BERI-BERI

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quarters to supply him with the same facilities of equip-ment as are already enjoyed by his confreres of the militantservices.

NETLEY AND HASLAR.

The Principal Medical Officer at Netley has recently issueda return showing the number of cases of tropical diseasesavailable for instruction at the Royal Victoria Hospital.Full statistics were furnished enumerating the numberof patients suffering from tropical disease who were

admitted during the years from 1892 to 1898 (toNov. 30th) inclusive. The figures show that whilst theclinical material for teaching beri-beri is clearly insufficient(this being naturally due to the fact that Europeans rarelysuffer from this disease), the advantages offered in otherforms of tropical disease are much greater than in any otherhospital in Europe. The numbers of cases of ague and remit-tent fever in 1897 were 176 and 25 respectively, and in1898 they were 402 and 83. In 1897 there were 33 instancesof hepatic disease, and in 1898 (to Nov. 30th) there were86 cases of "inflammation of the liver " and 20 of "otherhepatic diseases." A large number of cases of "simplecontinued fever and of ’’ Mediterranean fever " were alsounder treatment. The return shows that there is in Netleya well-equipped and in every way suitable establishmentfor instructing our Royal Army Medical Corps and IndianMedical Service in the way to diagnose and treat many ofthe conditions that they will later be called upon to face.The Royal Naval Hospital at Haslar is also being brought toa high condition of educational efficiency.

THE LONDON SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, ALBERTDOCK.

This school, which is in connexion with the hospitalsof the Seamen’s Hospital Society, has been foundedunder the auspices of the Colonial Office and is intendedto supply colonial medical officers with the advantagesthat are enjoyed by the workers at Netley and Haslar. Thescientific side of the work will, we are sure, be thoroughlywell done, but there is some doubt as to the amount ofclinical material that will be available.The winter session will commence on Monday, Oct. 2nd,

when the new school will be formally open for students. A

travelling Scholarship of f.300 will be offered to studentsof the school. Lectures on Tropical Medicine, TropicalHygiene, and Surgery in the Tropics will be delivered duringthe winter, summer, and autumn sessions, and the laboratory,museum, and library will be open daily.

Clinical instruction will be given daily in the wards of thehospitals and special arrangements are to be made for theaccommodation of those who may desire to reside on the

premises. For prospectus, syllabus, and other particularsapply to the secretary, Mr. P. Michelli, Seamen’s Hospital,Greenwich, S.E.

INSTRUCTION IN TROPICAL MEDICINE AT KING’S COLLEGE,LONDON.

It was at first believed, when the Colonial Office werepublicly associated with the School of Tropical Medicineto be established at Albert Dock, that the officers selectedfor the Colonial Medical Service would have to receive theirinstruction solely at the Albert Dock Branch of the Seamen’sHospital, but early this year a letter from Mr. Chamberlainto the Principal of King’s College, London, which we pub-lished in THE LANCET, showed this to be a wrong inference.The Colonial Office state that in selecting candidates for theColonial Medical Service preference will be given to thosemedical men who have received such bacteriological or

similar special training as King’s College provides, but thatwhen candidates have been definitely selected they will berequired to attend at the School of Tropical Medicine which isbeing established at the Albert Dock Branch of the Seamen’sHospital. This is a considerable departure from the position first put before the public, as now no fully equippedgeneral bateriological laboratory will be needed at AlbertDock but merely one for the purposes of clinical investiga-tion and research in tropical diseases. A large waste ofpublic money will thus be avoided, while it is open for anymedical school, metropolitan or provincial, to offer to intend-ing colonial practitioners instruction that will count later intheir chances of selection for an appointment. Informationwith regard to the bacteriological courses at King’s College,London, under the supervision of Professor Crookshank, canbe obtained on application at the College.

THE LIVERPOOL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE.This school was inaugurated under fortunate auspices on

April 22nd of this year by Lord Lister. At the annualdinner of the Royal Southern Hospital in November, 1898,Mr. Alfred L. Jones, a prominent Liverpool citizen andWest Africa merchant, made an offer of £350 a year to starta school in Liverpool for the study of tropical diseases.The offer was made in the presence of Professor RubertBoyce of University College, Liverpool, and Dr. WilliamAlexander of the Royal Southern Hospital. Mr. WilliamAdamson, the president of the Royal Southern Hospital,accepted the generous offer on condition that UniversityCollege, Liverpool, and the Royal Southern Hospital should,be united in the undertaking. This condition was cordiallyacquiesced in by Professor Glazebrook, at that time theprincipal of the College. The great interest subsequentlytaken in the project by Mr. Alfred L. Jones, aided by the’indomitable energy of Professor Boyce, resulted in subscrip-tions and donations coming in from all quarters towards theexpenses of the proposed school. To those two gentlemen,warmly supported by the committee and medical staff of theRoyal Southern Hospital, is due the establishment of theLiverpool School of Tropical Diseases. The management ofthe school is in the hands of a strong committee, of which Mr.Alfred L. Jones is the chairman and Mr. William Adamsonis the vice-chairman. The committee also consists of dulyappointed representatives of University College, Liverpool,the Royal Southern Hospital, the Liverpool Chamber ofCommerce, the Steamship Owners’ Association, and the Ship-owners’ Association. A sum of over £1700 has already beenpromised, partly in annual subscriptions and partly indonations, in support of the school, but more pecuniarysupport is urgently needed if the practical work alreadybegun is to be maintained at its excellent level. A largefloor in the Royal Southern Hospital has been set apart fortropical cases. The floor includes a cheerful ward containing12 beds now fully occupied, also an extensive laboratory forthe examination of blood, urine, faeces, &c., and furnished withthe apparatus applicable to modern research. ProfessorBoyce superintends the pathological department of the school,with Dr. Annett as pathological demonstrator. The com-mittee have been fortunate in securing the services of MajorRonald Ross, 1.M.S., as special lecturer on tropical diseases. ,

The number of malarial cases treated in Liverpool in 1898amounted to 294. In the previous year there were 242 casesof malaria, 14 of beri-beri, 30 of dysentery, and 39 of tropicalansemia. With the means of instruction in the varied formsof tropical diseases thus afforded there will be no need forLiverpool students to proceed to London to obtain that whichis ready to hand at their own doors. The authorities of theLiverpool School of Tropical Medicine have lost no time ingetting to real work.

THE JENNER INSTITUTE OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE.Facilities are also given at the Jenner Institute of

Preventive Medicine for acquiring a knowledge of the

bacteriology of tropical disease and the methods of worklikely to be of practical value in their diagnosis and

treatment.BERI-BERI.

THE Royal Society has received through Mr. SecretaryChamberlain the following memorandum by the Governor ofthe Straits Settlements :-

MEMORANDUM.The Government of the Straits Settlements desires to invite the

attention of Radcliffe’s travelling fellows and of holders of scholar-ships for medical and physical research to the study of the tropicaldisease called beri-beri. This disease caused in the hospitals of thecolony 730 deaths in 1896 and 692 in 1897. This Government will beglad to assist any scholar who desires to engage in the scientificinvestigation of this disease in the colony by providing him withfurnished quarters, rent free, by giving him free access to all thehospitals and facilities for studying the cases therein, by defrayingthe cost of his passage to the colony, and in any way which maybeagreed upon hereafter between the scholar and the undersigned.

By command of the Governor,J. A. SwETTENHAM, Colonial Secretary, S.S.

Colonial Secretary’s Office, Singapore, July 20th, 1899.It may be added that Dr. Hamilton Wright, late of

Montreal, has recently been appointed pathologist to theStraits Settlements. He will be provided with an adequatelaboratory, on the furnishing of which he is now engaged.The opportunities for pathological research will therefore beextensive.