The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1883-07-14
THE LIBEL CASE.
Fitch v. Tnrum-The Medical Testimony
-Lepro y. Its Cause and Character
Test nony for the Prosecution. end
Defense,

Defense,
w. A. WI ting, Deputy Attorney-Gene : for
| the Crown; Messrs. Hatch and Russell, for the
prosecutions; 6. p. Dole, for defendant.
the Court assembled at 10 o'clock A. NJ. he
| follow ,ng gentlemen were drawn on the jury:
S. Magnin, C. r. Scarborough. S. Selig, j.
Spec, W. wenner, E. Kistler, G.. West, W.
Lishman. Jas. D.. Castle, Hugh Asehe, j. 81.
Bruins, Jr., J. C.. Quincy.
Mr.. Hatch opened the case by r~ecaDitu a .ng
| the grounds on which it was founded,
| viz, the pub':ca ION of a defamatory ar.;c'e in
the Saturday Press.
Albert Smith C lit. G.. TIN was pub
''...er of the Saturday Pes on May 5, of his
var; recogn- ,-d he copy of the paper b ouSht
in evidence rs a copy of the Saturday P:-ss of
May 5, 1888.
DR.. G. E. Fitch 'led-Am a physician r1d
surgeon practic:ng in Honolulu. Am Govern
ment physician of KoIa, Oahu, medica and
general superintendent of branch leper hoSpi-
tai on Oehu, aud genera' superintendent of
| leper set cement on Moloke-; hold a license to
practise on these is'r Ids; hold a 'icense to pra. =
tise medicine in the state Of C. ornia; also a
diploma to practise me- cine graute1 from
Bellevue Medical College, all ips tu',On author
lied to s-eat 6'plomes in New York City, dated
March /, 1870. The witness then read his ap-
p%ointment as physician . the dispensary, as
well as Governmeut physician, datsl October
20, 1881; ESQ appoint ment &c physician in
che -ge of brn 1ch hospi.e, for lepe 5; $50 a =
pointed as geners' supe-in: snde1t OF The lepe:
settlement at Mol0kc; at a sea- of 5000 per
annum, s. d sula-y D be L + | for all SCI Tices
rendered. Have been ON the is ?nds since
December II, 1880; was in chs -se of the no. h.
ell District of Kauc+; WIS here about en-
months; 1 remember the cs :e brop hit for ms
practice last Oc,ober; was ct Bellevue
hospital in OcDber 1859; was there
four months before receiving my C;ploma.
Never studi=i in Philadelphia, s ldied medi-
cine in Califo-r;a from 1865, for th:.ee- months.
Then went 20 San Jose, where l con 1nled my
medical stuC es under DR.. ndOff, s-ICio1 there
for some me; then went INFO a dentc' Office;
did not study dentistry; in 1867 went 70 San
Leand"o, and studied with DIR. Coleman. In
1868, under DR.. Soc-e, visiting physicien to
City HospitG, i'll May or June of 1869 com
menced attending reGu't- cor-se of ~ls2tores,
and continued to attend ultl | went 20 Be evue.
| never took eny esPecifl Course of study in
dentistry. The regulG- coU Sc OF study at Bell
we College includes seven chsirs lasts about
five months in az the best meG-cel colleges in
New York State. In Massachusetts they do not
require you to attend q "tl -ae ye"-s' course "
of study, but to attend three -esr'a- courses of
five months each. Have pGid especia. attention
to leprosy, do not b'nk that leprosy is durable,
1 think that it may be caused 20 Disappear, but
it may come back; it is a recu rent Csease;
have never told a patent any more .len that.
l believe leprosy 10 be a late stage or form of
sy ohilis have come to that conclusion by the
examination o. hundreds of csses. DR.. Enders
published a paper some Sme ago that he be-
lieved leprosy to be connected with sv DEilis;
believe that he has changed his opinion. DR..
TrouSSeau says that DIR. Crosse of Philadelphia,
wrote to him that be believed leprosy to be a
form of Syphilis. l know o. no textbook writ
ers who support the idea that sy 7hilis is the
base of leprosy do not regGrd SYPHILIS as the
besis of e. diseases to which the HGwf :ians are
liable. They ere human beings-st-ange as it
may appear to some-and liable 20 6 | diseases
that flesh is heir to. 1 think l have seen all
kinds of skin discs ses here. l wrote the
letter published in the Day Pacific
COMMERCIAL ADVERTISE of APP 10, 1882.
L do not believe leprosy to be contagious under
ordinary C. Circumstances; 1 believe its period Of
incubation to be about twenty-five days, be':ev-
ing it to be SYPHILIS. In sy )hilis Pmongst the
natives, a child born with syphiI.ic symptoms,
frequently, when about seven yeI-s of age de-
velopes into leprosy, acquired tep"osy. One
case developed in four months; other cases
cited where leprosy had developed from syphilis
in a ve-y short lime. Practically speaking, fully
so PEI cent of the Hawaiians have syph- lis.
SYPHILIS, during a certain period is con-
ag:ous it loses its contagious qualities
Bumstead says You cannot contract syphilis
from a patient with tertie-y syphilis ina case
of leprosy where mucous patches, conse-
quent upon syphilis, have appeared 1 believe
that to be contagious; in some eases of leprosy, it
may be, in the greater number OF cases it is not.
The Leper Settlement on Molokai is situated
on a point of land backed by a lofty precipice
this fiat was divided in two by an imaginary
line, and the settlement founded in 1866, on one
half on the other hGf there were some 3S per-
SONS living who were not lepers; in 1873 the
whole point or fiat was set aside as u leper
settlement he old kaamainas still continuing
to reside there in daily and hourly contact with
the lepers, but none of them have contacted
the disease. This is an illust at on of the fact
that the disease is not contagious ordinarily.
! think in the majority of cases that leprosy
is not ~transmissible by incubation. The pro-
portion OF nurses that come back with leprosy is
very SINAI; cannot estimate how many lepers
there are IA the Kingdom; have about $50 cases
locked up; there may be 800 or 400 at large that
wOr d be pronounced lepers; do not think there
9 e a great many cases at large; there is 40 resem-
blance between a corf med case of leprosy and
a well defined case of syphilis; there are many
cases that We cannot tell whether we shall cell
it leprosy or syphilis; L most emphatically do
think that segregation is necessary; the Board
of Health does not inter ere with me; [ Tm not
II policeman; cannot go around picking up
cases; i'll the case of Ka'uua, whose case was
cited, he has not contagious leprosy; there are
men andSwomen running ground here who have
syphilis who ought to be segregated; 1 do not
know of a single case now at large in Honolulu
that ought to be segregated; think 1 can tell a
case of leprosy; a mucous patch in the mouth is
as an undoubted symptom OF Syph-
ills; I would be ve-y cautious whom / would let
out; L think that the line can be d-awn clearly
defining whom we should isolate and whom not.
The doctor explained that he would use some
discretion in regcF ID to isolating those who had
sim mP"ks. In regard to the disease being car
ried from one 20 the other, The doctor explGined
that sexufl intercourse was the most common
way; the lepers who have been lately o'sche-ged
l believe to have passed the contagious stage; 1
regarded Mr.. Sr inner and Mr.. Kamof hGtau as
safe; DR.. Trousseau was down there some time
before, and s. d he thought the man ''Ssn" Ike
mOhakauJ ought to be kept a while longer, end
that Sumner would always be a leper. !
Eminent medicrl w-:ters say that leprosy is Z
lighter now than it was a hundred or two humid
red years age; DR.. Rodgers is nay assistant, End
takes charge of the dispensf-y when 1 am gone
to Molokai; have never closed the 6:spensary, or
obstrueted DR.. Rodgers in his duties. (Thts point
rcied as nothing to do with the case). l have
caused many cases of leprosy to disappear.
The Judge .uled that questions relating to the
Doctors treatment of patients must be considered
confidential). Have been ve4y careful in regard
to saying that 1 could CT e leprosy; I have never
claimed that 1 could ere leDrosy, except in a