The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-12-18
BERGEN, NORWAY, Nov. 9, 1889.
Dec. IL, 1889.

De dpl0 10 express Ill SELL We'll SAOuSh
to be understood.
The questions you treat of in your
letter cannot be we'll answered with
out writing a treatise and that would
be little too much for you and for
me.
As to durability of leprosy [ can
have no idea of the influence OF
climate thereupon, as I never saw
the disease in the tropics. 1t is true
that with us some patients leave our
hospitals cured, but I will not pre-
tend, that they are cured by tie
treatment. I am more inclined to
think that leprosy is cured, prin-
cipally at any rate, in its natural
course without the interference of
any treatment, if the patients only
live long enough. All the leprous
eruption, the tubers as we'll as the
patches, disappear in due time, but
generally the tubercular patients die
before the due time.
[ have, however seen tubercular
cases, in whom all tubers had dlsap-
peared; there only remained anaes-
thesia as in the other form Of the
disease; and the patients in whom
there is only left anaesthesia without
any skin eruption I for my part con-
slider as cured of leprosy; the anaes-
thesia is only the bad consequence
of the disease. Sometimes it hap
pens that the skin eruption, when it
consist only of patches, morphoea,
disappears without having any
anaesthesia, but that is very seldom,
for generally the nerves are attacked
very early, and it is rarely the case
that the nerve affection is cured
without leaving anaesthesia In later
years DIR. Unna, in Hamburg, pre-
tends that he cures the disease by
the remedies named in your letter
resorcine, pyrogellic acid and icthy-
ol-but I can have no certain opinion
in this matter, as / never saw any of
his patients. Meanwhile, DR.. Dan
ielsen here has tried his treatment,
and, as far as his experiments hither-
to 60, the results are not better than
by other treatment.
You see that l cannot give you
any valuable facts on the treatment
of the disease.
In my opinion it is safest to con-
slider the disease as incurable and to
lay all ones power on the prevention
of the disease. In this respect much
can be done. The disease being con-
tagious, but probably very little so,
cleanliness alone is, IN my opinion,
enough to prevent it. / consider the
spread of the disease in Norway as
only depending on the want of
cleanliness among our peasants and
on the want of fear Of the contagi
BUSINESS of the disease, which has
prevailed among us till late years,
the consequence Of which has been
that people have had unlimited in
tercourse with lepers. Probably this
is the case in Hawaii also, as I judge
from all what I have read and heard
about the country.
In 1856 and 1861 we had here in
Norway three asylums for lepers,
into which up to this day have bee n
taken in about 1000 lepers. These
have in this way been isolated from
the sound population and have not
been able to contaminate anybody.
The consequence of this is that
while in 1856 we had about 5000
lepers in Norway we now have
hardly 1000. I cannot just now give
you the exact figures as the stats
tics for 1888 are not yet ready; the
task of making up the statistics for
Norway is little difficult as the re-
ports from the different physicians
in the tolerably large country do not
come in as speedily as they ought to
do. But at any rate they can be no
doubt on the point that the isolation
of the lepers is the chief cause of
the diminution Of the disease in
Norway.
I have also in the last fifteen years
steadily written and talked of the
disease as a contagious one and most
peopie now consider it as such a one
and the consequence is that they
have become more cautious in their
intercourse with lepers. At the
same time our peasants have made
great progress in cleanliness, and /
hope that the disease In some forty
or fifty years shall have disappeared
totally or nearly SO from Norway.
How far our measures can be
quite as good for your country as
for this, i cannot tell.
It depends much on the state Of
society, and i have no idea what
modification it would be necessary
to make in the arrangements fol
obtaining isolation, this being the
only means of extinguishing the
disease.
lie the Hawaiian Government
would pay for the expense of the
voyage I should like very well to see
the tropics once and gather more
experience on the disease, which
have studied almost all my life. Per
haps I could be of some use to you
If you should wish further details
regarding our measures against the
disease I am ever at your service.
am, dear sir, yours truly,
fSi0nad q. AMAUER HANSEN.