14
REPORT ON THE WORKING OF THE KING INSTITUTE, GUINDY
Madras Government at the fifth Congress of the Far Eastern Association of
Tropical Medicine held at Malaya in September 1923. A report upon the
proceedings was forwarded to Government in my letter No. 5389—31/B, dated
25th October 1923.
A meeting of research workers was held in Calcutta under the presidency of
the Director-General, Indian Medical Service, in October. The Director of the
Institute attended the meeting on behalf of the workers in Madras.
VIII.—DISTINGUISIHED VISITORS.
(1) Professor Dr. T. R. Nager Zurich, Switzerland, March 1923.
(2) His Excellency the Viceroy, 11th December 1923.
(3) Dr. Dowden, Principal Medical Officer, Federated Malay States, 10th
January 1924.
(4) Dr. and Mrs. Frederic Peterson of New York, United States of America.
(5) Sir Gilbert T. Walker, Imperial Meteorologist.
IX— CONCLUSION.
The present annual report is the fifth written since the termination of the
Great War. As the period also coincides with the tenure of the present Director,
it may be of interest to summarize briefly the progress which has been made since
that time. In spite of the inevitable retrenchment and want of funds, the King
Institute has expanded out of all recognition. The vaccine lymph and the
microbiological sections remain but the old serum section has been merged into
the microbiological section, and a new section, the Public Health section, has been
created.
The great expansion of the work of the Institute has called for a complete
reorganization of the scientific staff. The necessary changes were sanctioned in
G.O. Mis. No. 1542, P.H., dated 10th November 1922, and were introduced immedi
-
ately afterwards. The Institute now employs 165 men as opposed to 117 in 1919.
The advance in scientific methods has also called for numerous innovations and
extensions in buildings. Sanction for these improvements has been accorded and
plans and estimates are already far advanced. The new scheme involves the
purchase of extra land for the grazing and proper quarantine arrangements for
calves, a new operating theatre for the vaccine section with the necessary
adjuncts and sheds for finished calves. The changes in the main building of the
Institute consist of alterations which will increase the laboratory space from the
present 7 to 14 laboratories. Additional store rooms and offices and houses for
the whole of the staff with the necessary additions for lighting and sewage are
also contemplated.
The Institute can claim a good record of work done during the period under
review. The problem of the manufacture of a potent vaccine lymph which was so
serious in 1919 as to make Government consider the possibility of having to erect
a new Institute in a more suitable situation has now been definitely and
satisfactorily solved and it is now hoped that the Madras Presidency which has
shown the lowest success rate for vaccine operations in India for many years may
once more take up her original position.
In the microbiological section large, scale manufacture of bacterial vaccines
on approved lines has been introduced and the staff is now so trained and
organized that an almost indefinite expansion in this direction can take place
should another emergency such as the epidemic of influenza arise.
In the Public Health section after three years of strenuous work and experimen
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tation on the Madras water-supply, definite conclusions have been reached and
this problem may now be considered definitely solved.
The appointment of the Public Analyst opens up a completely new field of
work which is even now rapidly expanding.
By the institution of permanent mobile investigation units, the Institute has
led the way in India in extending scientific investigation and advice to the