The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1873-12-18
LEPRosY IN THE SANDWICH Is
LANDS.

A correspondent of the New Yorb
Tribune, writing from Honolulu, gives
an account of his visit to Molokai, the
noted asylum for lepers, from which We
extract the following interesting facts
By a law of the kingdom, it is made
the duty of the minister of the interior,
and under him of the board of health,
to arrest every one suspected of iepresy
and If a medical examination shows
that he has the disease, to seclude the
| leper upon this part of Molokai. The
disease, when it is beyond its very
earliest stage, is held to be incurable.
He who is sent to MOlokai, is therefore
adjudged civilly dead. His wife, upon
| application to the proper court, is
granted a decree of absolute divorce,
and may marry again; his estate is ad-
ninistered upon as though he were
dead. He is incapable of suing or being
sued; and his dealings with the world
thereafter are through and with the
board of health alone. In order that
no doubtful eases may be sent TO Molo-
kai, there is a hospital at Kalihi, near
Honolulu, where the preliminary ex-
aminations are made, and where DR..
| Trousseau, the physician of the board
of health, retains people about whom
he Is uncertain.
The leper settlement at Molokai was
begun so long as 1865 but the law de-
manding the seclusion of lepers was not
enforced under the late king, who is be-
heved to have been himself a sufferer
from this disease, and who, at any rate,
by constantly granting exemptions, dis
couraged the officers of the law. Since
the accession of the present king, how
ever, it has been Fi9idly enforced, and
it is this which has caused the sudden
and great outcry about leprosy, which
has reached even you in the United
States, and which has caused many
people, it seems, to fear to come to the
islands, as though foreigner would be
liable to catch the disease. You must
understand that the native people have
no fear of the disease. Until the acees-
sion of the present hing lepers were
commonly kept in the houses of their
families, ate, drank, smoked and slept
with their own people, and had their
wounds dressed at home. If the dis
ease were quickly or readily contagious,
it must have spread very rapidly in
such conditions and that it did not
spread greatly or rapidly, is one of the
best proofs that it is not easily trans
mitted. When I remember how, among
the native people, whole family smokes
out of the same pipe, and sleeps to-
gether under the same tapa, I am sur
prised that so few have the disease.
And now, you will ask, what does a
leper look like? Well, in the first
ploce, he is not the leper of the Scrip
tures, nor the disease at all like the dis
ease which is said to occur in China.
Indeed, the poor Chinese have been
most unjUstly accused of bringing this
disease to the islands. With tina first
cI, Of OI,fpa-a oT1rvl,k 70 fhaon
islands came two lepers "white as
snow ;" having that is to say, a disease
very different from that which is now
called leprosy here. They were not
allowed to land, but were sent back in
the same.ship which brought them out.
The Hawaiin leprOsy, on the other
hand, has been known here for a quar-
ter of q century, and men died of it
before the first Chinese were brought
hither. The name Mai Paleh was given
to it by an accident; foreigner saying
to a native that he had q disease such
as they had IN China. There are but
six Chinese IN the Molokai leper settle
ment, and there are three white men
there.
The leprosy of the islands is a dis
ease of the blood, and not a skin dis
ease. 1t can be caught only, I am as
sured, by contact of an abraded surface
with the matter of the leprous sore
and doubtless the habit of the people,
of many smoking the same pipe, has
done much to disseminate it. It's first
noticeable signs are q slight puffness !
under the eyes, and a swelling of the !
lobes of the ears. To the practiced |
eyes of DIR. Trousseau, these signs were /
apparent where I could not perceive |
them until he laid his finger on them. |
Next follow symptoms which vary great |
ly in different individuals; but n marked /
sign is the retraction of the fingers, so |
that the hand comes to resemble /
birds claw. In some cases the face 4
swells in ridges, leaving deep burrows /
between and the ridges are shiny and /
without feeling, SO that a pin may be /
stuck into one without giving pain to /
the person. The features are thus hor-
ribly deformed In some cases saw
two or three young boys of u who
looked like old men of 60. In some
older men and women, the face was at
first sight revolving and baboon like ]
say at first sight, for on q second look the
mind and eye redeemed the distorted
features it was as though the man was
looking out Of a horrible mask. at
later stage of the disease, these rugous
swellings break open into fostering
sores the nose and even the eyes are
blotted out, and the body becomes
putrid.
In other cases the extremities are
most severely attacked. The fingers,
after being drawn in like claws, begin
to tester, They do not seem TO drop
off, but rather to be absorbed, the nails
following the stumps down and I act
ually saw finger-nails on a hand that
had no fingers. The nails were on the
knuckles the fingers had all rotted
away. The same process OF decay goes
on with the toes In some cases the
whole foot had dropped away, and III
many the hands and feet were healed
over, the fingers and toes having drop
ped of. But the healing Of the sore is
but temporary, the disease presently
breaks out again. EmaciatiOn does
not seem TO follow. I saw very few
wasted forms, and those only in the
hospitals, and among the worst cases.
There appears TO be an astonishing ten
acity of life, and ] was told they mostly
choke to death, or fall into a fever
caused by swallowing the poison of
their sores when these attack the nose
and throat. Those diseases give out
soon a sickeniDg OdoT, and was much
obliged to a thoughtful man in the set
tlement, who commanded the lepers
who had gathered together to hear an
from the doctor, to form to
Ieeward of us. Iexpected I TO be sick
sned by the hospitals; but these are so
we'll kept, and are 50 easily ventilated
by the help Of the constantly blowing
trade wind, that the odor was scarcely
in them.
The BEST GIFTS N THE POwER OF
AI.L.-Wit-and snlartness are not might
iIy your talent? What then? There
are q great many other good qualities
IN which you can't pretend nature has
iailed you. Improve them as far as you
can, and let us have that which is per
rectly in your power. You may, il you !
please, behave yourself as a man of
gravity and good faith, endure hardship
lnd despi. pleasure want but n few
Ibings and complain Of nothing. You
nay be dispaEsionate, stand upon your
1Wn legs, and be great il you please,
md have nothing Of ill-nsture, luxury
or trifing IN your humor. Don't you