The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-07-12
LEPROSY IN CANADA.

| The Theory That 1t Was Imported by
Sailors Early in the Century Opposed
by Facts.
The discussion of that awful and uuex-
| plainable disease, leprosy, says the Toronto
| Mail, directs attention once more to its
presence in remote part of New Rruns-
wick and to its appearance from time to
| time in the picturesque island of Cape
| Breton. How il came to these places is q
mystery. The general idea is that it is a
| disease peculiar to hot climates as for ex
ample, India and Palestine But this
theory is not really we'll founded for
| it prevails in northern countries and is met
with too frequently in Norway, Swed N
and even Iceland. From the popular YER
| dict as to location has come the belief that
it was brought to Canada early in the cen
tury by sailors who had visited the Levant
and who were either infected them selves or
had carried with them infected clothing
! Be this historical view of the case true or
not, certain it is that the disease exists AID
that fresh victims are found at not infre-
! quent intervals.
All the cases known to the officials are
confined in the Lazaretto at Tracadie,
| Gloucester county. At the end of last
| year there were nineteen lepers under treat
ment Since then, three new ca es have
been discovered, SO that there are twenty
| two cases now. The reports respecti e the
care tho patients receive are exceedingly
satisfactory. The Sisters of Mercy have
cha rge of the institution, and they have
made it exceedingly home-like and com
Portable. So good are the hygeaic iu-
! fuenceS of the place that there have been
several cures; but in every instance the
| cure has only been effected where the dis
| ease has been treated in the earliest stages.
AN AWFUL FAMILY HISTORY.
One of the places affected was in the
neighborhood of Lake O'Law. Victoria
county, a romantic spot surrounded b. lofty
hills and occupied by a vigorous farming
population. The first victim was the wife
| of farmer named Mccarthy. The hus-
| band has betrayed no sym otoms of the dis
ease, nor had anyone up to that time in tue
| vicinity. Yet tue woman was distinctly a
leper. She died after an illness of twelve
| years. There were eight children i'll the
family. One became a leper and die1 q ter
| twenty years illness, leaving a family of
six, all free from the disease. -Four Others
| took tine dl ease, while the remaining three,
| with their children, are, to all appear
ances, completely exempt from it.
A man who attended one OF the
| lepers i'll his illness took the disease,
d the husband of a daughter who
escaped took it. The latter patient, how
| ever, had slept before his marriage with his
future wife'S brother, who turned out TO be
| leprous. All efforts to obtain any evidence
pointing to the exposure of the first victim
to conditions favorable to leprosy have
failed. Some miles from Lake O'Law is
settlement of Highland Scotch people.
| These people knew nothing of the Lake
| O'Law cases until the disease appeared in
Their N DIST. Nine cases were found among
| them, in four different families. Between
| the families there was no relationship, and
very slight Gf any acquaintance. The
| origin Of the disease in these four families is
not traceable. 1t may have resulted from
! contagion, and it may have originated from
conditions to which the subjects had been
exposed. The three cases d scovered a week
or so ago also appear to have been primary
cases, for there is no report that the suf
ferers had contracted the disease by COM
munication with leperS.
THE CAUSE OF 1T A GREAT MYSTERY.
These instances are opposed to the theory
that the leprosy must necessarily have been
| i'm orJed Accompanied by no Indication
that the disc Use was transmitted, they point
to the possibility that it may be produced
by geographical climatic, or dietetic pecu-
liaritieS. DR.. McPnedran indeed quote,
Virchow as declaring that it is not unrea-
sonable to suppose that certain physical
conditions Of particular countries serve as
Geological influences in the produc lon of
the primary disease, which, when once de-
veloped, is propagated by hereditary pre-
| disposition. YET, there is admittedly
nothing in the northern part Of the eastern
provinces that can be pointed to as condi-
tion favorable to leprosy. The climate is
healthy, and the people live as we'll as those
| of other parts of the country. A great
mystery indeed is THIS dreadful disease, and
the only protection against it that human
knowledge suggests is the prompt isolation
of those who tall before it.