| Reference number | NLB/13/375 |
| Alternative reference number | NLB/13 p221-228 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Copy letter from Michael Foster, to Sir R H Meads, Colonial Office, S.W. |
| Date | 6 August 1896 |
| Description | Foster is directed by the Committee to which the President and Council of the Royal Society have entrusted the enquiry concerning the Tsetse fly to ask Meads to submit the following to Mr Secretary Chamberlain for his consideration.
The Committee regards the researches of Surgeon Major [David] Bruce as being of great importance and his discovery of the connection of a blood parasite with the disease is the first light thrown on the subject for many years. The Committee think it very desirable that Bruce should be encouraged to continue his investigations and suggest that the military authorities should be approached with the view of their consenting to detach him for special service so his whole time can be devoted to research.
If Bruce would like a colleague the Committee are prepared to send out to Africa a gentlemen whose studies have especially fitted him for the task and are prepared to apply to the Government Grant Committee for grant money from the £4000 voted for Scientific Research and if need be to appeal to the Society itself for a sum from its private funds. The sum the Committee might thus obtain would not be very large, probably up to £200, which would not enable the enquiry to be carried to the desired end, that is finding adequate remedial measures.
The Committee wish to place before Mr Chamberlain the following considerations; the extent of the harm done by the tsetse fly including the obstacles which it offers to the expansion of the Empire in certain directions. The Committee are making enquires concerning the exact present geographic distribution of the Tsetse. Lists the seven places it is currently known to occur. The Committee suggest that such money as may be requisite to bring the enquiry to a successful end, if not forthcoming from Imperial funds, might be supplied by the listed Governments.
The Committee thinks that a sum of £800 in addition to the £200 which they intend to apply to the Government Grant Committee of the Royal Society itself would meet all probable wants for the immediate future, that is for one or even two years.
The Committee believe the Society is in a position to spend any such sum granted in the most economical way possible. |
| Extent | 5p |
| Format | Carbon |
| Access status | Open |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | Name | Dates |
| NA8153 | Bruce; Sir; David (1855 - 1931); bacteriologist and parasitologist | 1855 - 1931 |
| NA8220 | Foster; Sir; Michael (1836 - 1907); physiologist | 1836 - 1907 |