The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-04-08
The Health of the Nation.

Doctor Fitch has rendered his report for the
past quarter on the Dispensary and the Leper
Hospital to the Board of Health.
He states the total number of new cases treat
ed at the Dispensary at 4O55, of which 274S were
treated for syphilis, sos for leprosy, 1877 for
coughs and colds, 81 for gonorrhBa, 81 for
asthma, and the rest for miscellaneous COM
plants. The expenses of the establishment are
enumerated and amount in all to $1,000 30. He
adds, @ for the last ten weeks of the quarter the
number applying has aggregated 100 a week,
and the last week it reached 1900 Monday,
March %, the number was 323, and goes on to
say, that one man cannot possibly attend to
such a number, and that he is doing his best,
hoping for assistance when the Legislature meets.
Meantime" he says. much suffering exists
which / cannot attend to-"
Promising that when Mr.. Carter put him in
charge of the Dispensary, etc, he desired him
8 to act as medical adviser of the Board, - he
offers some lengthy remarks on leprosy, our laws
in regard to it. and the present and the past adj
ministration of them.
He states that mis- inquiries lead to the belief
that the cases of leprosy treated since he took
charge of the Dispensary, comprise a majority
of those ut large now in the kingdom" and he
puts down the total number of lepers in the
kingdom at 1900. THE disease, " he adds, is
however, everywhere among us, members of the
police, the soldiers, the band, pastors of
churches, teachers, students, are all among the
sufferers. That sos cases should apply for treat
ment in a single quarter shows that the en-
deavor to enforce the law Of segregation as it has
been carried on here for years has been a most
complete failure and considering the kindly low
ing nature of the native race and the heartless
manner in which sufferers have been treated, the
only wonder is that as many cases have been
sent to Kalawao as are there now"
Doctor Fitch then goes on to say that as his
opinions have been made IA matter of public COM
ment he desires to take the opportunity to make
his views known " as far as they NAV concern
the public at large" He then proceeds to e-
plain and defend the thesis that 'tLeprosy is the
fourth stage of syphilis, a stage that white men
are exempt from in a vast majority of cases, first
by reason of hereditary immunity as to which
he quotes Jonathan Hutchinson) and second by
reason that medical science has made such adj
vances that If Eve cannot kill the disease syphilis,
we can certainly arrest it," In his subsequent
argument he refers to the prevalence of syphilis
in Europe in the 18th century when no rank of
society escaped its ravages, a prevalence which
was synchronous with Il great development of
leprosy. He quotes in this connection from Van
Buren, and Keyes and from Brumstead. He then
proceeds TO state the reasons which confirm his
belief derived from the history and present mani
f~estation of syphilis and leprosy on these islands.
He contends that anpsthesia is common to
both diseases, quoting Erasmus Wilson, Van
Buren and Reyes. Fournier, and Gross in support
of his views. His points are LIST, that leprosy
made its appearance in the wake of syphilis as
soon as the latter disease had had time "to
perneate the community - ID, that no case of
leprosy exists to which syphilis, either inherited
or acquired, was not the actual antecedent Sd,
that in a large number of cases presented to him
at the Dispeusary he found it impossible to dis
tinguish the Diseases 'the same sore throat,
the same deep-scated pains, the same copper
coIored tubercles and sores. the d~iseasesu
bones. necrosis and sioughing. common to- bo.ns
the cracked and furrowed tongue, the local~2-
d%urations Of cellular tissue and the ansis;hesia
or want Of feeling" being present in both cases
4th. that the only treatment that does any good
in syphilis is the only thing that does good in
Ieprosy 9Th, that both are alike incurable, and
both amenable To treatment, rs to which he
quotes several authorities and 9th, that over
and over again he has seen parents with syphilis
and their children with leprosy, some too young
TO have the disease unless by heredity. and on
the other hand leprous parents b~egetting plainly
marked s~yphilitio children. i'These" he says,
''are n few and only a few Of my reasons for be-
ieving these diseases Identical"
The report thus proceeds: But let us turn
from disputed points to one where 1 think 1 am
justified in saying medical men here all agree,
namely a person with syphilis presents a most
favorable field for leProsy to work upon. Now,
If this be true and the statement made at 4 recent
meeting Of physicians by one of the oldest and
most favorably known Of the medical fraternity
Of Honolulu also be- true. namely, that four
1ths Of the natiye population Of the islands are
infected With syphilis, l believe this statement
too mild what II the duty of the Government in
the premises ? Let US couple the two facts for
all practical purposes every native Of this group