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dental technology is available for students in Government employment and evening classes are held in the Hong Kong Technical College for technicians in private employment. Three dental surgery assistants are under training for dental nursing in Penang, Malaysia under World Health Organization Fellowships.

FORENSIC PATHOLOGY

(See tables 36-37)

61. The Department of Forensic Pathology consists of a main laboratory in Police Headquarters, Hong Kong, and another laboratory in the Mong Kok Police Station, Kowloon. It deals mainly with the medico-legal work in close association with the Hong Kong Police Force. Since the 1st of July, 1967, the administration and running of both public mortuaries were transferred to the Government Institute of Pathology. Homicidal deaths and deaths from suspicious circumstances still remain within the jurisdiction of the Forensic Pathologists.

62. During the year the Colony was free from deaths caused by natural disasters, but the disturbances resulted in a total of 49 deaths and called for much effort by the Forensic Pathology Service.

GOVERNMENT CHEMICAL LABORATORY

(See table 41)

63. The laboratory was kept very busy throughout the year under review in spite of a fall of some 3,000 samples below the total for the previous year; the number în 1967 being 26,894 as against 30,139 for 1966. This decline in numbers does not represent any general slackening in the demand for the services of the laboratory. The difference in the total number of samples is partly due to a drop of over 4,000 Dangerous Drugs samples submitted by the Police Department and the curtailment of normal activities of many Government Departments during the 1967 disturbances.

64. On the other hand there was a large increase of nearly 1,000 samples from the Police Department under the heading "Forensic". Some of this increase was due to a drive in the latter half of the year against the illicit sale of Scheduled Poisons and in particular 'pep pills", but most of the increase came from the very numerous examinations carried out on explosive, corrosive, and inflammable substances under the Emergency Regulations.

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65. Under the heading 'Pharmaceutical Examinations" are included checks on dispensing carried out by the official pharmacists and also on tender samples, and supplies of drugs purchased by Government. The latter work has now been in progress for over two years, and this service has proved very worthwhile. The assurance of quality which it gives has enabled Government tendering to be carried out on a much more competitive basis, and large savings in official spending have resulted.

GOVERNMENT INSTITUTE OF PATHOLOGY

(See tables 38-40)

66. The number of examinations for the year under review exceeded slightly that of the previous year and was mainly due to increased number of tests in Haematology, Blood Bank work and Bacteriology.

Morbid Anatomy and Histology

67. Beginning from 1st July, 1967 work in both Victoria and Kowloon Public Mortuaries was done by pathologists from this Institute. Paid consultation work for the year totalled 761 cases which was double that of the previous year. The completed work on pancreatic clonorchiasis was published in the Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology. 1967. Investigations in progress are: histological typing of salivary gland tumours; ductal changes in recurrent pyogenic cholangitis; histological changes of the nasopharynx after radiotherapy in cases of nasopharyn geal carcinoma and modifications for Mallory's phosphotungstic acid haematoxylin stain.

Haematology and Serology and Blood Bank

68. The acquisition of a refrigerated centrifuge has resulted in better and more efficient production of fresh frozen plasma for cases of haemophilia. Using this centrifuge trials conducted to prepare cryopre- cipitate were encouraging. The use of starch-gel instead of paper clectrophoresis has greatly improved the detection of abnormal hacmo- globin. Cytogenetic studies of clinical cases may be possible in future, if preliminary work on chromosome preparation works out smoothly. More specific serological diagnosis of syphilis using the fluorescent antibody technic is now being worked out following the demonstration by Dr. NEILSEN who visited the Institute in November 1967.

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