The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1873-07-09


one part Of the body. with bat title or no tend
eDcy to spread. One variety, tmOrphna albal
sometimes affects a single limb with dead,
pearl-like uhiteness.- Mr.. Wilson Iikens the
thigh Of one Of his patients to piece Of beauti-
fol white marble sculpture N This reminds Us
of the hand Of Moses, -lePrOus as the SNOW
Ex- is, 6. and Of the application of the same ex-
preston to the leprOsy Of Miriam. Numbers.
XII. 10. and TO that Of Gehazi, Kings. V. %.
Other local varieties. to which reference appears
to have been made in the Law will be noticed
I in the notes on Lev. XIII. 2e-40 In some rare
cases, the differentiated elephantiasis becomes
acute. the tubercles rapidly rise and become ~
/ cersted, and the disease rms its course in few
veeks.R This may perhaps explain job. ii, Z. s.
VIII Medical skill appears to have been more
completely foiied BY elephsniass than by any 9TH
/ er ualady. That the lsraelites regarded it as be-
I yond the reach Of natural remedies has been in
ferred from the words Of the King of Israel Am
I God TO kill and make alive, that thus man doth
send onto me to recover q man Of his leprosy :"
. Kings. ', I. The ancient physicians pre-,
s-ribed treatment for it, but it appears to have
Commonly been regarded as incurable in the times
Of Cyril and Augustine or modern physicians. 3
T great number express themselves with entire
hopeessness in regard TO differentiated ELEPHANT
asis but the anestheiie form appears TO be in
some degree amenable to remedies and regimen.
II has, however. been observed that. from the
false shame usually felt by those who afflicted
with it, the disease 10 either form is rarely seen
by the physician until it has passed the stage in
which remedies might be applied with hope Of
success. Change Of climate and habit Of living.
with certain medicines, chiefly preparations Of
iron. iodine and arsenic, seem to have done good
in some cases,p The disease appears at times to
stop of itself and lie dormant for years, and some
spontaneous cures are recorded.r IL is fact
worthy Of notice that the people Of Jerusalem
and its neighbOrhOOd do not send pure aHa=thetic
cases to the leper houses, because they believe
them to be durable, (Aikinson)
TX. 1t cannot reasonably be doubted that ele-
pbantiasis is hereditary CT. Kings, va.
There are families in which il has been handed
down for ages. The lepers OF New Brunswick
afford remarkable instance. The disease was
brought into the settlement by French emigrani
family named Bredau. originally from ST. Malo.
or the tWenty-tWo inmates Of the leper-hOuse.
every one is related by blood 10 that unfortunate
stocks 1t, however, frequently skips over gen.
Grafton, and affects only one or two members Of
4 family. The children Of leprous parents are in
infancy as tair, aud seem to be as healthy, as
Others. The morbid symptoms generally make
their appearance about the age Of puberty. and
The work Of destruction then creeps on uutil the
comely child becomes dissgured aud muiila,ed
man. But there are many cases in which the
malady first appears in more advanced lie. when
there seems TO be no hereditary transmission. |
OF 2l3 cases examined in Norway, ls9 proved to
hereditary, and "a of spontaneous origin. In
Crete, out of l22 cases 76 we're hereditary, and |
and 46 spontaneousl 1t is well established |
fact, that in almost all places where the disease
prevails. there are many more men affected with |
it than women.
Y. The attachment of elephantissis to particu- |
lar races may be regarded as subordinate 10 its /
hereditary transmission. The prevalence of the /
disease appears to be much more dependent on 1
local or special circumstances than on race. which
evidently does not circumscribe the instances of |
Its spontaneous appearance. The evidence bear
ing these points Is remarkable. 10 Syria.
elepbantiasis still keeps its ground. but it is said
to be unknown among the Jews who live there u
Mr.. Atkinson, however saw a single Jew eper
at Jerusa EN-. No leper Of Jewish race has been
known for many years 10 die in the Presidency
of Bombay. where the number of lepers is per
haps as great as 10 any part of the world. At
Alden, where Arabs, Hindoos, and Parsees all
suffer from the disease, the Jews enjoy the same
immunity as the Europeans. Q Lower Egypt, the
old seat Of elephaniIasis, maintains its unhappy
distinction in spite of The change in the races
that inhabit il; bot there it prevails more among
the Jews than among the Arabs. As was prob
ably the case in ahcient times in and near this
same region, the aneesthetc form more af-
fects the Jews. and the differentiated form the
Arabs. u 10 Crete. where there are supposed
to be thousand lepers, it spares no race but the
Greeks have it in the most aggravated degree.
1t has been observed that in Crete, Cyprus and
SciO. the Mosleus are less subject 10 it than the
Christians, and their exemption is ascribed to
their aosiainlng from pork, aud using frequent
additions Z 10 the west Indies, the blacks and
colorsd races are the most affected while the Jews
appear TO suffer in the next degree, and in some
paris OF Jamaica they suffer more than auy. The
native in India aud the Chinese appear at the
present time TO be subject TO the disease than
any other peoples. In the Presidency of Bombay,
aud the Deccan there villages in which lepers
exceed one per cent of the populations Thereare
900 10 the leper asylum at Canton, and $500 are
supposed TO be getting their living in the city as
beggsrs and Pedders.
XL The inquiry into the circumstances which may
produce foster eephantissis is connected with its
local distribution. II was in Norway that it was
first observed that the disease prevails most on the
seaeoasi, where the people live chiefly upon fish.
Extensive observations have since been made else
where, and it may be considered as well esiab-
lished, that those communities who live mainly
upon fish, and those whose chief meat is the
flesh OF lifted pigs, the most subject 10 ele
phantiasis. Tue tendency is aggravated where
the fish and pork generally sailed. The
jews Of Jamaica, among whom the disease pre-
walls, eat more fish than any other part of the popu-
iafFou N IN the iu,por-arca ,f ,t,.s. H.. !