6
of the main building, in the covered way leading to the side entrance to the
Imperial Bacteriologist's quarters. As a full report was furnished to the
Government of India by the officiating Imperial Bacteriologist, Captain
L. Rogers, M.D., I.M.S., on September 29th, 1899, it will be unnecessary for
me to again bring the details of the occurrence to notice. The site for the
Laboratory was selected in August 1893, but it was not until June 1895 that the
fitting up of the interior of the building was commenced. The furniture and
fittings were manufactured in this country, but the scientific and chemi-
cal apparatus were gradually acquired according to the Budget grant accorded
by Government for the purpose, each year; consequently the Laboratory was
not in working order until late on in the year 1898, at the time of my removal
to the Ramsay Hospital, Naini Tal. All office records together with most of
the books and periodicals in the Laboratory Library on the ground floor were
saved, also a small percentage of the glass-ware, apparatus and stores which
could be handed out through the windows on the basement level. Mr. Kriebel
at great risk to himself salvaged some of the photographic apparatus and
microscopical stands from the burning upper storey, but luckily relaxed his
efforts shortly before the roof fell in. A rough estimate of the loss sustained by
Government, excluding the cost of the building, was returned by the above-
mentioned officer, as about R8,000. Having ordered all the apparatus, etc.,
during the years 1890 to 1898 inclusive, I am in a position to state that R14,000
would be much nearer the exact figure than R8,000.
Up to the present the results of many years' investigation with regard to
the different varieties of Trypanosoma discovered in this country have remained
unpublished, the descriptions recorded having been kept back until Volume
III of the Surra report was completed. It is, therefore, a regretable fact that
the following records deposited in a tin case in the Imperial Bacteriologist's
private room on the upper floor together with cabinets containing microsco-
pical specimens on the upper floor, were destroyed in the general conflagra-
tion :—
(i) The chief parts of the manuscript of Surra Report, Volume III.
(ii) Microscopical specimens of Trypanosoma from Equines, Bovines,
Canines, Rats, Bandicoots and the various Trypanosoma
obtained from fresh water and fish.
(iii) One hundred and fifty negatives of diseased animals.
(iv) Micro-photographs of different varieties of Trypanosoma.
(v) Fifty drawings from microscopical specimens of Surra parasites
showing mode of reproduction and division.
(vi) Microscopical preparations and drawings of the Giant-Trypanosoma
obtained from the blood of certain Bovines.
(vii) Five hundred stained microscopical specimens, showing the pro-
gress of Filiarisis in Equines and Bovines.
(viii) Negatives of diseased tissues obtained from 82 Bovines the subjects
of Filiarisis.
(ix) Negatives (photo-micrographs) of the Embryo-filariæ and parent
nematodes.
(x) Twenty microscopical specimens of Filaria oculi, obtained during a
period of six years, from Equines.
(xi) Microscopical specimens of Extra-Ocular filariæ.
(xii) All pathological specimens collected during several years, kept for
microscopical examination and further investigations.
The valuable reference library and notes collected by the Imperial Bac-
teriologist during the past 25 years, the actual cost of which alone amounted
to between R22,000 and R23,000 were almost entirely consumed, together with
furniture, household effects, astronomical telescope, etc., valued at R11,000 more.
The greatest praise is due to the members of the establishment of the Laboratory
for the bravery and zeal they displayed in trying to cope with such a hopeless
task as combating an extensive fire without sufficient water at hand.
7. Loss of apparatus and chemicals by fire.—At the end of September
1898, when the consignment of apparatus for that year arrived at Muktesar,
I ventured the opinion that the Imperial Bacteriological Laboratory of India,
was the best equipped Institute of its kind in the East, the only one in the