The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-07-22
IT. b. con iaHe5l.)
Tubercle ard Lepr0sy.


The following il tie substance of the letter re-
ferred to by oa. London Correspondent. nd
dressed TO The Tiote, by the Surseon-Genrra Of
the British Arm, uu MS subject -
- Ia the Editor If me Times.
..SR.-lt was Only very recently, on my return
from a heightened Eastern tour, that my attention
was drawn 10 Professor Tyndtll's letter which
appeared in The Times Of the ODD Of April, to-
gether with your comments on the very import
ant subject-matter OF this distinguished scItutIs, :
communicates on the Nature OF Tubercle.
| say important. tor surely It would be imposzi-
BILE To ezaSSeTate the benefits which must result
To suffering humanity from the brilliant light
thus thrown on the nature Of tubercle through
the painstaking researches OF DR.. Koch. But
the light thus thrown on the intimate nature OF
this diseased product, tubelcle, is, in my view,
reflected on other forms Of disease hitherto con-
sidered widely apart from each other. When
commenting on this subject you have spoken OF
- the enormous superficial unlikeness existing
between tubercle and the eruptive diseases, and
so, too. it might be affirmed, as between those
diseases and another apparently 50 utterly dis
similar "a lePrOsy and yet do not hesitate to
express my deep conviction as to the intimate ma
ture Of this last cachexia being, like the two
former, equally dependent on tie gFOl0h Vithin
the body of disease producing bacilli. =
The literature Of leprosy is a very extensive one
the result of the Iuhr.s of many earnest men,
who have s'riven to throw light on the mystery
which obscures it's eunIogy. And, doubtless,
their failure TO do so has been, for the most part,
if not altogether, owing 70 their not having had
recourse to that experimental method whIc''
both Professor Tyndall ard you Illustrate so
wisely and so sell, and whose application to tie
elucidatiun II leprnsy will, without fail, ulti-
mately bring ir within the category OF preTcn-
tig~ : Sa9 d=ssf7Esssa s Tst tatftfer ida qd1 raS~aas S-r-r-r-
method has yet to be applied to the disease in
question, it Is, nevertheless, perfectly true that
iu6trpptlV tItrnugh the ifUit IL has thrown I'm
other forms of disease, II Is quite possible to read
within the lines the pTOXimate conditions which
obtain in leprosy and he would be but Il super
fetal thinker who could fail TO apply Clhud Ber-
naTds teaching to the explanation of many, i
not of all those conditions. Assuming, there
fore, the observer to be in India, and enjoying
the numerous opportunities that country pre-
senIs OF studying ieprosy in its every phase, and
further, guided by the teaching of the illustrIou,
Frenohman, he would scarcely fail to find that he
was. i'll truth, in the presence Of a disease which
Notwithstanding the enormous superficial un-
likeness which Won have in your comments -
Justly insisted on with respect TO tubcrcle and
the eruptive ievers, il, nevertheless, akin 10 both
those diseases in respect OF cdusatiOn- diseases
which. thanks 10 tie experimental method. have
now been shown to be the product o. discase-prO-
duc'ng bacilli and. further (weTe this the place
TO insist on iO, he would find additional evidence.
equally strong. to establish the intimate relation
ship existing between all those diseases in respect
of proximatc causatior, even in the cons ilutiOnaI
disturbance which precedes their attack, and
from which each disease DIVORCES in the direction
of its characteristic manifestations. The mega
tive evidence, therefore. is all but as strong as II
the positive proof had been adduced to establish
the micTGphytic source of leprusy-strnng enough
in my regard, at least. 70" il led me m,re than
ten years ago TO avail myself Of the opportunities
which three leper hospitals existing within the
wide circle OF my administrative duty IN the
Southern Presidency Of India to put it to practi-
cal proof. And, casting about for an agent pos
sessing properties adapted to The conditions pres
ent in the leper, / selected carbohc acid, not only
on account of it's being Of all known agents the
most destructive Of low forms of organic life, but
equally On account of its volatility and difusi-
bility with aqueous vapor at the boiling point of
water. Thus diluted, this acid ceases to be the
highly lrritant substance it is in its solid and
liquid condition, for when in ASSOCIATION with
watery yapor at a high temperature ir exists IN
all but In Il molecular state, and Is then presented
to the lePer's body CONFINED in a suitable and
simple impermeable apparatus, aud breathing
through a mOuti-piece fitted to q tube communi-
eating with the outer air) in a condition fitting 1t
TO pass into the body through the cutaneous sur
face, saturating. so TO speak, it's every tissue with
an agent in no way Injurious to human life when
thus employed, and alone destructive of the mi
c~rOphytlc life, the true source of his suferings.
: Had it been possible a very different
class Of lepers would have been selected on which
to test the treatment, but as this. for reasons
hbAeA AAiNA itA NC Iltib III IplAl4 WI Z
il was necessarily confined to the inmates Of the
three Ieper hospitals. of all others the most un-
PROMISING. because in all, without one single ex-
ception, the primary force Of the disease, acting
on the nervaton which d inmates on the struc
turaI nutrition OF the body, its control, 50 tn
speak, having been for the most part abolished.
structural changes had, in all of them to a greater
or lesser extent, resulted in the mutilatiOn and
disagreement SO characteristic Of the terrible
malady. Again, misery and pTivatiOn are uHI-
versally regarded as very important factors in
calling the disease into being, and there was not
one Of the wretched inmates of those asylums
who had not had a lifelong struggle with those
conditions, only seeking the shelter they afforded
when no longer able to drag on their weary lives
O utside their walls; while within them they
were compelled to exist on a pittance Of a little
under %. a day, which provided them with a
scan,y meal Of salt fish and rice-a diet which l.
universally regarded as that on which lcproSy
Ives. With such u~nprOmislng subjects TO work
upon was scarcely prepared for the results
which followed the treatment during the time it
was conducted in those leper hOspitals-results
which. to impartial observers who witnessed it.
were almost conclusive Of the correctness OF the
views which had led to it's adoption. In the few
cases in which the treatment was had recourse to.
in the earlier stages of the disease, the results
were equally satisfactory, the cure Of one case,
| that OF a SepOy. having been reported 10y Surgeon
( Major Cook, MD. of the Madras Army.
| That the treatment l. a snie one experience has
shown me. No complicated apparatus IL needed
more than would be supplied by a vapor-proui
envelope Of sufficient capacity to retain the pa
TENTS body except his head, that part through
which the neck protrudes grasping it so as to
prevent the escape Of the vaPor. Even were he
to breathe a little Of it little injury would result
possibly good. but still, for obvious reasons, he
should not be allowed to breathe too much \
vessel Of sufficient size to contain about a quart
Of liquid and made with a heightened curved
spout to fit accurately on an elastic tube of sufi-
cient length as to pass within the vapor-proof
envelope will complete the apparatus. The cali
bre of this elastic tube should be such as would