The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-05-13
Havana Lepers.

| II ludLICl hhlIuJ lloHi I'D HCIQllIl llOt-
ror, am not likely readily to forget, was
a visit made to the Hospital de San Laz-
aro, at Havana, the home of the lepcrs.
This ancient and terrible disease finds
many victims among the low-castc Gu
bans and the poverty.strickcn Chinese,
though it reaches its gaunt fingers into
better society sometimes. Leprosy is
either inherited or induced by poor food,
and especially by the eating of stale fish.
It seems TO be a fsh-eater's disease; in
fact, seldom prevailing at any great dis
tance from the sea. Leprosy, as seen in
the West Indies, is simply dry rot.
The soul of a man is imprisoned in his
body long after he is, to all intents and
purposes, dead, and, with all his mental
faculties intact, he must endure the
gradual falling apart of his earthly tene'
ment, awaiting with what philosophy he
may the hour when the cancerous agent
shall touch vital point. This may not
occur for many years; it may happen on
the morrow. The traditions of the hos
pital do not point to any individual case
of cure whereby the patient may gain
ever so faint hope. 1t might we'll be
inscribed over the portal "Let those
who enter here leave all hope behind"
There were FIVE of US in the party
which drove out through the hot streets
towards the forbidding suburb facing the
sea-Dr. Burgess, an American resident
physician and United States sanitary
officer; an invalid doctor from Hartford,
and three journalists. San Lazaro is
located just where, in more modern
city, we might look for big and prospe-
rous hotel. It looks out across few low
houses upon the fair prospect of the har-
boris mouth, and the sea sends its unfct-
tered waves straigh hit in from the north
ward, dashing up the spray almost to its
walls. The place was founded by phi
lanthropic Spaniard within trihe of 200
years ago, and was restored in 1878. A
liberal bequest of neighboring property
has always afforded an ample revenue for
its support, but within a short time the
government has converted portion of
its property, and, as one of the officials of
the institution remarked, matters were
"not so good" In form the hospital isa
large quadrangle, centeriDg upon a
chapel. A high wall divides the wards
of the men and the women. We entered
the male department first. The leading
popularity of the first patients met lott
ering in the corridors was clay-like ap-
pearance of the skin and depression or
caving in of the nasal portion of the face.
The nostrils and lobes of the ear were
globular and boles were formed over the
eyebrows. The voices of the men were
nearly all changed, sounding indistinct
and painful. Patients were hidden to
approach, who hobbled to us upon the
stumps Of limbs long since robbed by the
process of disease, of feet and ankles,
and they held out for our inspection mis-
erable remnants of arms, shrivelcd,
warped and decayed, and yet these arms
found cunning enough to grasp and re-
move hats from matted heads of hair
when we rendered a few bits of Spanish
currency.
We saw in these lower corridors per-
haps forty men. Some were new comers,
upon whom the disease had put but few
marks as yet. Others were almost ready
to go to the hopeless ward above, where
we presently climbed. Here, upon beds
in double row, were the vestiges of
| what had once been men-corpses which
breathed in speechless agony through the
long week, and which yet clung to life
as though even under these conditions it
was sweet to exist. Tattered drapings
hung from these breathing skeletons,
whose every pose was the attitude of de-
spair. No picture of Dores illustrative
Of the Inferno could overdraw a scene
like this. Enough of this. 1t was with
great relief that we walked across
pleasant garden, planted with bananas
and figs, and entered the woman's ward,
under the guidance of fat devout
mother superior. All respect to her and
her staff of nuns, who labor here among
the hopeless, pointing their faiuting steps
upward and shaving through the heat of
years to alleviate the suferings of those
with whom they are appointed to live.
The scenes amid the women were but a
repetition of those across the rectangle
A few were telling their beads, some
sewed, and all were neat in person and
surroundings to the last degree. e A bright
little boy ran toward us with an orange
in either hand. He was the pet of the
hospital. His mother was an inmate far
gone with the disease. He was not yet
old enough to know the fate that awaits
him. What a pity this bright little chap
is not taken as subject for scientific ex-
pertinent. Can it not be that there exists
some means of driving.out the venom
and building up the system of the un-
happy progeny of lepers with healthy
tissues ?-Havana Letter to the Ncw York
| Times.