First report of the Wellcome Research Laboratories at the Gordon Memorial College, Khartoum / by Andrew Balfour.

  • Balfour, Andrew.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: First report of the Wellcome Research Laboratories at the Gordon Memorial College, Khartoum / by Andrew Balfour. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    1 INTRODUCTION 9 ready, and considering everything it was not so very long before they were completed. Material for examination in the shape of diseased dura plants and pathological specimens were sent in thus early, and the laboratory work may be said to date from February 1st, 1903. Mr. NcAvlove arrived and took u]) his duties on April 1st, by which time the rooms were nearing comj^letion and the nucleus of a museum had been formed. The laboratories, as at present constituted, consist of a suite of five rooms, i.e.^ a kitchen for the prejDaration of culture media and for the general rough work, separate bacteriological and chemical rooms, a chamber specially prepared as a photographic dark room and cold storage room, and a museum room. Adjoining these are the Director's office a,nd the Economic and General Museum, with which the laboratories are associated. The whole department is situated on tlie second floor in the east wing of the Gordon College. The rooms, though they unfortunately face the east, are large and commodious, well lighted, and supplied with water from a special well, and -wdth gas generated from an acetylene plant. The woodwork and fittings are executed in English oak and Indian teak, which had been previously baked at a high temperature for several months to season them suitably for the Sudan climate. It is gratifying to be able to report that ah the wood thus treated has passed through the ordeal of a Khartoum summer very satisfactorily. The state of the walls, especially those of the bacteriological room, leaves something to be desired, and there has been considerable delay and annoyance o'^ving to the lack of skiUed labour, the distance from supplies, and the difficulties of transport; but when all is said and done the laboratories have fared none so badly and have received much kind aid from many government officials, both in Khartoum and Cairo, The museum of the laboratories has progressed steadily since its formation. It is primarily devoted to the collection and exhibition of specimens and photographs Museum shewing the diseases of man and animals met with in the Sudan, and maps indicating laboratories their respective distribution. It now contains over a score of mounted specimens illustrative of human pathology and tropical diseases—those of mycetoma, so prevalent in the Sudan, may be specially mentioned, several of veterinary interest, a small collection of skuUs, and what promises to be a very fine and complete set of photogra-phs illustrative of the native diseases of the Sudan, taken by Mr. Tlirstig, Omdurman, for Dr. J. B. Christopherson and kindly presented by the latter. Mr. NewlovQ, who is responsible for most of the photographs illustrating the Report, has also sec}iire.d similar records as opportunity offered. In addition to these exhibits a coUectyn'^as been made of the remedies indigenous to, or used in, the Sudan by the native i^ces. Over a hundred different drugs have been obtained fi'om various parts, some of considerable interest, and to facilitate the study of those of vegetable origin and of poisonous plants employed in the Sudan a plot of ground has been enclosed Formation or a and what may be called a therapeutic garden has been started. This garden is l^^'^^^'^J^^^'''' fed from the laboratory well and contains a water-tight cement tank into which the laboratories' waste-water is conducted. Thus, if necessary, the latter can be