Papers relating to the investigation of malaria and other tropical diseases and the establishment of schools of tropical medicine.

  • Great Britain. Colonial Office.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Papers relating to the investigation of malaria and other tropical diseases and the establishment of schools of tropical medicine. 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.

    10/44 (page 10)
    26. While these gentlemen were at work in the. investigation of malaria in Africa, it was suggested by Dr. Manson in January, 1900, that, in view of the results which Italian medical experts had already achieved in the way of preventing malaria by the use of mosquito netting, the experiment should be tried of erecting in some notoriously malarious spot in the Roman Campagna a hut specially desig-ned to exclude mosquitoes, and that two observers, sent out from this country, should live in the hut during the night throughout the malarious season, the activity of the malaria-bearing mosquito being mainly confined to the night-time. He asked for a sum of £500 from Govern- ment funds to cover the cost of the experiment, excluding the expenses of one of the two observers, who would be sent by the London School of Tropical Medicine. This sum was allowed from the funds at the disposal of the ]\lalaria Committee and was subsequently supplemented by a further sum of £l50 ; a mosquito-proof hut was constructed under Dr. Hanson's directions and sent out to Ttaly in May, 1900 ; and the two observers. Dr. Sambon and Dr. Low, started in the same month for Rome where they received every assistance from the Italian authorities. They remained at the hut in good health throughout the malarious season, sending periodical reports, and returned at its close, having established beyond dispute that protection against mosquitoes carries with it immunity from malaria. Mosquitoes which were sent to England from the same district during their sojourn, were found to convey malaria to healthy subjects in this country. 27. I have stated that one of the two observers in this instance, viz. : Dr. Low, was sent by the London School of Tropical Medicine, holding a travelling scholarship, which was established by Mr. J. G. Craggs, M.Y.O., in connexion with the school for three years from the 1st of January, 1900. Dr. Low subsequently visited the West Indies and Uganda, carrying out research work in connexion with filariasis and sleeping sick- ness, and making recommendations of practical value as to the sanitary conditions of the places which he visited. I understand that he is held to have conclusively demonstrated that Filaria Nocturna, like the malaria parasite, is conveyed by mosquito bite. This reference to Dr. Low's work is made in order to illustrate the fact that the services of the London School of Tropical Medicine have not been confined to teaching, but have also included research of a valuable kind. Encour.'iged by these and similar researches, the Committee of management now desire to found two Travelling Scholar- ships with a salary of £300 a year each, so that investigations can be carried on con- tinuously in more than one direction. I should mention here that a laboratory for the investigation of tropical disease has been established at Kuala Lumpor in the Federated Malay States, and that the Federal Government have provided the necessary funds for the salaries of a Director and two assistants. An arrangement has been made by which the Medical Superintendent and Tutor of the London School and the Director of the laboratory at Kuala Lumpor are to replace each other for certain periods, and there is every reason to hope that this system of interchange will be attended by good results as regards both teaching efficiency and research. 28. Ha^dng thus alluded to some of the research work which has been carried out under the guidance of the London School, I now wish to call attention to the work which has been done in this respect by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. The answer to my first circular letter to the principal medical schools of the United King- dom, which was received from the Dean of the Medical Faculty of the Victoria University, Liverpool, pointed out that there were exceptional facilities in the hospitals of Liverpool for the study of tropical diseases, and stated that arrangements had been made for the deli^'ery of special lectures on this branch of medicine. At the beginning of 1<S99 I was advised that a Liverpool School of Tropical Diseases was being established in connection with Universit}' College and the Royal Southern Hospital in that city, and was asked that, in addition to formally recognising the certificate given by the school. Government should contribute an annual grant towards its maintenance and a lump sum towards a building scheme. It was explained in reply that, as Imperial and Colonial subscriptions had been recently invited for the London School of Tropical Medicine and the Malarial Investigation Commission, it would not be possible at that time to invite further subscriptions for similar objects in Liverpool, I was then pressed to consent that the specified course of training for neA\ ly-ai)pointed Colonial medical officers might be given indifferently in either London or Liver[)ool, thus placing the Liverpool School, as far as Government recognition was concerned, on exactly the same level as the school in London. As already stated, I declined at first to modify the existing scheme, which had been carefully thought out before being approved, preferring to wait until it had