February, 1917. ' Anntl Address. \\\ 



able work in their respective lines. Death has deprived us of 

 no less than four of our Honorary Fellows — Monsieur Rene 



Zieller, Sir William Ramsay, Sir Clements Markham, and Sir 



William Turner; while Dr. Boulenger has been elected to fill 

 one of the vacancies. Before leaving this part of my address I 

 must not omit to mention the excellent work of our llonorar; 

 Treasurer. Mr. R. D. Mehta, CLE., and our hard-working 

 Honorary Secretary Dr. Gravely, who have borne the burden 

 and heat of the da v. 



Twenty Years" Research on Kala-Azar, 



I have chosen the subject of twenty years' research on 

 kala-azar for the main portion of my address to-night, both 

 because of the great importance of this disease in a large area 

 of India, and on account of the ignorance of the general public 

 regarding it. Most people have fairly definite ideas about 

 malaria and cholera, but few have any regarding the far more 

 deadly and insidious kala-azar, which on account of its ex- 

 tremely high mortality and the painfully lingering nature of 

 the disease, is without doubt the most terrible scourge occur- 

 ring in India. It is now over twenty years since I was for- 

 tunate enough, when with less than three years' service, to be 

 selected to carry out the second investigation of the Assam 

 epidemic of kala-azar, and it has never ceased from that time 

 to occupy my thoughts, although my opportunities for continu- 

 ing my researches on it. have sometimes been more limited 

 than f should have liked. Fortunately I have been able to 

 discover how to prevent the spread of the disease, and also 

 independently to find a cure for it. The time therefore seems 

 to be ripe for giving a brief popular summary of the progress 

 which has been made in our knowledge of kala-azar through 

 the researches of the last twenty years, which has resulted 

 in a very great degree of success both as regards the prevention 



and the cure of the disease, although some links in the chain 

 of infection remain to be forged. 



In the first place I wish to remove a misconception which 

 I find is commonly prevalent among the public, namely that 

 kala-azar and black-water fever are the same disease or at least 

 intimately related. It is true that some years ago a high 

 medical authority did make such a suggestion on theoretical 

 grounds, but I did not think any medical man now holds that 

 view. As a matter of fact it would be difficult to imaging two 

 more widely different conditions than the lingering kala-azar 

 and the short sharp black water fever complication of malaria 

 which ends in death or recovery within a very few days. I 

 should perhaps mention that some theorists hold that black - 

 water fever is a distinct disease, but most authorities with much 

 practical experience in tropical countries agree that it is but 

 a complication of malaria, with which view I am in agreement 



