190

That sacrosanct pathway of shining linoleum is a busythoroughfare for shuffling feet. There is Mrs. A, an oldwoman of 87 and nearly blind, who used to be kept inbed and was very despondent : now she is cheerfullyhelping a much younger rheumatoid to dress. Herecomes Miss B, a long-bedridden disseminated sclerosis,bowling along happily in her wheel-chair, to show thedoctor the marvellous tea-cosy she has just completed.And Miss X, that enormous and in every way difficult’woman who required four nurses to move her, is potteringround the ward with two Warral sticks, lamenting hersix lost years in bed. The old " chronic hospital " hasemerged from the doldrums.

REFERENCES

Adams, G. F. (1949) Lancet, ii, 1095.Alstead. S. (1942) Ibid, i, 669.Amulree, Lord, Exton-Smith, A. N., Crockett, G. S. (1951) Ibid,

i, 123.Arnott, A., Nisbet, N. H. (1952) Ibid, ii, 1206.Benton, J. G., et al. (1950) J. Amer. med. Ass. 144, 1443.Bohmansson, G., Malmros, H. (1947) Lancet, ii, 509.Brocklehurst, J. C. (1951) Incontinence in Old People. Edinburgh.Chapel, J. A. (1951) Brit. med. J. ii, 738.Cosin, L. Z. (1947) Ibid, ii, 1044.Critchley, M. (1948) Geriatrics, 3, 364.Crockett, G. S., Exton-Smith, A. N. (1949) Lancet, i, 1016.Donaldson, M. (1948) Brit. med. J. i, 618.Flemming, C. (1951) Lancet, i, 758.Hey, W. (1946) Brit. J. Urol. 18, 72.Ingham, A. (1951) Lancet, i, 296.Jacobs, A. (1948) Brit. med. J. i, 1231.- (1951) Lancet, i, 1088.

Lewis, T. (1946) Diseases of the Heart. London.McEwan, P., Laverty, S. G. (1949) The Chronic Sick and Elderly

in Hospital. Bradford Survey; see also Lancet, 1949, ii, 1098.Pickering, G. W. (1951) Lancet, ii, 845.Platt, I. R. (1950) Brit. med. J. i, 951.Riches, E. W. (1949) Ibid, i, 887.Sheldon, J. H. (1948) The Social Medicine of Old Age. Wolver-

hampton Survey. London.Stewart, H. H. (1949) Brit. med. J. ii, 1011.Thomson, A. P. (1949) Ibid, pp. 243, 300.Walshe, F. M. R. (1946) Diseases of the Nervous System. Edinburgh.Walters, G. A. B. (1948) Brit. med. J. i, 638.Warren, M. W. (1950) Ibid, ii, 921.Wilson, T. S. (1948) Lancet, ii, 374.

COLINDALE

Hub of the Public Health Laboratory ServiceIN opening the new building of the Central Public

Health Laboratory at Colindale, London, on Jan. 15,the Minister of Health, Mr. Iain Macleod, traced theorigins of the Public Health Laboratory Service, paidtribute to the work it has already done, and expressedhis confidence in its future. It has, he said, grown upin a characteristically British way, and a great deal ofits success has been due to the happy liaison betweenthe Medical Research Council and the Ministry.

A GROUP OF

LABORATORIES

The building itself is a

plain but well-proportionedbrick structure four storeyshigh (including the groundfloor). It has a copper-coveredroof, a central square tower,and a semi-basement, in oneor other of which are housedmost of the essential ser-

vices, including, for example,compressors for cold roomsat 40, -30", and -70°C,air filters, and a gas-firedincinerator. The building isabout 170 feet long and 40feet wide ; it contains some 60working laboratories. Its

design allows great flexibilityfor making alterations suchas removing or constructingpartition walls. The basic

design of each floor is the same : there is a centralcorridor running the whole length of the building withrooms leading off on either side. Each floor has a

preparation room, sterilising-room, and media-makingfacilities for its own special needs. There are main and

emergency staircases and three lifts-one for passengersand two for services.The third floor of the new building is occupied by the

Virus Reference Laboratory. This, under the direction ofDr. F. 0. MacCallum, has of late years given increasinglyvaluable help in the investigation of virus infections bothin the laboratory and in the epidemiological field. Thenew building should remove many of the difficulties anddangers which have hampered virus work in the past.Great care is being taken to prevent contaminatingorganisms from penetrating into the virus researchlaboratories and virus-infected air from reaching theoutside atmosphere. One of the two service lifts, forexample, is intended to travel non-stop between theground floor close to the virus animal-house and thethird floor of the new building. Cold rooms at 4°, - 30°,and - 70°C are situated on this floor conveniently closeto the virus laboratory.The second floor is devoted to the Air Hygiene Labora-

tory directed by Dr. R. E. 0. Williams. The work herewill be done in three main sections :The streptococcal laboratory acts as the main reference

laboratory for the serological typing of streptococci. This hascome to be recognised as an indispensable weapon in thelaboratory control of streptococcal infections both in epidemicand in inter-epidemic times. Typing of streptococci is nowcarried on not only at Colindale but also at some of the

regional centres.The staphylococcal laboratory undertakes the typing of

staphylococci from cases and outbreaks of pemphigus, surgicaland other cross-infections, and food-poisoning, to mention afew of the common sources. Typing of staphylococci hasproved especially valuable recently in tracking down outbreaksof food-poisoning caused by staphylococcal toxins.The study of air hygiene will be greatly helped by the

provision of special rooms for investigating problems ofventilation and of air disinfection. Here, under properlycontrolled conditions, it should be possible to make real

progress in solving some of the baffling problems presentedby epidemics of respiratory infections.The first floor is devoted to the bacteriology of food

and food-borne infections. The Salmonella ReferenceLaboratory, directed by Dr. Joan Taylor, has built up aworld-wide reputation in the identification of organismsof the salmonella and coliform groups and has also

investigated the bacteriology of infantile gastro-enteritis.On this floor, too, is the Food Hygiene Laboratory directed

Virus Reference Laboratory : part of a routine laboratory.

191

View of the new building.

by Dr. Betty Hobbs, while Dr. Patricia Carpenter is incharge of the Dysentery Reference Laboratory.The ground floor houses a number of activities. There

is a photographic department, some individual researchlaboratories, and a suite of rooms for Dr. W. CharlesCockburn’s Epidemiological Research Unit. Much of thework of the Public Health Laboratory Service involvesepidemiological surveys, requiring cooperation with themedical officer of health-for example, the successfultrials of whooping-cough vaccine recently carried outunder the direction of the Medical Research Council.But the new building, though it is by far the largest

single unit of the Central Public Health Laboratory,does not accommodate by any means all of its activities.The work of the laboratory has been severely handi-capped in the past by lack of space, and the new buildingnow makes it possible both to rearrange work alreadybeing done and to open up new lines of work. The oldmain building will continue to be the headquarters of thedirector, Lieut.-Colonel H. J. Bensted. Colindale, inaddition to all its other activities, is also a public-healthlaboratory in its own right and deals with the bacteriologyof the surrounding area. The routine laboratory is toremain in this block, together with the Standards Labora-tory for Serological Reagents under Colonel Bensted’sdirection. The Standards Laboratory issues diagnosticsera and bacterial suspensions and other biologicalreagents not only to other public-health laboratoriesbut to hospital laboratories throughout the country.The old main building still houses the Central Enteric

Reference Laboratory and Bureau directed by Dr.A. Felix, F.R.s. This is an international as well as anational laboratory, devoted to the study of methods ofidentifying typhoid bacilli, defining new types or sub-types, and maintaining a register of known typhoidcarriers, besides undertaking research on many of theproblems raised by the method of bacteriophage typing.

In another building is the National Collection of TypeC’2cltures under the direction of Dr. S. T. Cowan. A largecollection of reference cultures is maintained here, manyof them in the dried state, so as to reduce bacterialvariation as far as is possible.There is another building for the library, suitable also

for holding conferences, and others for stores and canteen.There are several separate animal-houses, arranged soas to give the least possible risk of infection and cross-infection.

FCXCTIOXS OF THE SERVICE

This in bare summary is an outline of present activities,whose scope will be greatly extended by the completionof the new building. Colindale is quickly becoming

one of the main centres in theworld in the field of public-health bacteriology and epidemi-ology. Its reference laboratoriesare a vital part of the PublicHealth Laboratory Service, whichnow possesses, in addition to

Colindale, several regional labora-tories and 46 area laboratories.From all of these laboratoriesColindale receives cultures for

precise identification by specialmethods. The value of thesereference laboratories has been

proved already in the investi-gation of numerous outbreaks ofdifferent kinds, and many intri-cate and fascinating epidemicshave been unravelled with a

speed which would not have beenachieved in any other way. It isimportant to note, too, that thisservice is not confined to labora-

tories within the Public Health Laboratory Service.Hospital and other laboratories call upon it for help,and the new accommodation should make possible anincrease in this important work.Though the Public Health Laboratory Service has

been described as " about the only section of the NationalHealth Service which receives only praise and no

critic,ism," its many-sided activities are still not as

widely known as they should be. It has grown inthirteen years from a small compact organisation ofsome dozen laboratories to its present outstandingposition in preventive medicine. From those modest

origins there has been a steady expansion which hasculminated in the building now completed. The out-

standing success of the service has been due at first to thegenius of men like the late Prof. W. W. C. Topley, Dr.W. M. Scott, and Dr. F. Griffith, and in more recentyears to the farsighted policy and tireless enthusiasm ofits director, Dr. G. S. Wilson, and its chairman, Dr. A.Landsborough Thomson. Under their guidance theservice has achieved efficient central direction without

sacrificing individuality at the periphery. The new

building at Colindale is proof of the initiative and

courage of those who have managed in these days offrustration and delay to carry it through to completion.

Congratulations are due to all those who have playeda part in this project, and to the architects, Messrs.Maxwell Ayrton & Partners, for a building whichcombines utility with dignity. Colonel Bensted and his

colleagues can look forward to enjoying the use of

premises worthy of the high standards which their workdemands.

1. Daley, W. A. Amer. J. publ. Hlth, 1952, 42, 1232.

FRIENDS OF THE HOSPITALS

THE voluntary tradition in this country, like the smallflame of the lighted touch-paper of a firework display,runs ahead sketching an outline which presently willspring into activity and light. The National League ofHospital Friends is not yet four years old but it has

already pointed to many ways in which the lot of patientsin hospital can be improved.At the annual general meeting held at St. Bar-

tholomew’s Hospital on Jan. 14, Mr. IAIN MACLEOD,the Minister of Health, could hardly have encouragedthe work of the league in stronger terms. He recalled therecord of a local league formed in 1948 in Aberystwyth,which decided that the first call on its funds should be aformer public-assistance institution for the aged andchronic sick. The first and immediate gift of 20 com-