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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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In what media is it present in the endemic area?

What is the means of transit from the sick to the healthy?

Is there any analogy with Yellow Fever, viz., are suctorial insects agents of dispersion, or, like Enteric, is it carried by water?

What are the endemic causes which predispose, and why is it that the very great majority of the cases are certainly derived from Malta itself!

What protection, if any, does one attack confer?

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With regard to the formation of the working board, Dr. Zammit, of Malta, has already a large experience, Staff-Surgeon Shaw, who is now out there, is an expert bacteriologist, and is extremely interested in the question, and if approved by the Admiralty, ant my duties would permit, I should be most ready to give all help in my power. For an Army member, Major Leishman could, I know, recommend an officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps if required.

44350

Believe me, &c.,

P. W. BASSETT-SMITH,

No. 126.

INDIA OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received December 9, 1903.)

Fleet-Surgeon.

[Copy sent to Mr. Michelli, privately, December 10, 1903.]

SIR,

India Office, Whitehall, London, S. W., December 8, 1903. I AM directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, No. 43114, dated 30th November, 1903, transmitting drafts of two petitions which the London School of Tropical Medicine proposes to present to the University of London.

With regard to the petition that Tropical Medicine should be added to the list of alternative subjects for the M.D. examination. I am to say that Mr. Brodrick would be glad to see this done, though he is unable to express an opinion as to what should be the requirements for the examination in the proposed subject.

With regard to the second petition, that the London School of Tropical Medicine should be recognized by the University of London as a constituent school, I am to say that if the School and its course of instruction satisfy the regulations and requirements of the University, Mr. Brodrick would be glad to see it receive recognition.

44559

SIR,

No. 126A.

I have, &c.,

HORACE WALPOLE.

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received December 12, 1903.)

[Answered, February 3, 1904, by 44559 in Miscellaneous No. 170.]

Foreign Office, December 11, 1903.

I AM directed by the Marquess of Lansdowne to transmit to you to be laid before Mr. Secretary Lyttelton the accompanying copies of correspondence respect- ing the results of the Commission to investigate the causes, &c., of Sleeping Sickness in the Uganda Protectorate.

• No. 119,

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With regard to the last paragraph of this letter His Lordship would be glad to learn whether Mr. Secretary Lyttelton has under his consideration any plan for an organized study of tropical diseases and bacteriological investigations on the spot in the various territories administered by your Department.

SIR,

Enclosure 1 in No. 126.

I am, &c.,

CLEMENT LL. HILL.

ROYAL SOCIETY to Foreign Office.

Burlington House, London, W., November 30, 1903. I HAVE the honour to inform you that Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce, R.A.M.C., F.R.S., of the Sleeping Sickness Commission, returned to England from Uganda, bringing with him à report on the results of the investigation up to the date of his leaving Uganda.

The report has been printed, and copies will be in your hands very shortly. I may, therefore, content myself with stating here that it contains very strong, but not absolutely, conclusive evidence that Sleeping Sickness is due to the presence in the central nervous system of a parasite (Trypanosoma) similar to that which occurs in Nagana (Tsetse fly) disease. Evidence is also brought forward showing that the trypanosoma is transmitted from the sick to the healthy by a species of fly, Glossina palpalis (allied to the Glossina morsitans, which similarly conveys Nagana), and by it alone, the distribution of Sleeping Sickness and Glossina palpalis corresponding in a remarkable manner.

It would follow that Sleeping Sickness is not an infectious or contagious disease in the ordinary sense of these words, and that the measures to combat it must be of a different kind from those used in ordinary infectious diseases. I regret to say that all attempts towards remedial measures, such as killing the trypanosoma within the bodies of the patients, have so far been unsuccessful, nor am I able to suggest distinctive preventive measures; these, being matters of administration, may be considered as outside the work of the present Commission; but I may, perhaps, venture to say that it is a matter for congratulation that the Commission has succeeded in bringing to light such knowledge of the real nature of the disease as may serve as the basis of preventive measures. The scientific investigation, however, still needs to be carried on-further enquiries must be conducted before the cause and nature of the disease can be considered as fully and completely known.

On his departure Colonel Bruce left Dr. Nabarro and Captain Greig (who had joined the Commission on the instructions of the Government of India), still at work. Dr. Nabarro is returning home immediately; indeed, has by this time probably left Uganda, the term for which he engaged himself having expired. Captain Greig, it is believed, will be able to continue the investigation for some time longer, pro- bably another year. It seems most desirable for many reasons that Captain Greig should not be left to continue the work single-handed: and Colonel Bruce states. that in all probability a young officer (Lieutenant) of the Royal Army Medical Corps could be found willing and able to continue the enquiry under Captain Greig,

The resources of the Royal Society available for the purposes of this investigation being now exhausted, I am to suggest to you the desirability of appointing such a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps, who could be seconded for the purpose as one of the additional medical officers on special service, for which I understand you obtained a grant from His Majesty's Treasury last spring. It is essential that such a person should be able to devote his whole time to the investigation; the work which still needs to be done is more than can be accomplished by Captain Greig alone, or with such occasional assistance as the Bacteriologist recently appointed to the Protectorate might be able to give him. The latter gentleman will of necessity be engaged in various more or less general duties, the due accomplishment of which would be incompatible with continued labours at the special investigation of the Sleeping Sickness.

May I be allowed to add that while the definite object of the Commission was to study Sleeping Sickness, the observations made during the course of the enquiry

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