No. 215 S, dated Simla, the 14th July 1877.
From—LEPEL GRIFFIN, Esq., Offg. Secretary to the Govt. of the Punjab,
To—The Offg. Secretary to the Government of India, Home Department.
IN continuation of my letter No 141 S, dated 3rd instant, I
am desired to forward, for the information of the Government of
India, a report on the subject of leprosy received from the Civil
Surgeon of E/awal Pindi.
No. 131, dated the 15th June 1877.
From—Surgeon Major G. HENDERSON, Civil Surgeon, Rawal Pindi.
To—The OfFg. Sanitary Commissioner, Punjab.
Τ HAVE the honour to forward the information called for by you regarding the
leper asylum here.
There are at present 90 persons in the asylum, three of these are children as
yet unaffected ; only 28 of these are inhabitants of this district, 54 are from
Kashmir, three from Hazara, one from Peshawar, three from Guzerat, and one from.
Allahabad. They are accommodated in fourteen houses, each containing four rooms ;
but it is very desirable that more houses should be built, as it is now necessary to
refuse admission to many who present themselves. One of the fourteen houses is
occupied by the establishment, which numbers nine individuals.
The institution is not under my charge, though I take a great interest in it,
and should like to see it taken in hand by Government, instead of being left to be
provided for by municipal funds. If the lepers were treated with a little more
liberality, I feel certain that all the lepers in the surrounding country would come
to the institution, and probably the disease would be stamped out in one or two
generations. The cost of establishment is about Us. 50 per mensem, and the 87
lepers, at Rs. 2-8 each per mensem, cost about Us. 217 per mensem; the children,
are allowed from Rs. 2 to Rs. 1-4 per mensem.
Since I have had civil medical charge here I have endeavoured to relieve the
monotony of the lives of these wretched people by getting them to take to garden-
ing, and I have made presents to them of pigeons and rabbits. I have also had a
number of them taught to read. I enclose a list of lepers treated by gurjun oil and
carbolic acid, with the result. The effect of these remedies is not very marked
until quite recently, but in almost all the cases some slight improvement has
resulted, and the lepers themselves now are most anxious to persevere with it, as it
usually heals their sores and causes the disappearance of the tubercles in the tuber-
cular form of the disease. The treatment has been persevered with for two years.
During the first year little good was effected, and the lepers had no faith in it.
It is only of late that they have begun to notice any marked effects. I have said
that I believe the disease could be stamped out in one or two generations if all
lepers were encouraged by liberal treatments to come and live in the asylum. My
reasons for making this statement are—
(i.) that after the disease becomes fully developed the subjects of it are
usually barren ; and
(n.) that one case in the asylum tends to confirm the belief that the disease
is contagious. This case is as follows :
The cook at the asylum, whose father is a chaprasi at the tahsil at
Rawal Pindi, and in whose family there is no history of leprosy,
fell in love with one of the leper women and kept company
with her for some time. Before many months he shewed
signs of leprosy and asked to be admitted as a leper ; he is
now married to the woman, and they both live in the asylum,
(in.) It will be seen from the list of cases treated by gurjun oil, which were
taken at random, that in ten out of twelve of the cases the disease
seems to have been either hereditary or transmitted by contagion
from relatives.