The daily herald. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1886-1887, 1886-11-10
LEPRosY.


dreaded from the remotest ages. In
olden times the malady was regarded
as contagious, and the unhappy victims
of the leathsome disease were separ-
ated from their fellow-men, and com
PEELED to dwell apart from the rest Of
the world, in cities or houses provided
especially for them. In ancient times
the disease seems to have been con-
fined almost entirely to oriental coun-
tries; but at the present time the ma
lady appears to be making tour of
the world, and it is now to be found in
almost every country and every large
city in the world.
The cause of this much dreaded
disease has been the subject of much
speculation and study. In an able
lecture on this subject, Dr. Jonathan
Hutchinson, the famous English sur
geon, remarks as follows respecting the
cause of leprosy: "My theory about it
is this: That the disease must depend
upon some article of food, some kind
of poison, since it is not contagious.
II we can believe that it is due to some
kind Of poison, SO that one person may
get it while another may not, then |
think we have plausible explanation
of its causation. l suspect fish, and
more especially fish which has been
somewhat decomposed, or has been
salted, and think all the facts about
leprosy support this supposition. You
have been told by some that it occurs
in places where they do not eat fish,
but they are nearly always on river
or lake, or, if elsewhere, it is among
the poor people, who have to eat fish
transmitted to them under very disad-
vantageous circumstances.
"Now, when leprosy is met with in
temperate climates, as, for instance,
when it prevailed IN England, then
probably the consumption of fish was
very large, and can easily show you
that as civilization has increased, as
the cereals have been more grown, SO
the consumption of fish per head has
diminished. Fishing was one of the
earliest occupations of savage man.
Again there were laws at one time, as
regards the consumption of fish, which
tend to show how much more common
an article of diet fish was then; you
know, for instance, that apprentices
contracted not to have to eat salmon
more than three times a week, and that
goes to show how very much more COM
mon it was at that time. Since it
occurs sometimes in places where the
supply was likely to be fresh, perhaps a
large quantity of it will have the same
effect, but the fact of its being fresh is
not altogether proved in these cases.
| am not prepared to say that the in.
gestion Of healthy fish in any quantity
will cause it; but | do maintain that a
comparatively small quantity of fish 50
poisoned will have the effect. ] am
aware that if you talk to those who
have lived in leprosy districts where it
has just become prevalent, if you take
the opinion Of the medical observers IN
those districts, they will say that the
fish hypothesis will not hold, that those
who suffer from leprosy do not eat
more fish than anybody else; but in all
cases l have found oninquiry that there
were always some facts which might
explain it. Now il is a curious fact
that the Cinnamon take it about with
them, and it seems to me that it is be-
cause they dish up things which are
not wholesome, that leprosy attaches to
them. Some American friends tried to
confute me by saying that at Sydney
they did not eat much fish, but my
patient refuted them.
"My last remarks concern the pa
tient from South Africa, who lived
upon the mountains at a considerable
hight, in wine-growing district, not
near river and more than one hun
dred miles from the sea; but he told
ME that they have fish, of course from
the sea, together with alarge quantity OF
salted fish, and that when these arrivals
took place, they would live on fish
almost exclusively for week at time.
/ alluded to its existence In Spain;
now Spain is still Catholic country,
where it is duty to eat fish on certain
days, and yet fish is very difficult to
obtain inland, and large supply of
fish is sent there from Bergen, where
there is the largest collection of leprosy
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