THE ROYAL SOCIETY AND THE STATE 



mittee the Society itself took the initiative. An outbreak 

 in Uganda of the disease, appalling in its inexorable deadli- 

 ness, known as " Sleeping Sickness/' having been brought 

 to the knowledge of the Society, a deputation waited upon 

 Lord Lansdowne at the Foreign Office, asking him to con- 

 sider favourably the despatch of a small Commission to 

 Uganda to investigate the disease. He gave his approval, 

 and a Commission of three experts, appointed on the 

 recommendation of the Committee, was sent out to Uganda, 

 600 being voted out of the Government grant towards the 

 expenses of the Commission. 



The investigations in tropical diseases, promoted and 

 directed by these Committees, have largely increased our 

 knowledge of the true nature of these diseases, and, what is 

 of the highest practical importance, they have shown that 

 their propagation depends upon conditions which it is in 

 the power of man so far to modify, or guard against, as to 

 afford a reasonable expectation that it may be possible for 

 Europeans to live and carry on their work in parts of the 

 earth where hitherto the sacrifice of health, and even of 

 life, has been fearfully great. A general summary of the 

 work already done on Malaria, especially in regard to its 

 prevention, and also on the nature of " Blackwater " Fever, 

 has been published in a parliamentary paper, which records 

 Mr. Chamberlain's acknowledgment to the Royal Society 

 for its co-operation in the work undertaken by the Colonial 

 Office. Our Reports on Sleeping Sickness up to this time 



form four parts of a separate publication giving evidence in 



82 



