Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1884-08-02
sygggg ,TyoN or IgpERs.

College has published an able paper on
the prevention OF leprosy by means Of
segregation. Doctor Garter has, as Is
well known devoted great deal Of
attention to this subject, upon which he
j. in fact able to speak with an author
ity 70 which few men in this country
can lay claim A year or two ago We
were very forcibly reminded by some
painful disclosures which were made III
a case tried in one of the police courts
of the danger to which the public are
at present exposed The evidence
adduced upon that occasion showed that
even IN the Bombay dhuuumsala for
lepcrs ii was not an uncommon thing
for the unfortunate married persons az
ilictcd with leprosy TO propagate their
miserable species 1t was hoped that
the indignation aroused by these reve-
lations would have led to some effective
measures being taken by the govern
ment or the municipality to segregatc
leprosy cases, but nothing, We believe,
has yet been done. Since that time
the publication OF the census returns
has shown how great is the need that
exists in this presidency for the estab-
lishmcn, OF asylums such as those
which have been tried with so much
success in Norway. In this city alone
we find from Doctor Weir's report
that there were 45o lcpers enumerated
in 1881, as compared with 2o9 in 1872
The presidency, as a whole, exhibited
similar increase. The number Of
lepers in the provinces increased from
2,So7 in 1872 to 6,445 in 1881 giving a
ratio OF in 1904 ofpopulatlon. The
commissioner, MIR. Baines, directed
special notice to these figures, in the
hope tha, one of the results Of the cen
sus would be to "attraCt the attention
of government to the deplorable con
dition of these poor creatures He re-.
minded us that in the whole OF India
there are only three Institutions set
apart for the exclusive reception OF
lcpers. One OF these is at Calcutta,
another at Madras, and the third at
Bombay How inadequate the latter
is has already been shown. Doctor Garter
in his paper reviews the latest known
statistical data regarding the 'enligh.
tened proceedings of the Norwegian
Government, and concludes with several
practical suggestions. He commences
with the important remark that the
mcthodical isolation of lepers in Norway
has during the past twenty-five years
been carried on with unremi,ting effort,
the result being a decided drminution
ofthe number of afflicted persons The
statisticshe quotes are necessarily osome
extent unreliable, but Doctor Carter,
after making all allowances, thinks that
the diminution in the number of cases
during the years iS56ISSo was no less
than one thousand, and as leprosy is
practically incurable, it follows that this
great change has been wrought by
isolation. r. CaktKtia Times.
Notwithstanding the opinion eX-
pressed in the rcpor, of the committee
appointed by the Royal College OF
Physicians, and published some twenty
years since, that the segregation OF
lepers in India was undesirable, an
opposite opinion has gradually but
surely gained ground, until now, with
but few notable exceptions II is gener-
ally entertained by such as have had
an opportunity Of studying the history
OF leprosy. Such facts as are noted in
the foregoing article afford an ample
denial OF the hypothetical conclusion
arrived at by the committee, that
"leprosy will disappear from India the
same as it has done from Europe under
the influence of progressing civilization
and the improvement of hygienic con
ditions. Taking comparative view
OF the census statistics as there laid
down, We see that in the provinces
named the number of lcpers has, in
each case, been more than doubled in
the short space of nine years. Such
facts as these, even if taken alone,
would, doubtless, ere long be instru-
mental in efiecting the adoption OF
measures looking TO segregation as 4
means of suppressing the diseases, no,
only in India, but elsewhere. There
are other reasons, however which must
eventually add weight to the conclu.
sions arrived at in this way. Among
these may be mentioned the growing
belief among many physicians who are
engaged in the methodical study OF
leprosy that the disease, though, per.
haps, like syphilis and tuberculosis,
heredi.arily transmissable in cases, is
still far less so than was supposed to
be the case A few years since. Also
the fact, now demonstrated beyond the
peradventure OF doubt. that the
disease is attributable solely TO the ex