Institut Pasteur de Kindia, French Guinea

Abstract

THE Institut Pasteur on Kindia lies in the bush, 7 kilometers from the town of Kindia and 150 kilometres from the port of Conakry, French Guinea. It was founded in 1925 by Dr. Calmette, formerly director of the Institut Pasteur of Paris, as a centre for research on the anthropoid apes, since it was felt that these animals would provide better experimental material in their natural surroundings and climate. Its first director was Commandant Wilbert, who was assisted by Capitaine Delorme. The actual Institute consists of three houses to accommodate the staff and two laboratory buildings. There is also a small hostel for visiting workers. Water is obtained by draining the plateau above the Institute, and the Institute generates its own electricity. It owns land covering some hundred acres and used partly to grow food for the monkeys and partly to accommodate the menagerie, the monkey house and the chimpanzee enclosure.