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Presentation of the Walter Reed Medal
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ORDINARY MEETING of the ROYAL SOCIETY OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENF, held at Manson House, 26 Portland Place, London, W.1, on T h u r s d a y , 8th D e c e m b e r , 1960 The President : SIR WILLIAM MACART~UR, K.C.B., M.D., F.R.C.P., bz the Chair.
PRESENTATION OF THE WALTER REED MEDAL
Professor George Macdonald : The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene has awarded the Walter Reed Medal to Sir Gordon Covell. This is one of the two awards with which the Society honours research workers in the field of tropical medicine, the other being the Le Prince Medal given in the field of malariology, and it has a standard in the American Society ranking with that of the Manson Medal in our own - - the highest indication of respect within its power. The announcement of the award was made at the Society's Annual Meeting at Los Angeles in November, 1960, and that Society greatly regretted that Sir Gordon was unable to be present to receive it in person. The suggestion that the presentation might be made by our President on behalf of the American Society at one of our meetings was very warmly received, and I have in consequence the privilege of giving you this message. The announcement was made by Dr. Justin Andrews on behalf of a Committee of Award consisting of three Past Presidents. His speech reviewed Sir Gordon's professional career from his first joining the Indian Medical Service in 1914 through 46 years of creative work, almost entirely since 1918 in the field of malaria. The problems of malaria as he found them were intriguing, stimulating, and a worthy challenge to the intellect. He responded to the challenge by research continued to the present day, which has been immensely fruitful, and he has supplemented that research by great activity and resource in the fields of education, training and administration. He has thereby enriched the whole world of malariology, and in India there is no aspect of the present vast research and operational work on malaria which does not owe much of its foundations to him. I know from the terms of the announcement, and from the reaction of the Members of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene on hearing it, that the award brings with it the warmest and most sincere appreciation of that Society. The happy arrangement that our President should hand the Medal on behalf of that Society to Sir Gordon allows us the unique opportunity of sharing the American Society's pleasure in giving, and Sir Gordon's in receiving. I have had the privilege of conveying this message and the Medal from America, and would like to add my own respects and salutations to our distinguished Fellow who has brought learning and life to every organization with which he has been connected, including this Society. I ask, Sir, that you should
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PRESENTATION
present the Walter Reed Medal and its accompanying Certificate to Sir Gordon CoveU on behalf of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. T h e P r e s i d e n t then presented the Walter Reed Medal and Certificate to Sir Gordon
Covell. Sir G o r d o n Covell : I wish to express my deep appreciation to the American Society of Tropical Medicine for conferring on me the Walter Reed Medal ; and to you, Sir, for consenting to make the presentation on its behalf. I would also like to thank Professor Macdonald, with whom I have been closely associated since he came out to India in 1927, for his very kind remarks. The name of Walter Reed is one of those most honoured in the field of tropical medicine. The demonstration by him and his devoted band of helpers of the mosquito transmission of yellow fever, work which could only be done with the aid of human volunteers, led directly to the organization of effective measures of control. Reed's experiment was done in 1900, the year in which Manson confirmed the mosquito transmission of malaria. In the following year Gorgas freed Havana of the scourge of yellow fever within the space of three months by an intensive attack on the mosquito vector. Later, by similar methods, he made possible the construction of the Panama Canal and rendered it safe for the passage of the world's commerce. In January 1914 1 was present at a dinner given to Gorgas at the Royal Army Medical College in London. I did not know him personally, but in after years I had a number of discussions with Joseph Le Prince, who was his right hand man both in Cuba and in Panama. Those of you who attended the 4th Congress on Tropical Medicine held in Washington in 1948 may remember that, at a meeting held to commemorate the work of Walter Reed, one of his colleagues, James Hanberry, was present on the platform. Hanberry was one of the volunteers who for 20 days slept in a mosquito-proof room on beds covered with the soiled and foul-smelling clothes of yellow fever patients, in order to explode the notion that fomites could carry the infection. Subsequently, he and several others were successfully inoculated either by the bites of mosquitoes that had fed on yellow fever patients, or by the injection of infected blood or serum.
The hazardous nature of this experiment may be judged from the fact that the mortality from yellow fever in an epidemic at this period was often as high as 40 per cent. May I say in conclusion that I am particularly glad to receive this honour because during the past 30 years I have had a number of personal contacts with seven of the ten previous recipients of the medal, namely, Herbert Clark, Rolla Dyer, Lewis Hackett, Paul Russell, Steve Simmons, N. H. Swellengrebel and Willard Wright. I am very proud to be thought worthy of inclusion among such a distinguished company.
ORDINARY MEETING of the ROYAL SOCIETY OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENF, held at Manson House, 26 Portland Place, London, W.1, on T h u r s d a y , 8th D e c e m b e r , 1960 The President : SIR WILLIAM MACART~UR, K.C.B., M.D., F.R.C.P., bz the Chair.
PRESENTATION OF THE WALTER REED MEDAL
Professor George Macdonald : The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene has awarded the Walter Reed Medal to Sir Gordon Covell. This is one of the two awards with which the Society honours research workers in the field of tropical medicine, the other being the Le Prince Medal given in the field of malariology, and it has a standard in the American Society ranking with that of the Manson Medal in our own - - the highest indication of respect within its power. The announcement of the award was made at the Society's Annual Meeting at Los Angeles in November, 1960, and that Society greatly regretted that Sir Gordon was unable to be present to receive it in person. The suggestion that the presentation might be made by our President on behalf of the American Society at one of our meetings was very warmly received, and I have in consequence the privilege of giving you this message. The announcement was made by Dr. Justin Andrews on behalf of a Committee of Award consisting of three Past Presidents. His speech reviewed Sir Gordon's professional career from his first joining the Indian Medical Service in 1914 through 46 years of creative work, almost entirely since 1918 in the field of malaria. The problems of malaria as he found them were intriguing, stimulating, and a worthy challenge to the intellect. He responded to the challenge by research continued to the present day, which has been immensely fruitful, and he has supplemented that research by great activity and resource in the fields of education, training and administration. He has thereby enriched the whole world of malariology, and in India there is no aspect of the present vast research and operational work on malaria which does not owe much of its foundations to him. I know from the terms of the announcement, and from the reaction of the Members of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene on hearing it, that the award brings with it the warmest and most sincere appreciation of that Society. The happy arrangement that our President should hand the Medal on behalf of that Society to Sir Gordon allows us the unique opportunity of sharing the American Society's pleasure in giving, and Sir Gordon's in receiving. I have had the privilege of conveying this message and the Medal from America, and would like to add my own respects and salutations to our distinguished Fellow who has brought learning and life to every organization with which he has been connected, including this Society. I ask, Sir, that you should
16
PRESENTATION
present the Walter Reed Medal and its accompanying Certificate to Sir Gordon CoveU on behalf of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. T h e P r e s i d e n t then presented the Walter Reed Medal and Certificate to Sir Gordon
Covell. Sir G o r d o n Covell : I wish to express my deep appreciation to the American Society of Tropical Medicine for conferring on me the Walter Reed Medal ; and to you, Sir, for consenting to make the presentation on its behalf. I would also like to thank Professor Macdonald, with whom I have been closely associated since he came out to India in 1927, for his very kind remarks. The name of Walter Reed is one of those most honoured in the field of tropical medicine. The demonstration by him and his devoted band of helpers of the mosquito transmission of yellow fever, work which could only be done with the aid of human volunteers, led directly to the organization of effective measures of control. Reed's experiment was done in 1900, the year in which Manson confirmed the mosquito transmission of malaria. In the following year Gorgas freed Havana of the scourge of yellow fever within the space of three months by an intensive attack on the mosquito vector. Later, by similar methods, he made possible the construction of the Panama Canal and rendered it safe for the passage of the world's commerce. In January 1914 1 was present at a dinner given to Gorgas at the Royal Army Medical College in London. I did not know him personally, but in after years I had a number of discussions with Joseph Le Prince, who was his right hand man both in Cuba and in Panama. Those of you who attended the 4th Congress on Tropical Medicine held in Washington in 1948 may remember that, at a meeting held to commemorate the work of Walter Reed, one of his colleagues, James Hanberry, was present on the platform. Hanberry was one of the volunteers who for 20 days slept in a mosquito-proof room on beds covered with the soiled and foul-smelling clothes of yellow fever patients, in order to explode the notion that fomites could carry the infection. Subsequently, he and several others were successfully inoculated either by the bites of mosquitoes that had fed on yellow fever patients, or by the injection of infected blood or serum.
The hazardous nature of this experiment may be judged from the fact that the mortality from yellow fever in an epidemic at this period was often as high as 40 per cent. May I say in conclusion that I am particularly glad to receive this honour because during the past 30 years I have had a number of personal contacts with seven of the ten previous recipients of the medal, namely, Herbert Clark, Rolla Dyer, Lewis Hackett, Paul Russell, Steve Simmons, N. H. Swellengrebel and Willard Wright. I am very proud to be thought worthy of inclusion among such a distinguished company.