboratory within easy reach of the Hospital. They were opened by Lord Lister in October of accommo- the present year, and are amongst the most capacious and most completely equipped of existing laboratories. The Pathological Department contains a large practical class room, capable of accommodating 60 workers. In this room each student has ample bench and locker accommodation, and his own separate electric light, gas, and water supply. The room is fitted with two powerful electric lantern and microscope projection lamps, and there is a collection of lantern slides illustrating tropical diseases, in great part presented by Dr. Patrick Manson. Opening out of the room is the Museum of Pathology, containing some three thousand specimens. Amongst these are