San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-07-23

Efforts of the Government and Sanitary
Improvement of Conditions.
The death of Father Damien, the brave
Roman Catholic priest, who left everything
to minister TO the lepers Of the Hawaiian
Islands, aroused the interest OF the world in
this unfortunate people, who are marked by
disease, foul and incurable, to be set aside
from the rest of humanity as persons upon
whom the hand of judgment has been heavily
set.
SCIENCE PUZZLED.
This dread disease seems to be as little I'M
ierstood now as it was thousands of years
ago. Modern science has failed to find any
cure for it, or, indeed, any cause for it. Its
beginning no one knows its end will proba-
bly, come with the end of the world. 1t Is one
of the mysteries of life that has never been
unraveled. And yet those who are contend
ing with it are in hopes that the cure will yet
be found. Because they have not succeeded
in their search they are not ready to give 1t
up AS the president of the board of health
says: When, twenty-one years ago, the legls-
lature of this kingdom enacted the law Ito
prevent the spread of leprosy," it was provi-
ded that the board of health should report to
the legislature at each of its regular sessions
the expenditures in detail, together with such
information regarding the disease of leprOsy
as it NAV deem of interest to the public.
During the more than twenty years that
have elapsed, the study of the disease that has
prevailed. and to a great extent still prevails,
so virUlently inHthis kingdom has been pressed
with unremtting zeal and perseverance in
nearly every country by men of medical and
scientific attachments. By degrees, through
unceasing and watchful labor, by comparison
of information and Interchange of expert
ences, experiments and thought, and to no
small extent, perhaps, by uplifting the heavy
curtains of past centuries, and unrolling the
scrolls penned 10y those familiar with this dis
ease. thousands of years before the birth OF
the Saviour of man, and by the material aid
of practical common sense, joining its forces
to those of medical science, the world has
learned so much, and the indications are that
knowledge is increasing so steadily and favor
ably, that we are almost half justified in hop
ing that, at the esd of the next quarter OF
century, the time will not then be far distant
that a controlling power shall be found for
the disease, of which one Atreya, who wrote
in India, probably more than 1000 years ago,
said: The man who neglects the disease at
us commencement - sure " Vic, III ~ bc-
comes incurable"
The present method of caring for the lepers
is that of separating them from the rest of
the community and making a settlement for
them. At first separation was the one thing
thought of, but care was not considered. As
the time has gone by, and eSp ecially since FIR.
Damien devoted himself to the work of allie
waiting their condition, there has been much
done in the way of care, until now thePeople
are as comfortable as they can be with this
terrible disease holding them in so stern a
grasp.
THE SETTLEMENT, IN HAWAII.
For a considerable time there was nobody
to look out for these people. A man was
sent there just to receive them, show them
their houses and give them their weekly al
lowance of food. Water was scarce, and had
to be carried considerable distances, and great
Inconvenience and considerable suffering
grew out of it
Many who were approaching the latter
stages of the disease and those who had no
friends or relatives with them, suffered more
or less, but, to the credit of the people be it
said, as a rule they almost always found a
friend in their eXtremitieS. There was no
hospital or building in those days where they
could be taken care of. The tract of land
constituting the leper settlement projects
from the main body of the island, and forms
a kind of shelf, including, probably, an area
of about 5000 acres, Astounding with every
variety of SOIL and everything necessary to
supply the wants of the natives, and having
a large area of land to be utilized for the
raising of stocks; the sea abounds with fish,
and before this place was occupied by the
lepers it sustained a very large and thriving
population.
The original inhabitants of the place owned
a'great many pieces of land and houses, the
houses being mostly matched o9fs, and only
three or four were wooden structures; the
lands we're mostly planted with taro, po-
tatoeS and other vegetables. Most Of
these houses and lands were purchased
by the government for the accommoda-
ton of the lepers, and the planted
lands for their support. All the first ship
ments of lepers were allowed to take their
wives and husbands with them, or a son, and
in some instances daughter; but children
were not permitted to, accompany them.
Later, however, lepers were not allowed to
take their husbSels or wives with them, and
visits to the settlement ceased to be per
mitted, excepting only under the most strenu-
Gus circumstances, and only for a brief inter
view.
In 1878 the number of lepers at the settle
ment had increased to 500, and, in spite of all
efforts to secure their isolation, numbers al
ways remained behind By this time the bi
ennial legislatures evinced more interest in
the condition of their unfortunate fellowmen
at the settlement than had been the case pre-
viously, and at nearly every session a COM
mittee was appointed to visit the settlement