THE COMMONWEALTH SERUM LABORATORIES. 
‘The Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, 
Royal Park, Melbourne. 
By W. J. PENFOLD, M.B., B.Hy. 
Inrropucrion. 
The outbreak of war found Australia very largely dependent for 
vaccines, sera, and other bacteriological products upon importations 
_ from other parts of the world. 
_ In 1918, the value of these products imported into the Common- 
wealth amounted to £15,306, while in the first year of the war only 
£8,406 worth were imported. This decrease in importations was, 
perhaps, partly due to the shortage in shipping facilities during the 
year 1914. The principal cause, however, was probably the fact that 
the Serum Institutes in the rest of the world were required to make 
large quantities of tetanus anti-toxin to supply the needs of the Allied 
_ Armies. 
The shortage of diphtheria anti-toxin became so acute that a depu-- 
tation representing the Victorian Hospitals Supplies Board, and headed 
by Canon Hughes, waited on the Minister for Trade and Customs, to 
urge upon him the desirability of Australia undertaking the preparation 
of therapeutic sera as a national work. 
As a consequence of this deputation, steps were taken to found serum 
laboratories. The Minister requested Dr. Cumpston, the Director of 
Quarantine, to formulate a scheme for their foundation, and the scheme 
propounded by him was adopted. ! 
Advertisements were inserted in the Australian and the British 
medical press, inviting applications for the position of Director of the 
proposed laboratories, with the result that the writer was appointed. 
In order that the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories might be built 
on the most modern lines, and equipped with the latest appliances, and, 
further, in order that their technical work might be up to date, the 
writer was commissioned to visit laboratories in England, France, and 
America, with these ends in view. 
The benefits derived from these vigits were of great assistance in the 
_ establishment of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories. 
Initial Policy—The initial policy of the Commonwealth was to 
provide sera, vaccines, and diagnostic agents for use in Australia. No- 
provision was made for research. Neither was any hospital attached 
to the laboratories in which their products could be clinically tested, so 
that they were to be entirely dependent for clinical reports upon private 
practitioners and hospitals. 3 
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