June 7, 19 17] 



NATURE 



299 



fortunate enough to succeed in cultivating this proto- 

 zoal parasite in test-tubes under certain conditions 

 and in watching the minute spleen form develop into 

 a long flagellate organism resembling one of the stages 

 of a trypanosome, but which further study showed to 

 belong to the closely allied herpetomonas. This 

 discovery gave the required clue to the nature 

 and probable life-history of the parasite, as similarly 

 organisms are found naturally in the digestive canals 

 of certain flies, indicating that the infection is probably 

 insect-borne. I spent the next year in studying the 

 conditions favourable to the growth of the parasite 

 in cultures, and for reasons into which I have not time 

 to go I came to the conclusion that the homely bed- 

 bug is the carrier of the disease. The fact which had 

 by this time been established by Dr. Dodds Price, 

 that two to four hundred yards is a sufficient distance 

 to remove healthy lines from infected ones, is sufficient 

 to exclude a flying insect such as a mosquito. At 

 this time Major Patton, of the Bacteriological 

 Department, was placed on special duty to work 

 at the subject in Madras. After some two 

 years' work he obtained a development of the 

 parasite up to the flagellate stage in the digestive 

 canal of bed-bugs fed on kala-azar patients with the 

 parasites in their blood. Lt.-Col. Cornwall has 

 recently confirmed these experiments, and although 

 the final proof of communicating the disease by means 

 of infected bed-bugs has not yet been furnished (ex- 

 periments on human beings, such as were carried out 

 in the case of malaria, not being justifiable in the 

 deadly kala-azar), stili the evidence incriminating these 

 insects is suflSciently weighty to make it desirable to 

 wage war upon them wherever the disease is present. 

 Coco-nut oil applied to the runs of the bugs on walls, 

 and to the_ buttons of mattresses, etc., where they 

 often hide, is a useful measure for this purpose. As 

 these _ insects can live for months without food, the 

 way in which the infection clings to houses is well 

 explained on my theorj- that thev are the carriers of the 

 disease. 



Lastly, I come to the most important discovery re- 

 garding kala-azar, namely, that of a trustworthy 'cure 

 of this formerly very deadly disease. Antimony prepara- 

 tions have proved to be of value in trj'panosomiasis, 

 and nearly two and a half years ago I decided to try- 

 intravenous injections of tartar emetic in kala-azar. 

 Unfortunately, just at that moment I had no clinical 

 facilities for testing my idea, and for six months I 

 carried about sterile capsules of tartar emetic without 

 being able to use them, a disabilitv which will end 

 when the Carmichael Hospital for' tropical diseases 

 IS opened. Eventually I obtained the facilities I re- 

 quired, and soon saw reason to believe that the drug 

 was proving effective. Imagine my disappointment 

 when I read that tvfo Italian doctors had recorded 

 successes in the treatment of the African form of kala- 

 azar with, the verv^ drug I was using in Calcutta, 

 although the fact that I had independently discovered 

 the treatment will save some of the credit for the 

 Indian Medical Sen-ice. At any rate, I am now in the 

 happv position of being able to say that, thanks to 

 the kmd help of Capt. H. N. Hume and Lt.-Col. 

 O Kinealy. no fewer than twenty-five consecutive 

 cases of kala-azar, including three children, have 

 ^n _ successfully treated in the European General 

 Hospital by this method, and the most deadly disease 

 of India, if not of the world, has now been largely 

 conquered, as regards both prevention and cure, per- 

 haps more completely than any other highly lethal 

 disease known, as a direct result of the researches 

 ot the last twenty years. 



In conclusion I cannot resist this onnortunity of 

 pointing the moral, namely, that no greater benefit 



NO. 2484, VOL. 99] 



can arise than from successful medical research, and 

 that no better use can be made of wealth than in 

 endowing such research for the benefit of the present 

 and all future generations. Bengal, and I would 

 add Bihar, have already nobly responded to my appeal 

 for endowments for the Calcutta School of Tropical 

 Medicine, and w-hen the terrible war is over we 

 :,hope to have at least nine research workers in the 

 new laboratories, instead of one poor man with routine 

 professorial duties devoting such time as he can 

 snatch to medical research. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 Cambridge. — Dr. A. E. Shipley, F.R.S., master of 

 Christ's College, has been elected Vice-Chancellor for 

 the next academical year. 



Oxford. — A decree passed by Convocation on June 5 

 provides for the suspension of the Romanes lectureship 

 until October 9, 1917, the moneys consequently un- 

 disposed of to be transferred to the Emergency Relief 

 Fund of the University. 



On the same day statutes passed Congregation em- 

 powering the board of the faculty of medicine to recog- 

 nise certain examinations in natural science, and provid- 

 ing for the further promotion of higher studies in the 

 University, with special reference to the proposed new 

 degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The statutes respect- 

 ing boards of electors to professorships were amended" 

 in some particulars. 



Mr. T. R. Glover, fellow of St. John's College, Cam- 

 bridge, has been appointed Wilde lecturer in natural 

 and comparative religion for three years from October 

 10, 1917. 



Prof. Emile Boutroux. Membre de I'lnstitut de 

 France et de I'Acad^mie Fran^aise. has been appointed 

 Herbert Spencer lecturer for 19 17. 



Two courses of free public lectures have just been 

 commenced at the School of Oriental Studies, London 

 Institution, Finsbur}- Circus, E.C.2. One course, on 

 "Religion in India and China," is being delivered by 

 Dr. T. W, Rhys Davids, and the remaining lectures 

 will be given on Tuesdays, June 12, 19, and 26; the 

 other course, on "The Way to Buddhahood," by Prof, 

 de la Vallee Poussin, is being delivered on Thursdays, 

 June 7, 14, 21, and 28. The lectures begin at 5.30 

 in each case. 



The President of the Board of Education has ap- 

 pointed a Departmental Committee to inquire into the 

 principles which should determine the construction 

 of scales of salary for teachers in elementan,- schools, 

 due regard being had to locality, duties, qualifications, 

 sex, and other considerations consistent with the 

 organisation of the teaching service throughout the 

 country, on a system conducive to the efficiency of 

 national education. The committee will be at libert}- 

 to illustrate any system of scales which it recom- 

 mends by such specific sums of money as it thinks 

 fit; but it is not asked to consider the question 

 of the amounts by which existing scales of salary 

 should be improved in particular areas, or the sources 

 from which the amounts required for that purpose 

 should be provided. The members of the committee 

 are: — Sir H. L. Stephen (chairman), Miss M. M. 

 \llan, Mr. J. W. Alsop. Dr..H. B. Brackenbury, Miss 

 I. Cleghorn. Mr. C. W. Crook, Mr. W. R. Davies. 

 C.B.. Miss I. A. Dickson. H.M.I., Mr. A. J. Flavell. 

 Mr. H. Mellish, Mr. H. Pearson, Mr. A. R, Pickles, 



