, 1890-05-28
Leprosy.
(Scientifc Americo's.)

taAeu for the requirement of fuller and
more correct knowledge OF the disease of
leprosy, to the end that It's victims may be
relieved and tie further spread OF the dis
ease be checked.
On January IS last a dinner was given
in London as a means for promoting the
interests of the National LeproSy Fund,
which has recently been started in response
to Il very strong feeling thar something
should be lone to cheek the spread of
%l,proSy in The British possessions, not only
fl ON motives purely humane, but also be-
cause the continued Increase of the disease
is in dClgpr Of becoming a national peril.
The Archbishop OF Canterbury said in his
speech at this dinner that in the old
churches in England could still be seen the
leperS' side window III the c%hancel, where
in lOtmer times the EeperS stood to hear the
services and to receive aims without com.
ing in contact with those unaffected by the
plague. Now, however, the disease is sell
dom met with IN England, but it is more
widely diffuSrd through the earth than
most people imagine. 1t prevails, in tact
over more than one'half the habitable
globe. II is known from The tropics to the
Arctic regions. embracing almost every
variety of soil and climate and the various
races of men. Maritime populations are
the most generally affected but the disease
IS by no means c~Onfned to them. 1t pre-
walls in maIShy as we'll as mountainous
regions, as in the lowlands Of Louisiana as
vel as the elevated table lands of Mexico.
1t would be extremely difficult to make q
reliable estimate oipthe number of leperS in
the world. Tbs Prince OF Wales, who has
OF late given a great deal of time AMI
thought to the subject OF lrprosy, and who
presided at the recent lepr0Sy fund dinnet,
said that The wide prevalence Of the dis
ease is an und0ubted fact, but that the true
extent Of it is not really known. The census
OSl881 he said gave 1871 ,6lS as the number OF
lepers in all India, 53, $3.50 being credited tothG
Bengal presidency alone. 1t is thought
that there are now 200, 900 Iepers in India,
while in China, Japan, Africa, and Egypt,
which is supposed to be the starting place
Of the disease, there are many victims. In
Norway and Sweden there are many cases,
though the methods adopted by the gov
eminent for treating persons afflicted with
the disease have resulted in checking its
progress. 1t is said thar the develOpement
OF leprOsy throughout il great portion of
Europe early in our present era may be
traced along the routes of the Roman arm,
les, and its general diffusion throughout
ChriStendOm in the eleventh, twel til, and
thirteenth centuries was materially int1u-
encrd by the return of the Crusaders.
eprOSy was first il troduced into Central
and South America 10y Portuguese traders,
i'll Mexico probably by the Spanish, and
into Canada hy the French imnig"3s. AS
regards the United States,i it is said TO have
been carried to Louisiana by The AcadiaEs.
and it still exists there, In 1888 there were
A. cases reported IN New Orleans, and there
are two leper Settlements in the State, Que
at LaFOurche and the other at st. Martins
willie. The disease was planted in Iowa,
Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota by the
Scandinavian colonists, and this section
was visited in 1888 by the distinguished
Norwegian physician, G.. Armaner Hansen.
who for many years was associated with
for lepers in Bergen, Norway. H. gave
considerable attention to the disease as
it came under his o ser vatiOn. In Min
nesOta, Wisconsin,. and Dakota, DR. Hansen
found that 160 leperS had come there from
Norway, of whom thitteen were living, and
of all their descendants not one had the
faint ofleprosy. Along the Pacific in Cali
fornia and Oregon the disease vas planted
by the Chinese, and on the Southern At
lantic coast it WIS brought from the West
Indies. In Salt Lake City the plague was
imported by a colony OF Kanaka women
brought by the Mormons from the Sand
wich Islands. There is a lazaretto for lep-
ers at the village of Traeadio. DroyincN of