Sessional_Paper_1903 — Page 295

50--6.6.03.

HONGKONG.

REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT BACTERIOLOGIST, FOR THE YEAR 1902.

Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor.

GOVERNMENT PUBLIC MORTUARY,

HONGKONG, April 14th, 1903.

SIR,-I have the honour to submit my report for the year 1902.

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

The Honourable

WILLIAM HUNTER.

No. 20

1903

J. M. ATKINSON, M.B.,

Principal Civil Medical Officer,

etc., etc., etc.

SIR, I have the honour to submit, for the information of His Excellency the Governor, the following Report on the work done in the Bacteriological Department during the year 1902.

As there

I arrived in the Colony from London on the 27th February, 1902, was no Bacteriological Laboratory in the Colony, and no suitable place for the immediate establishment of such, the Principal Civil Medical Officer proposed that I should be allowed to establish, temporarily, a Laboratory in the Kennedy Town Infectious Diseases Hospital. This suggestion I gladly availed myself of, and with the assistance of Dr. THOMSON, the Medical Officer in charge of that Institution, I was able to obtain part of the office and dispensary of the Hospital for laboratory accommodation.

A serious drawback to the inunediate commencement of my duties was occasioned by the loss, through shipwreck, of the whole of my bacteriological apparatus shortly after it had left London. The Crown Agents for the Colonies were instructed to re-order the apparatus with the least possible delay, but notwithstanding all their efforts, the whole of the apparatus for the equipment of a Bacteriological Laboratory did not arrive in Hongkong until the end of June, 1902, that is to say, about four months after my arrival in the Colony.

In the month of March, the Principal Civil Medical Officer requested that the work at the Government Public Mortuary should be undertaken by me. To this proposal I gladly assented, as much of the work there was of a bacteriological nature, e.g., the examination of cases of plague and cholera. I commenced my duties at the Mortuary on the 20th March, 1902.

Immediately on commencing my duties at the Public Mortuary, a regular system of post-mortem and bacteriological examinations on rats was instituted. The services of four Japanese medical men were obtained in May for this particular work, and all rats found dead or alive in the Colony were regularly examined for plague by these gentlemen, who worked under my direction.

On the 13th of October, 1902, these Japanese doctors returned to Japan, and the services of three qualified Chinese Doctors were obtained. Accordingly on the 14th of October, 1902, Drs. Ho Ko TSUN, LEE YIN SZE, and CHAN FAI KWONG, each of whom had been trained in the Hongkong College of Medicine for Chinese, commenced their duties as assistants in the Bacteriological Department. Dr. Ho