The avant courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1871-1872, 1872-06-06
THE LEPERs Or TRAcAijIE:
re I.eptoSy sfEtais iscriptares rl1.sti.s
Seasids Towass n Martin n Aineraea.

s -
Will Americans believe that Iepresy. ssth.
eldest daughter Of DEATH exists on .thi.
continent?s Though had seen something Il
that effect IN the. Appleton's CyeIopedia,.. !.
| I, tor one, did not believe It before / heard
OF Tracadie, This il \ small village Oh the
/ mMarshy M fringe Of Gloucester county, N. b,
about Twenty-Five miles south Of the gulf Of
| fbt NJ. Lawrence. Landward. theeye rests
Ion dreary. Monotouous level. dotted here
and there by Wretehed fsherlnan's novels.
i Seaward. the ow line Of the horizon il br,,-
ken by no sail, and silence broodsover tile
gloomy spread Of waters. Tracsl;e il ef
French origin, having been settled by Das-
que colonists soou after the pexce Of Utrecht.
early in the 18th century. twas poor and
niserable enough from the first. but Gods
chosen curse fell upon II, toward 1860, when
| d vessel from the Levant vas wrecked upon
its shores, and bales Of old clothes, teeming
with plague germs, were washed upon the
sand. A terrible pestilence broke ont and
decimated three OF the surrounding villages,
and what was worse, its seeds remained
From thatday to this, Tracadie has never
beer purged of the malady. 6
There seems to be no reason to doubt that
this singular disease. il the ancient leprosy.
or the elephanteasis Graecnrum. i will note
same of the strange symptoms Jas of this Tracs
adie distemper. Three stages are distinguish
ed. In The first, the sklu takes on morbiti
dead whiteness. In the second, it becomes
slightly yellow. In the third, it turns to
deep red. violet, and sometimes even as
sumes sreenish tinge. Let us followa case
through those different stages. The patient
begins BY experiencing burning fever and
racking asue. a stiffness and weakness in the
joints. heaviness in the chest, rushing of
blood TO the head. and many other seisa-
tons of languor. The most remarkable
symptoms, however. is an utter insensibility
to pain. The lcper cal bear the pricking OF
a sharp instrument. Such as a needle. or
knife blade, into any part OF the body with
out feeling hurt. Instances are given OF
lepers burning hands and feet without know
ing it. In one case t was not till the smell
OF charred flesh had attracted the attention
Of third person that one ofthese unfortn-
nate men was rescued from fire into which
he had fallen. Gradually the whole appear
ance of the skin is replaced by yellowish
spots, generally the size Of dollar piece.
These spots are at first separated from each
other. but little by little they extend their |
circles, until. touching together, they cover |
the whole body with a mantle OF rottenness.
Then follows aswelliEg Of the limbs, and the /
5loating OF the body from head to ioot, until I
finally, the skin. being too much distended,
bursts, and GERS Of the most disgusting
sort break out. The skin takes d shiny look,
is If it were vanished. The flesh between
he thumb and forefinger shriyels. The ex-
remities OF the hands and feet grow very
mail, and tn some cases. toes and fingers
lrop from their articulations without pain to
he sick mail. The face generally very
much swollen. The ears, chin and cheek are
covered with tubeIcles, hard and red. tn.
ize of a large pea. The eyes. have drawn
rom their sockets, are afflicted with kind
# cataract, which sometimes result in fatal
blindness. In fhi, last stage the color Of the
kin is usually rediish or purplish, The
nd, OF course, is with the internal organs.
he bronchial tubes becomes obstructed and
orged with the tube role, so that breathing
i,ally becomes mere whistle. and the pa
ent is every moment threatened with suffo-
alton. The death struggle is appalling be-
0nd that OF any otter known disease. al
evoted priest who has attended some of
iese cases declares that they slirpass in hor-
,r anything he ever witnessed. and ready
lie is to fly TO the relief Of any form ot hui
i'm misery, he prays God never to behold !.
pair the death of u leper.
It is not an epidemic.
$50 go - 1 :