Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1883-03-22
The Horrors Of Leprosy.

That loathsome disease, the leprosy,
is frightfslly on the increase in all the
Sandwich Islands. The Hawaiian Ga
Sette, an old established paper, is filled
with the accounts of its rapid spread
and the inaction or mistaken action of
the government in the premises. 1t
says, with reference to the situation in
and around Honolulu, that "men are
beginning to fear themselves, and to
consider if, by any means, this horrible
faint has got into their systems" The
Saturday Press says: sThere is not
district on the islands that has not in
some way or other conveyed its appre-
tensions on this score to the papers,
And it adds that while the government
organs are trying to hide the ghastly
secret by whitewashing the outer
part of our sepulcher and labelling it
clean, within it is full of fostering
sores and rotten bones." The leprosy
Subscribed by these experienced papers
as very peculiarly infectious disease.
Whoever takes it never RECEIVERS. All
that has the semblance of healthy hui
manity departs; it may be slowly, but
surely. His face wears the aspect of
the dead, his hands become full Of run
ming sores, his joints are all similarly
afflicted, and, to quote from the Ga
zette, she rots away and falls into the
grave by piecemeal." Leprosy, accord
ing to the same authority, may be
taken by a "elean' and healthy person
by smoking the same pipe leper had
smoked, by wearing clothes washed by
aleper, by an abrasion of the skin with
knife, scissors or anything handled
by leper. Yet in most Of the
islands lepers are found mingling with
the healthy, even in Honolulu; and it
is only by spaSms that the government
takes care to have them removed and
segregated Hence the rapid spread
of the horrible disease. The infected
are as liable to be at work on the sugar
plantations and in the sugar houses as
anywhere else. In this way it is pos
sible, even probable, that Hawaiian
rice and sugar may carry the distem-
per tC this city and elsewhere wher-
ever it goes. Why not, if cleanly
washed clothes may communicate it to
the healthy wearers? The GGzetts
says: "Mothers of families, household
ers and great many others are still
more or less alarmed. Many house
holder has of late years objected to
having washing done by Hawaiians on
account of leprosy." And It accepts
the very unpleasant fact that leprosy
is preying upon the vitals Of the ma
tion," adding that $50 far as the pub
lie know, little or no effort is being
made to segregate lepers who are liv
ing on the other islands,"
Reading and earnestly rejecting
upon these alarming accounts, we are
led to the conclusion that, unless the
Hawaiian government can obliterate
leprosy or at leastput Iepers apart from
the people so that the infection may
not further spread, the day is not far
off when we Of the Pacific coast viii
have to petition for close quarantine
against all Hawaiian shipping and an
exclusion of all its sugar, rice and
other articles Of domestic production.
This is what would be done if it were
cholera or plague or yellow fever; and
the leprosg is worse than all Of these
combined. They are but temporary
ills. This one comes to stay, and stay
ing imperils universal taint and putre-
faction Of the blood Of all exposed to
the infection. Francisco Chron-
icze