LABORATORY RESEARCH.

STIMULUS FROM THE WAR. GREAT ADVANCES MADE. PREVENTION OF DISEASE. The stimulus given to bacteriological research during the recent war, and the wonderful results obtained by laboratory work in the prevention and treatment of disease, were spoken of on Saturday by ; Dr. W. Gilmour, who arrived in Auckland last week So take up the position of path- i ologist and bacteriologist at the Auckland district hospital. Prior to the war Dr. Gilmour carried out extensive origiral re- '. search work at various hospitals and institutions in Glasgow, and in 1915 served as bacteriologist in charge of a military ; laboratory at St. Andrew's base hospital at Malta. Later on ha held similar ap- , pointments at Salonika and at BorOignera, in Italy. {speaking ol the great advance made in < this brancn of meuical science, Dr. Gilmour said that the value of laboratory work during the war in the prevention of disease by the, preparation of vaccines could hardly be over-estimated. One of the most notable examples of this was the wonderful success attained by the use of anti-typhoid vaccine. In previous wars typhoid was more deadly than the ] enemy's bullets. In the recent war i typhoid fever was 'Scarcely known, even in Gallipoii, where conditions as regards i sanitation were appalling. At the outbreak of war all troops were inoculated with anti-typhoid vaccine, and in 1915 an anti-paratyphoid vaccine was added to the anti-typhoid. Paratyphoid fever, continued Dr. Gilmour, while very similar to typhoid, was much less fatal, but had been causing great sickness, with long convalescence. Its incidence, however rapidly fell after the introduction of the vaccine. An-cholera vaccine, used extensively in the Eastern theatres of war, also proved of immense value in preventing outbreaks of cholera among the troops. Replying to a query as to research work in connection with influenza, Dr. Gilmour said that during the war, a vaccine was prepared from the bacillus influenzae and other microbes commonly found in cases of influenza. While the value of this vaccine was still sub-judice, yet, from the few experiments made, it would appear to be valuable in the prevention of influenza, and more especially of the fatal complications of this disease. Another direction in which laboratory work had proved an invaluable aid to medical science, continued the doctor, was in the matter of detecting " carriers" of disease. Many persons, after recovering from a disease, notably typhoid, paratyphoid, dysentery, and cerebro-spinal fever, continued to harbour the microbes in their bodies, and were always a source of danger to others. It was an important duty of the bacteriologist to search for such, and have them isolated until they ceased to be "carriers." The war had also developed a new d'sease in trench-fever, said Dr.. Gilmour. While never fatal, it produced a very large amount of prolonged illness, and thus seriously reduced the man-power of the armies, particularly in France. Investigations carried out from a laboratory and clinical point of view showed that the infection was in the blood, and always conveyed by vermin. A campaign against the latter was organised, and soon reduced the incidence of trench-fever. Numerous other instances could be quoted of the immense value of recent bacteriological research, concluded the speaker, work quite apart, from the ordinary routine, which aided the clinician in making his diagnosis, and in deciding upon the correct line of treatment.