WAVES OF ILLNESS

Hokitika Guardian, 13 May 1929, Page 7

WAVES OF ILLNESS

DANGERS OF INFLUENZA. Sir Ronald Ross, uiiector-in-chicf ol tlie i.tuss institute and Hospital at Putney, Lomuii, the eminent authority on irupu.iil Uisc.ises, discussing roicnuy Uio decision, oi tlie British Museum trustees tu accept iiis historic vio.iev.iiun ol sciential* nu.iiuserip.s alia corresp iiiteiue J recent, y pa renamed by Ukiy iiuiioLon and oucred by nor tu tne iifiiocuin,, revealed mat Ik js now wm*u,iig on auu ex.ending a -»iaUiematie;,l j iiebry ol Happening, a in,.n dcinmisiraius mathematically ..ne incidence ol influenza and othei epiuemie fopuris me Sunday iillivS . i, V d o may be able,” said Sir Ronald, “Viimuiit >»a.ting to learn jiiot ivlia. ■nnucnza is, to discover a method ©i preventing it, just as we prevent yellow lever only by knowing flow it is carried. My own theory has always neon ihaL influenza and colds general. y are carried by sneezing.” Sir Ronald, discussing ins Theory oi Happen,ngs, said: “A ‘happening’ is an eveiu that happens to a proportion of the public while the nature of the public itself is changing by death rate and birth rale, by emigration and immigration. You have to estimate what will be the number of people affected in a population at the end of a given time. “The dates of waves of illness may be anticipated. I invented this method some years fig.;*. It is, to give it the right name, a. hypothetical method of studying epidemics, and it will assist the worn ol prevention in such an epidemic as influenza. lam n.nv extending the theory,* with the assistance of Dr Hilda P. Hudson. “ We do not yet know what influenza is, but Drs David and Robert Thompson have published in the Lancet the results of important investigations. They have studied one particular type of bacillus, which consists of hundreds of species.’’ The decision of the British Museum Trustees to accept the Ross collection has been mainly due to the plea of the Ross Institute that the archives of their director might be housed at Putney. fcio far from objecting,” Sir Ronald said, “J think it is a great honour taut my archives go to the Museum. Mr Gilson, ' Keeper of Manuscripts, has written to me asking that they limy be sent for inspection and acceptance. They will be always accessible to students there, and 1 am proud that they should be a national possession.”

Sir Rona.d has a special. automatic stamp which is being used to number all the documents in sequence. He has also added explanatory notes to many of the manuscripts, and to some ol the letters from famous scientists concerning the researches which led to his great discovery of the cause of malaria. Ihe Nizam of Hyderabad’s recent gift of £IOOO to a direct consequence. Sir Ronald stated, of the anti-malaria mission of his assistant, Sir Malcolm Watson, and Major Stevens, the secretary of tne Institute, who are at present advising th© Native Governments of India on tlie prevention of malaria. “There are most cheering signs of an awakening in India to the immense importance of subduing malaria/’ he said. “The yearly toll of lives claimed by malaria is more than that of the World War. During the last 30 years neglect to take the right measures on the part of the British Government in India has cost many milieus of lives. The local authorities, however, are now beginning to do excellent work. Sonic of the Indian workers are very capable men. They are of a much finer type than the old, rather fat, and lazy 1 Balm.’ Jhe schemes being laid down for fighting malaria follow in general the lines on which Malcolm. Watson practically cleared British Malaya of malaria. “It is suggested now that Sir Mal(**>lm Watson shall visit Kenya Colony on his way back from India, to investigate tlie malaria problem there. During lii.s visit to Kenya the Prince of Wales interested himself in the subject, and be reminded the local authorities that ns patron of the Ross Institute he Imped that they would he enabled to make use of the knowledge at fTreir disposal, and so* remove the chief obstacle to the progress of Kenya.”