Importance of Medical and Veterinary Research

Abstract

MAJOR-GEN. SIR LEONARD ROGERS delivered the seventh Stephen Paget Memorial lecture, entitled “The Saving in Life and Suffering due to Medical and Veterinary Research, with Special Reference to the Tropics”, at the annual general meeting of the Research Defence Society held on June 22 at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Sir Leonard dealt with a very wide field of endeavour and conquest in the fight against the diseases of man and animals in the tropics. He outlined the advances made in the treatment of snake-bite, cholera, the dysenteries, Malta fever, relapsing fever and sleeping sickness, giving figures for the incidence and mortality rates before and after the results of research had been applied. In particular, he directed attention to the problem of typhoid fever which faced the Army medical authorities in the South African War and in the War of 1914–18 and exhibited figures proving the enormous value of protective inoculation. He forcefully reminded the audience of the services rendered by Mr. Stephen Paget, whose untiring activity both by lecturing and propaganda among our newly-recruited forces effectively countered the endeavours of anti-vivisectionists to prejudice the soldiers against anti-typhoid inoculation. Dealing with animals' diseases, Sir Leonard showed that on a conservative estimate, half a million cattle are saved annually in India as a result of preventive inoculation against rinderpest or cattle plague. He dealt briefly with distemper and many other diseases of animals and showed conclusively that the saving in life and suffering in animals as a direct result of research far outweighs any discomfort or pain occasioned by the necessary experiments.