FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN TROPICAL MEDICINE 2) 



tery, and more especially to the presuppurative stage of amoebic 

 hepatitis by Rogers from 1909 onwards. Later Vedder in the 

 Philippine Islands studied its action on entamoebae, and Rogers 

 devised the clinical application of the drug by subcutaneous injec- 

 tion, which to-day is used as the correct treatment of that form of 

 dysentery and its complications. 



Thymo\ — Bozzolo, in 1880, was the first to introduce this drug 

 for the treatment of ankylostomiasis. He obtained satisfactory 

 results which have been confirmed all over the world. 



Prophylaxis. — ^The knowledge of the causal agent and its method 

 of dissemination have enabled reasoned and scientific methods of 

 prophylaxis to be devised and carried out, of which perhaps the 

 most striking is that performed in Panama by Gorgas. 



It is to be hoped that in years to come these methods will be 

 extended, and that many diseases at present hampering civilization 

 will cease to be terrors; indeed, the present war has amply proved 

 the wisdom of prophylactic and sanitary measures, especially the 

 polyvalent prophylactic treatment against the enteric fevers, 

 cholera, and other diseases, and it is to be hoped that now the 

 war is over international action will be taken all over the world 

 to combat disease. 



Research. — Notwithstanding the fact that so much has been done 

 to elucidate disease, still there is a great field for research, and one 

 of the direct blessings of the recent war will be the stirring up of 

 Governments to provide funds for this work, which should never 

 be left, as it used to be, entirely, or almost entirely, to individual 

 generosity. 



The State and Tropical Medicine.— Tropical medicine has been 

 fortunate in that at the commencement of modern tropical medicine 

 there was at the head of the British Colonial Office a far-seeing and 

 exceedingly wise statesman — Mr. Joseph Chamberlain — who clearly 

 realized the duties of the State in regard to the formation of Schools 

 of Tropical Medicine in London and Liverpool, and of the founda- 

 tion of laboratories in British Colonies. This policy, continued and 

 extended under the auspices of the Advisory Committee of the 

 Tropical Diseases Research Fund, has produced the Tropical 

 Diseases Bulletin and other publications of great value. 



The example set by the British Government has been followed by 

 those of other countries, and to-day all over the world the State 

 supports tropical medicine. 



In many tropical countries, however, it appears to us that the 

 State should exercise more authority over the medical practitioner, 

 native or modern trained ; that registers of such practitioners should 

 be kept, and that this should not be confined to medical practice 

 only, but also to dental and veterinary work. 



The War and Tropical Medicine. — The recent war has dis- 

 seminated tropical diseases in such a manner that many of 

 them may become cosmopolitan. The Anophelines of England 

 have now a chance to become infected with malaria, and, 



