Livingstone College Year - Book. (Luton, E.) — Livingstone College has for its object
the giving of medical training to missionaries. It has been at work for eleven years, and during that time about one hundred and eighty students have availed themselves of the opportunities which it offers, not reckoning some forty more whose stay has been for less than two terms. The numbers seem to vary greatly. In one session between twenty and thirty wore at work ; in others as few as nine or ten. All the Missionary Societies have expressed approval of the institution, and it is somewhat disappointing to find that the very great benefits which it offers are not more sought after. There are many fields of missionary work where medical knowledge, if not actually indispensable, is certain to be useful. Apart from the advantages it confers on the possessor, it is likely to be a most effective introduction. The Year-Book gives some valuable counsels in the matter of the preservation of health in tropical climates. It is noticeable that the proportion of deaths among the former students—of whom a list, with places of work, &c., is given—is distinctly small. Eight out of a total of one hundred and seventy-eight, even though all were probably young men, is a favourable average.—In this connection we may mention The Maintenance of Health in the Tropics, by W. J. Simpson, M.D. (Ball, Sons, and Danielsson, 2s. ad. net), a manual prepared at the request of the Committee of the London School of Tropical Medicine. It should be understood that this is not a technical work intended for professional use, but adapted to the needs of the ordinary resident in tropical or sub-tropical regions. One of the most important discoveries in the region of medicine in modern times is that the mosquito is the efficient cause of yellow fever and filiariasis. A combination of private and public effort can go a long way towards stamping out these diseases. That certainly would have been thought the wildest of fancies five-and- twenty years ago.
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