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the oral cavity, the penis, skin or the gastro-intestinal tract, the factor of
irritation seems to excel all other possible causes and brings the problem
of this fell disease within the scope of Preventive Medicine.

    7 The following papers published as the result of this survey will afford
a detailed view of the information collected:—

         (i) Malignant disease in the Punjab; Indian Medical Gazette, March
1933.

         (ii) Cancer in India; Indian Journal of Medical Research, July 1935.

         (iii) Cancer in India; Indian Journal of Medical Research, January
1937.

    The final paper in connection with this survey is under preparation and
will be published shortly.

    8. Although this survey cannot fix decisively the relative position of
Cancer amongst the causes of mortality in India, it affords sufficient
evidence as to this position being not insignificant. It should at least per-
suade foreign writers on the subject to be less dogmatic about the rarity of
this disease in India. The writer of this note believes that if vital statistics
were as carefully collected in India as they are in the West and proper
allowance made for the number of individuals living per thousand at a
given age, the incidence of Cancer will be found to be independent of
geographical and racial variations.

6. HISTORY AND ACTIVITIES OF IMPORTANT INSTITUTIONS
CONNECTED WITH MEDICAL RESEARCH IN INDIA.

(i) THE CENTRAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, KASAULI.

    When proposals were put forward in the earlier years of the present cen-
tury for the establishment of a Bacteriological Department for India an
essential part of the scheme was the formation of a Central Institute for
Medical Research. In 1904 the Government of India with the sanction of
the Secretary of State approved the proposals and work was commenced on
what is now the Central Research Institute. It was decided to locate it at
Kasauli in the Simla Hills, some 6,000 feet above sea level. A large bunga-
low and its site was adopted for the purpose, extensive additions being made
to provide the necessary accommodation and the Institute was opened in
1906. The first Director was Lt.-Col. Semple, later Sir David Semple, who
had established and been the Director of the first Pasteur Institute in
India in the same station.

    2. It was intended that the Institute would form a centre for research
and a basis from which field inquiries would be conducted and that it
should also undertake the manufacture of sera and vaccines for which there
was an increasing demand. The scheme for the Institute included pro-
posals for sections dealing with bacteriology and immunity, malarial re-
search, medical entomology, sera and vaccine manufacture and other sub-
jects. Its functions in regard to such lines of work have varied from time

Contributed by Colonel J. Taylor, C.I.E., D.S.O., V.H.S., I.M.S.