The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-11-06

the establishment, as written III the records, /
ascertained with sufficient accuracy for all /
practical purposes. The first year opened I
with l41 lepers in the colony, of whom 1O3 |
were males and 80 females. The mortality |
for the year was 26. One man died at sea
during transportation to the reservation,
and ten were discharged. This is the record
for 1866 Up to November /, 1885, there
were admitted 3 .1O1 lepers, of whom 1885
were males and / ,116 females. The record
OF deaths and discharged for 1873 being IN
complete, it is impossible TO give the exact
totals under these heads. 1t is safe, how
ever, TO say that all the lepers admitted up
TO 1868 are dead, and that nearly all up to
1870 have also passed away. On the 1st of
January, 1885, there were III persons on
the leper roll at KalawaO. The largest
muster roll from the foundation of the set
Element was on August 10, 1884, at which
date it stood at 841, comprising 512 males
and 800 females. This was during the pres
ent Administration. and is a sufficient
reply to the charge that there has been neg
lect in segregating lepers. The second
largest number was on September 4, 1873,
when 800 inmates were recorded That
was the year Father Damien arrived and
found the deplorable state of things exist
ing as described in yesterdays ADVERTISER.
With the largest number of inmates to pro
vide for that, the records of the Leper
Colony show the present Board of Health
has reduced the administration of affairs
there to a system far more effective, salts
factory and humane than was ever before
attained. This fact should stand upon
record in the face of the world to their last
ing honor and credit. The biennial appro-
priation for the Leper Settlements is
500, 600, and the money has been judici-
ously spent. Had it been otherwise Kala-
wac and Kalaupapa villages would have
| presented a very different appearance.
CONTAGIOUS OR NON-CoNTAGIoUs
1t is not perhaps within the scope of a
newspaper article to discuss the etiOlOgy of
! leprosy, but inasmuch as this scourge is
the one blot upon the country, it is proper
! to state the observations made by the
writer. Evidence, absolute and conclusive,
of the contagiousness of leprosy was pre-
| scented to him. In each case, however, the
disease was very slowly developed. Father
! Damien, who has been close observer for
| twelve years, is convinced that the disease
| is contagious. DR.. Mouritz is of a similar
! opinion, contrary to the teaching of the
Royal College of Surgeons of England, of
which scientific and learned body he is a
member, his mind having been made up
from tracing the spread of the disease
abroad as well as by close observation and
! investigation at KalawaO. The manner in
! which cOntagion is communicated is, how
ever, a mystery-that is, it cannot be as
| accurately determined as in acute conta-
! gious diseases; but when the blood
! becomes poisoned by the virus whether
by inhalation or actual contact, its
| development, although slow, is as certain
and memorable as death itself. But there
! is nothing whatever in the contagiousness
| of the disease, so far as it is known, to
| create general alarm. 1t is not communi-
| Gated by casual contact like smallpox,
measles or fever. There is no chance of
contracting it in the open air, or in street
contact, in steamboats, or in vehicles of
transportation. Furthermore, some per-
sons are more predisposed to it than others,
and persons in low condition of health
are always more liable to contagion than
persons in robust health. With ordinary
care and cleanliness the chance of leprous
contamination of the general public is so
slight as not to give greater concern than
to induce caution. Consumption and can
GERS are contagious in perhaps greater de-
gree than leprosy; but their ravages do not
disgust the mind through the eye as lep-
rosy does. For this reason the consump-
tive and the cancerous are not segregated,
although if they were in all countries the
fatal ravages of these diseases would soon
be arrested, and the average health
and longevity of mankind be greatly
increased. But leprosy, being a re-
pulsive disease, suggests, as a precautionary
measure, the complete Isolation of the
afflicted, This is a very difficult thing to
do, and it is greatly to the credit of the
present and previous Governments since
1866 that so much has been accomplished
in that direction. This duty, at all times
difficult and unpleasant will be rendered
still more so if the idea should be spread
abroad, as is being attempted through a
medical journal published on the Coast
and in part reprinted here, that leprosy is
non-eontagiOus. If non-contagious, the
compulsory segregation of lepers is an
outrage which should not be tolerated
But the evidence is cumulative and CON
elusive that it is contagious, at least in
these Islands, where a fierce form OF lep-
rosy prevails; and therefore it is the duty
of all good citizens to lend their moral
support to the Government in executing
a law of public safety which, in its essence
imposes penalties upon individuals because
of an infection of nature, often induced by
the nObleSt acts of self-sacrifce and love OF
kin and blood. The natives have no fear
of the disease, yet they believe it communi.
communicable one to the other The
negative evidence adduced in the arti
Gle referred to, for the purpose OF
sustaining the theory of non-contagion, is
dissipated by positive evidence which the
history of several cases at the Leper Settle
ment furnishes. For example, Hoponi
who was declared leper few months ago
lived twenty-seven years with his wife
during twenty five of which she has been a
lepery and during the past five years both
have resided at the Kalawao Settlement
Now, this is a case in which the disease
was contracted precisely as cancer or con-
sumption may be contracted, only it's de-
| development was much slower He is still
a strong man. If he had been a weak one