The Hawaiian gazette., 1882-02-22

TIE experiment that is being carried on,
at public expense, at the government dis
pensary in Kikihale and at the leper
hospital at Kakaoko, is of such nature as
to merit the thoughtful attention of all.
The hopes OF the Hawaiians have been
raised on the tiptoe of expectation that at
length successful headway is to be made
against the cancer, leprosy, that is eating
into their vitals. 1t seems fair that, in a
calm and Judicial spirit, an inquiry should
be made into the grounds on which these
hopes and expectations are based.
The health of the people is the supreme
law, says an old Latin maxim No one
who lives in this Hawaiian kingdom, or
who knows anything about the role that
imported diseases have played in the work
of determination that has gone on here,
will for a moment call in question the
applicability of this saying to our own
times and to this race. Every one will bid
God speed to any wise effort that can be
made, and will favor the expenditure of
any reasonable amount of money for the
care of the lepers and for attempts to cure
the terrible disease, leprosy; provided
always, that there is a reasonable ground
for expectation, and a sufficient guarantee
that the efforts put forth shall not undo
the work that has already been done. and
that the money expended shall not be
merely sunk in the ground, but shall give
promise of propUrtionately useful return.
The public has right also to demand of
the physician who shall undertake this
work not merely enthusiastic devotion,
novel speculation, strong convictions and
faith in himself with the power to assert
them with vIgor, but also such an evident
soundness and consistency of belief with
the established facts of science as shall
commend them to the understanding and
reason of those capable of Judging in
such matters.
The eronaut who should propose to
carry the precious freight of lives in his
balloon across the ocean would have to
give good guarantee, before he started,
that his passengers should not come TO
grief and meet their death midway in the
Pacific. 1t would naturally be asked of an
eronaut proposing such voyage, Have
YOU ever sailed through the air to such
distance before?" Is your balloon con
structed on sound, well known scientific
principles?" "How long have you been a
balloonistF' "What serial voyages have
YOU made? The answer to all these, and
many other like questions, would have to
be in the highest degree satisfactory, or
none but the most rash and venturesome
,-rould take passage with our nronaut
RI, supposing still farther that the zero
nont sshould declare that he had not seen
mncb of nssnlloons, in fact had never voy
aoeJ eC in n ono ne hut had made study of the
= 7biact 81 for sbo, It time and had originated
nm ent;reIv mi 81, new s tho, ry of balloons, based
on speculations of his o's' oth' no" 70 De Lcr
the first timeiput to the test, and -I s.la- nus
first voyage was to be this one through the
air, from one continent to another, how
many, think you, would then take passage
With him? T1h
A new government doctor has co@ a
among Us and with commendable sR ! oi
Of energy, plenty of confidence in himss--lf
and his theories, has drawn large numbers