New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-06-04
s.eprOsy in Canada.

. In tho Arcadian village of Tracadie,
! near the mouth Of the Miramichi river, says
| the Toronto (Canadis) Globe, there have been
| lepers for the last eighty or ninety years.
! a hospital .0r their benefit is supported by
| the local government. A CORRESPONDENT Of
the Cturca JourHal, who has recently made
a visit to the establishment. SAYS the
laZaretto, though well kept as far as it goes,
is much too small TO furnish the requisite
accommodations. The sexes are kept apart.
ana everything i5 done for the comfort OF
the untorJnuates that is possible with tho
means placed at the disposal of those
who manage the institution.
The leP?o-y which they suffer is eiephau-
taSjS gr0coT2nls, SO called from its tendency
TO mako the Ii,nbs swell to elephantine pre-
portions. This disease IS understood to have
been brought there by O French vessel
which, On lt5 return voyage from Smyrna
touched at the island OF Mitylene, and took
il quantity Of clothing and some other
stores, and On her way to Beaubaris island.
French military port, she was wrecked
near the mouth of Alramichi. The people
in the nejghborhood played the part of
wreckers and helped themselves to the
clothes cast ashore, which were supposed
10 be tainted with ieprosy, the consequence
OF which was that the disease soon broke
out among them. Another account is that
the vessel brought two lepers from st.
Maloes, and that every leper known in Ira
cadie descended from one or the other Of
these men.
Tho opinion there is that the disease is
not contag gious, bat simply hereditary. The
people have no dread of it, and persons en-
gagged about the leprrs for years never con-
tract the disease. Not only do the iepers
marry among themselves, but such is the
feeling among the poor French in Tracadie
that there Is no Tepugnance in many cases
among perfectly healthy people to taking
lepcTs for husbands and wives. The taint
generally manitests itself in every alternate
generation. In this way the disease las be-
come permanently seated in the locality,
while the general poverty and not very
cleanly habits OF the French population
tend to excite and intensifyit
1t first shows itself in the form of small
white spots on the breast, then the face
assumes puffy appearance, and there is
much pain, langour and drowsiness. The
fingers become crooked, the neck swells,
the limbs show all the symptoms of dropsy,
the nails fall off, and at last the throat and
lungs are attacked, and the sufferers dies,
mere mass OF loauhesome disease. Its dura-
ton varies from five TO twenty-five years,
according to the strength of constitution.
LaprOsy is not nearly so rare disease as is
generally supposed. 1t is on the increase
in many of the British dependencies. In
some parts of India one person in every
hundred is a eper, and in some parts of
the West Indies, as well as in the Sandwich
Islands, it is also very prevalent. LeprOsy
is generally thought to be incurable. 1t
may be mitigated TO some extent by cleanli
ness and attention to diet, but that is all.
The certain prospect of death from such
disease must be horrible beyond concep.
finQ