The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1893-06-20
Continued from let Page.)

complete certainty. The Commits
sioners assert that "the specific here
ditary predisposition to leprosy is
but slight, and practically does not
exist; and, again, that, allowing
the fullest influence to heredity,
there appears to be no risk of an in
crease to the leper population of
India, so far as the disease is de-
pendent upon heredity for its multi
plication, and that marriages with
or intermarriages between lepers
cannot be regarded in the light
of danger to the community"
We ourselves wrote in 1890, from
such evidence as was then at our
command, to the effect that the
belief in the hereditary character of
leprosy, apart from certain external
conditions, did not appear to be
supported by facts, and that suscep-
tibility to the disease seemed to de-
pend chiefly upon the condition of
the recipient, the poison alone, be it
germ, bacillus, or what not, being
powerless to multiply within the It's
sues of a healthy subject. In 1889
we called attention to the history of
party of leprous emigrants who
had been sent, many years previous
ly, from Norway to the United
States, and who had then recently
been visited by Norwegian physi-
clan. He found thirteen of the ORR
ginal emigrants, and many descen-
dants, both of theirs and of other
members of the party who had died;
but among these descendants there
was not single instance of the
malady. The conclusion of the
Commissioners, that the tendency Of
leprosy is to die out under the infu-
ence of circumstances favorable to
health, is in precise accord with the
experience of European countries, in
most of which it once was prevalent,
as we'll as with the teaching of the
almost crucial experiment related
above.
The Committee of the National
Leprosy Fund have expressed high
general approval of the care and &C
curacy with which the work of the
Commissioners has been carried out,
as we'll as general assent to the
conclusions of the Report, although
some members of the Committee are
doubtful about particular questions.
Sir Joseph Fayrer, for example,
"does not think it proven" that
leprosy is not diffused by hereditary
transmission; but he does not say to
what extent he differs from the Com,
missioners in this respect. On the
general question of what should be
done for the abatement of the dis.
ease there seems to be no appreci
able difference of opinion. The
Commissioners believe there to be
10000 lepers in India and Burma, {
number enormous in itself, but al
most insignificant in a population
approaching three hundred millions
and they propose that the sufferers
should be assisted to form lepel
colonies or farms, or to enter asy
lums, and that they should be place.
under such municipal -"e.-l-s.e-s o.
certain specified occupations. Gen
orally speaking, they need not be re
garded as more dangerous to theil
neighbors than are the subjects O
tuberculosis and other common dis
eases, which excite no special fear o.
horror by their prevalence; and per
haps the most important result O
the work of the Commission is tn,
proof which they have furnished
that the popular terrors about lepro
sy are simply groundless supersti
tions. AS far as India is concerned
the Commissioners do not hesitat,
to predict that the malady will
gradually disappear before a highe
standard of maintenance, and a gen
eral improvement in the sanitar,
condition of the people.