Feb , 1917.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, xxix 



have long thought that if a cure was discovered for trypano- 

 somiasis it would very probably be also effective in kala-azar. 

 and consequently have carefully watched for some years the 

 work on the African disease. At first arsenical preparation- 

 promised well, but they proved to be either too toxic or too 

 temporary in their effects, and they have also failed in kala- 

 azar. More recently antimony preparations have proved to be 

 of value in trypanosomiasis, and nearly two and a half years 

 ago I decided to tr}' 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 disability which will end when the Carmichael 

 Hospital for Tropical Diseases is opened. Eventually I obtained 

 the facilities I required, and soon saw reason to believe that 

 the drug was proving effective. Imagine my disappointment 

 when I read that two Italian doctors had recorded successes in 

 the treatment of the African form of kala-azar with the very 

 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 Service. At any rate I am now in 

 the happy position of being able to say that, thanks to the kind 

 help of Captain N. H. Hume and Lt. -Colonel O'Kinealy, no 

 less than twenty -five consecutive cases of kala-azar, including 

 three children, have been successfully treated in the European 

 General Hospital by my method, and the most deadly common 

 disease of India, if not of the world, has now been largely con- 

 quered both as regards prevention and cure, perhaps more com- 

 pletely than any other highly lethal disease known, as a direct 

 result of the researches of the last twenty years. 



In conclusion I cannot resist this opportunity of pointing 

 the moral, namely that no greater benefit 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 

 when the terrible war is over w r e 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. 



— 



The President announced the election of Officers and 

 Members of Council for the year 1917 to be as follow : 



President : 

 H. H. Havden. Esq., CUE., D.Sc, B.A.. B.A.T., F.G.S., 



F.A.B.B., F.R.S. 



