The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-03-18

lished in that Journal April 10th, 1870. After
speaking of the internal treatment used, which
|" consists in the administration Of the hguelr
msTe1rieie de Van Slciefen DIR. b. says:
Bat the chief means consists in the external application Of
the oil Of the cashev-uui. which possesses very powerfully i'm
tsni and almost epispastic qualities.
- Tie action Of the oil is slow.
Is 10 restore sensiblity 10 parts previously Inseusible, to pro
its formal aspect"
The treatment was introduced into the British
West Indies among the lepers there, and having
met the expectations that were entertained in
regard to its efficacy, its fame was Immediately
spread far and wide, and the subject was thought
of 80 much importance, that the British Govern
nlent, in order to investigate scientifically the value
of It's claims, sent out on a commission for that
purpose, an eminent physician from England
DIR. Gavin Milroy-whose reports we believe were
lot contradictory of what had been previously
alleged in its favor.
Although not definitely informed as to the
miautie of the results obtained in the different
countries where the treatment has been tried, We
understand it has been used in England, China,
and India, besides the countries previously men
toned, and can only wonder why it has not been
imp0rted-as We are reliably informed it never
has been-into these islands, especially when We
consider that the leper population of this country
is larger in proportion to the whole, than in that
of almost any country known-the ratio being
nearly one in fifty.
At a meeting of the Clinical Society of Lon
don, reported in the Lancet May 4th, 1872, the
subject of the treatment of Leprosy being under
consideration. the physician to the skin depart
ment in University College Hospital said that,
" the oil of cashew in his hands had been very
successful in this respect, dispensing the tuber-
cular formations) though it required to be used
with care
These of course are disjointed and meagre stats
tics, nor do we intend to make them the text for a
long sermon but still they are sufficiently sug-
gestiVe of q future possible good to the people of
this country, that might reasonably warrant the
slight effort that alone would be necessary ON the
part of our Government to obtain this medicine
and give it a trial.
This, as we all know, has not been the first
Wanted panacea for leprosy that has been heard
of; but it is the one best supported by respecta-
BILE testimony. COndurango, as well for leprosy
as for cancer, was not long since a boosted cure j;
then came the HydrOcotyle and the Asclepias
gigantea, both of which latter medicines were i'm
ported and tried here, but without effect, by a
physician yet in the country, and an ex-member
of the Board of Health.
When a great desideratum is being looked for
in any community, it frequently happens that the
air is filled with false cries of Eureka ! uttered by
people anxious for the expected reward Of their
discoveries, and it is not to be wondered at that
the ignorant knaVe, estimating others from his
own calibre, should be foremost as well as loud
est, in asserting the priority as also the superla-
tive character of his claims. Especially is this so
in regard to medicine and its application to dis
ease; and thoughtful people, by the frequent dis
appointment of hopes thus exalted, have learned
to be wary of the charalatan and his wares.
Others there are, who from a false analogy, would
condemn all, irrespective of their motive, who
would step out of a rusty groove to declare against
the belief that " all things continue as they were
from the foundation"
With a people like the Hawaiian, among whom
leprosy prevails so extensively, there can be no
greater boon looked for than q remedy for that
disease, and knowing this, their anxiety has re-
garded neither bounds nor reason in estimating
the assertions Of quackery and ignorance and
disappointment has always been the result. But
while this should engender a feeling of caution,
and a tendency to balance well any fresh claim
that may be advanced in favor of a specific, it
should not be pushed to the exclusion of all flu
ture evidence in respect to claims that may show
less of empiricism than the voice of authority,
whose traditions we would, otherwise, accept.
1t is poor logic that would generalize from one
fact and it would indicate a great narrowness of
mind, if, because we have been more than once
deceived by promised cures for leprosy, we should
always look with distrust upon all measures that
are directed to that end, without discrimination
in regard to their value as deduced from the
probable incentives, as well as the character of
those by whom they are offered, and the nature
Of the testimony adduced in their favor.