Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1883-04-21


liberty To feat in private 10y the simple rcitcfa
, ton OF doctrine before propounded by hin
| on more occasions than one. This doctrine |
asScttivc OF the unity VI the two diseases
syphilis aud lcptu>y, which he attempts {,
establish 10y sundy quotations from mcdca
authors, 10y few personal observations and b,
dogmatic assertions, opposed To the belief. !
not To the experience, NJ every physician IL
TINS community. Bearing In mind the fac
that the similarity of the TWO diseases is yer,
striking IN certain particulars, that this simi
lanly has been noticed by physicians in yari
nus parts Of the world almost since the tim,
when syphilis was first imported into Furop,
10y Columbus and his companions, and ais,
that notwithstanding all this observation, III,
Two diseases to-day are recognized by III,
leading YphilogmpherS and dcrma,oogis,s o
The world as perfectly distinct, IL is scarcely I,
| I've wondered At that DR.. Fitch should rcmait
solitary in the enjoyment Of his peculiar theory
| Opposed to him in belief are such men a,
DanielSscn and Boeck. who for more thar
| twenty years have devoted their time exclu
Slvely to the study of the disease where Their,
are more lcpcrs than here; Nnndykc Carter
and MacnamaIa, who ior years have made
q special study OF the disease in India, Eras.
mus Wilson, Tilbuy Fox, Gavin Milroy,
Bnsiowc, Reynolds, and Duhrng and host
/ Il.
hut, allowing that all these highly respectable
authorities may have been mistaken in their
diagnosis, and that 1t may be reserved for Or.
flteh TO ascend the pinnacle OF fame by proving
thcir error, let us consider the nature OF the
evidence and the kind of reasoning by which
he would have us guided
The assumption is something grand, when
| IN opposition to the verdict Of such dis.
tngushed men of science as those whose
names have Ign mentioned, and without
acknowledgement apology, or any shade OF
miSgiving as to the superiority OF his own
attainmen,s, he proclaims I'm my opinion,
lhis disease is nothing more than syphilis. "
lie goes on to tell us that 1.-THE disease here is
lar more severe than in other places;" but in
forms us at the same time that "thc reason is
easily explained The Explanation" OF this
reason is to be found in the fac, that iona.
than Hutchinson says: "Therc are also good
reasons for believing that syphilis has became,
during the last two centuries, milder disease
than it was when it first invaded Europe" He
goes on TO tell us that the disease was intro
dnced here by Captain Cook lone hundred
and Tour years ago" Speaking ofits effects upon
the natives, he says; "At first they died too
quickly to develope leprosy The next genera.
ton bore ii little longer, and succeeding
ones have hved-long enough to carry the dis
ease on, to its fullest development"
lie has sought to draw parallel from
Europe. How is i, that leprosy ravaged
Europe hundreds of years before syphilis was
known there at all; and why, if leprosy is only
syphilis, should the disease introduced by
Columbus, have had so dire an effect upon
people already so thoroughly syphiized as
Europeans generally must have been at that
timer Our case is the reverse Of that OF
/, g., 4
lis afterwards; here it has been syphilis first
and leprosy afterwards. 1t is fact generally
known among physicians, that syphilis has
been disease which for a long time has been
committing serious ravages among the Alas
kans; but that leprosy does not exist among
| them.
Dr. Fitch tells us, in his Legislative Report,
that, for all practical purposes, every native
in this group has syphilis" and yet he is very
careful TO explain in his leprous cases, that in
every instance this disease has been preceded
| by syphilis. How, in the name of common
sense, could it be otherwise, admitting his own
statement, that every native in this group
has syphilis The same kind of reasoning
might be applied to establish the syphitic
origin o! smallpox, or measles, or any other
eruptive disease to which the native might be
subject.
As set down by such distinguished dermato-
logists as Erasmus Wilson, and Tilbury Fox,
the LESSONS OF syphilis and those of lepfosy are
utterly distinct. Fox says: Danielssen and
Boeck think the primary seat of the disease is
the spinal cord. DIR. Vandyke Carter thinks
the disease commences in the superficial
nerves, and travels towards, but does not
reach the spinal cord. The most important
changes are in the nerves themselves" Those
most generally affected, says Fox, are: "The
ulnar, the median, the saphenous, etc., ending
in numbness and insensibility to irrtants, and
wasting of muscles" Gross says: "The
textures most prone to suffer in tertiary syphi-
lis are, the skin, mucous membranes, perioste-
UNI, bones, tibro cartilages, aponeuroses, ten
dons, ETC.; and Of the bones most prone to
attack he mentions first the long bones of the
exuemities, as the tibia and ulnar, then the
skull, the bones of the palate, the maxillary,
nasal, turbinated, and ethmoid bones, etc.
but singularly, if DR.. Fitchs theory be right,
makes no mention of nerve LESSONS, or that the
bones of the hand and foot are subject to spon-
| taneous amputation. (Vol. 1, page 3IS)
The bones attacked by syphilis are singularly
exempt from disease in leprosy; and vief peyya
| II the diseases were so similar in their external
characteristics as the Doctor would have PEG.
pie believe, it is strange that "the Hawaiians
make the diagnosis with great certainty and
rarely fail" Vide Emersons Report. The
Tahitians too, and other South Pacific
Islanders, where the disease prevails, have
long since recognized it as distinct from syphi.
lis, In Tahiti the name given to syphilis, is
| tona; to leprosy, oovi. But, to establish his
theory further, he says: "There are the same
per-colored sores, thick crusted with scabs;
the same aching bones,' etc. With the
Doctor, in regard to his last assertion, would
beg most decidedly to differ. In untreated
tertiary, the aching bones form an almost
constant and invariable symptom; but not so
with leprosy, which in numbers of instances
goes on from year to year without pain or an
ache. That nocturnal pains do occur in
leProsy, as in syphilis, am free to admit; but
not that such pains are nearly so constant a
symptom in leprosy as in syphilis.
| And now IN regard to cure. DR.. Fitch
says: Another objection made by physi-
clans to my positions is; Why cannot We cure
this disease as we can syphilis" His answer
IS an inaplicable quotation from DR.. Gross.
Gross in reality says; 1.-THE treatment of
and philosophical principles, and may therefore,
generally be pursued with certainty of
afording great relief, il not of ultimately
etiec,ing radical cure. Even the worst cases
may usually be immensely benefited in very
short time under the modern system of treat.
mentj and ! have repeatedly seen patients,
apparently on the very verge Of the grave,
defoImed and racked by pains, raised
to health and usefulness by a lew doses OF
medicine" Again, Bumstead and Taylor
write; 1--WE know tina, the great majority OF
cases tof syphilis, estimated as high as ninety.
tive per cent? which have been thoroughly
treated, are absolutely cured, and are never
followed by relapse" No such results have
been obtained in the treatment Of leprosy, by
d. Fitch, OF any other man. But, why not,
y the two diseases are identicall Erasmus
wilson mentions the fact tina, syphiitic treat.
meni asa general thing. does no good in
leprosy. lie also says 1.-THE phenomena Of
the syphlitic poison are reple,e with interest,
and the closer We investigate those phcno.
mena, both ln respect Of coniagion and man.