The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-05-24

their leper friends by the same nesns % conveyance,
Nothing bat sn embargo, or siric; prohibitory law.
the penalty for. the violation Of which viii make i,
worthy Of respect. will ever prevent this prolific
source for disseminating the deadly eontagion. The
difficulty of Furnishing lepers for offences must be
apparent Laws then should DC made 10 bear with
double severity upon those (the heAlthyl who w%ilfnlly
insist in attempts Of the nature alluded 10, inasmuch
as they strike directly at the remaining vitality Of
the nation. These things should be locked 70 With a
far more searching eve than has hitherto been be-
slowed upon them. that they may be better known
and more painfully realized.
In the beginning Of this article it was limited that
through the introduction Of some new influence, the
late apparently preternatural spread OF the disease
might have srisen. Vaccination is what Was alluded
to. and may be worthy Of consideration here. You
will all remember the diligence with which the gov
eminent prosecuted the task Of vaccinsting the
people several months back. snd close Observers
mingliug largely among the natives, perhaps may
remember also 10 have observed the sudden appear
ance Of the disease in many cases not long subsequent
That vaccination might have helped greatly in prop
sgsting the leprosy, it is very reasonable TO suppose
when we consider that il is readily inocnlable, and
also the indiscriminste way that vaccination was
p~rScticed- IL would be perhaps unjust to say that
every care was not taken by the Board Of Health 90
provide vaccinators with matter Of the purest kind.
although this would be scarcely possible II We admit
the idea that vaccine may be contaminated with ve-
nereal, or other allied diseases in it's progress through
. y IAllAGu NOhskAAGtAtu. as Aus ~ - W.
generally accepted. the benefit Of the doubt is against
my proposition But in speaking Of the yaccinators
employed, and their mode of procedure, | think the
assertion can be made in truth. that a great respon-
sibility for careless or ignorant inoculations rests
with them; and that their ignorance has been a
fruitful source of eutailing upon this people certain
diseases in certain cases, far moro formidable than
the one they were attempting 10 avert.
1t is a fact, patent at least TO persons of any medi-
cal education, that the smallest particle of blood <even
though it be dried aud exposed to the air a cousid-
cradle time) from a person labOring under constitu-
tional syphilis, if introduced into the circulation Of
one in health, will not only be likely, but almost
certain TO reproduce the same disease. This is true
of other zymotic poisons even less virulent in char
acter than that of syphilis. And is it not natural
then to suppose that in many instances the leprosy
Of these islands may be and has been communicated
in this way l would ask the question-how many
TO whom offices as vaccinators we're given, IN the diff
ferent islands, were sufficiently educated 10 form n
correct diagnosis of a syphilitic. or a vaccine pustuler
From such persons as were employed you would often
hear as a guaranty that the virus they were using
was unobjectionable, the ignorant remark that the
matter must be good as it was taken from n person
in perfect health. When the same persons perhaps
vaccinated with a lancet tinged with s~yphilitic blood
from the pustule he presents, might be able of con-
veying the worst form of venereal, without showing
at the time any constitutional contamination himself
In the London Lancet, for 1871, we read of thir-
teen persoos vaccinated from an infant at the time
apparently healthy. Eleven out of this number sub
seouently showed symptoms Of well marked syphilis.
The child (vaccinifee) was evidently the victim of
inherited syphilis, as was shown by the characteristic
{ sh, which broke ont upon it a short time after these
vaccinations were p%racticed. During the operations
the arm of this child was bled by the careless use OF
the lancet, and the blood being mixed with the
vaccine virus, was Enthusiastically the cause of the
resulting evil. This case with many others. well
authenticated goes to prove that there is greater risk
IN inoculating blond from one apparently healthy,
than from using what is true pdccine puS from one
really diseased a fact, if known to our vaccinators,
at least very little attended to, as anyone could see
II. I---a-a a. w-sN-Aza knse AAroftNna G1aha
discolored with sanguinous ooze were often used in
vaccinating, and there can be no doubt that grave
symptoms of disease have been in many instances
communicated in this way; and to this cause might
be attributed the largest share of effect lately in dis
seminating the so called leprosy of these islands.
To see n lancet after the puncture for the reception
of the virus had been made, while yet moist with
blood, returned 10 the vaccinating cup to receive its
charge, was the rule rather than the exception.
And in arm to arm vaccination, an instance was
rare, so far as I am informed, where blood was not
drawn along with the pus. And it is worthy of
remark, that these facts might help to account for
the large proportion of those that took q fact
often mentioned in ignorant self-praise by some of
the voccinators. A mere glance at the instrument
known as the spring VdccinGfor, so commonly used
here, would suggest the certainty with which inocu-
lation would be effected by tiff any syphilis was to
be had. Such an instrument should be Stunned
with almost as much dread as the poison fang of the
serpent of which it was meant to be a copy and a
type. Can any physician justify its use in O COM
munity suffering so generally from constitutional
faint of one kind or another2 If its use cannot be
prevented, people OF L asst can be advised that n Ian
Get is preferable, as We will be more likely, there.
TO see whether or not the instrument is clean, and a
little Of trhat the matter looks like that is to be in
troduced.
How far vaccination, in previous times, can be held
accountable for the spread of leprosy and syphilis it
would be impossible to say, but without wishing to
detract one iota from its real value when properly
used in reducing the liability of it's subjects to the
influence of variola, we cannot but be struck with the
that it might have been largely productive
in influencing the turn that these diseases have lately,
taken for the worse.
For a proper consideration of this subject, however,
much greater space would be required than could be
in the columns of q newspaper, but n few
81 suggestions TALL that | have attempted to make) will
not be out Of place here, if they will help in any
way to throw any light, however small, upon a
Of so grave an import, and in the matter
of which so much ignorance prevails. Without
wishing TO establish any code for the regulation Of
sanitary measures to be adopted, l can still hope that
due consideration of the facts here mentioned. and
the deductions made therefrom, may have a healthy
influence in increasing our precautions in the matter
Of vaccinating. That more attention be paid to the
proper instruction of vaccinators in their respsns-
bic duties, which. without proper knowledge, may be
a means fraught with harm instead of good. And
lastly, that the Board Of Health, by the aid of in
creased appropriations, may be enabled TO establish
for the real mot so-called) isolation Of
hose that are really LepT0HS. HUAASITARLAE.
Strange.