The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-08-04


Not long befote his death the emf
men, IT, Motel Mackenzie denounced
the London College OF Physicians and
Surgeons for having declared lcprosy
no, to be contagious He charged.
them with having become the active.
cause Of recent great diffusion of
leprosy, especially in the British colo.
MES, by inducing a general relaxation
of efforts to segregale the lepers.
Hawaii is now dangerously threat
ened with a like evil, through the man
ifesto of leading physician Of Homo.
lulu, who declares himself convinced
that leprosy is but slightly contagious,
and segregation needless. Long doubt
ful, he has become fully converted by
a report Of an Indian leprosy com.
mission.
To older residents in Hawaii who
personally witnessed the dissemination
of this loathsome disease among the
native people from its first appearance
in the Islands, the conclusions arrived
at by this Indian commission seem
preposterous and eminently pernlcious.
The editor of The Friend person
ally observed the process of dissemina-
ton in Lahaina from forty to thirty
years ago. The very first case in these
Islands was a chief in Premier Auheas
household, who had been abroad,
where he contracted leprosy. He COM
municated it to another chief with
whom he lived in Lahaina on extremely
intimate terms, Naea, the husband OF
Queen Emma's mother, Fanny Young.
from these two chiefs the malady
gradually spread in Labaina and Ho.
nuaula, where they had land and de-
pendants. 1t was known as the mai
ali, or chiefs disease. All this was
prior to 1853, when l began to reside
in Lahaina. My authority for the
above statements was Rev. Dwight
Baldwin, NJ. d., who treated the first
cases, without knowing the name OF
the disease.
My own attention was first drawn
to the malady by observing the curl
ously swollen ear lobes of two or three
Of my pupils in a ative-English school
in 1857. Returning to Lahaina from
a years absence East, found in 1855
several natives with strangely swollen
faces and the "leonine aspect" anc
was then told that it was leprosy. Ii
was not till after several years that the
government began to segregate the
lepers. The disease steadily spread in
the town, until lepers were a familiar
sight at all times and places. l was
we'll acquainted with several families,
where the disease first appeared in q
single case, and gradually spread to :
majority of the members. After thi'
personal observation of the active anc
rapid dissemination of leprosy among {
race of people who had never before
known the disease, and therefore coulC
get it in no possible way except by con
tagion, no amount of evidence or rea
soning can possibly subvert my abSo
luts knowledge that leprosy is a con
tagious disease, and very dangerousl,
contagious among people with thu
constitutional and social habits of thu
Hawaiians.
The well-known law should especial
be taken into account that population
gradually become acclimated or hard
ened to resist the attacks Of disease
which have been prevalent among then
for long periods, SO that such disease
do not easily spread among them
Such is no doubt the case with lepros
in India, among whose inhabitants
has prevailed for many thousand years
so that most of the people inherit i'm
munity, and are not susceptible to it
contagion. In India, moreover,
partial segregation exists, the leper
going in companies by themselves, an
not living in the most promiscuous an
intimate association with the healthy
as they do in Hawaiian household;
The danger to Hawaiians is also great
increased by their frequent syphilti
LESSONS, which facilitates contractin
leprosy by incubation.
AS result OF these widely divers
conditions of the two populations, i
Hawaii not less than five per cent
the people contracted the disease in tn
twenty years before segregation bega
to be enforced, while in India the pre-
portion of sufferers is probably not MOI
than one in thousand. 1t is evidel
that conclusions formed in India cann'
apply in Hawaii.
We do not question the honesty {
DIR. Trousseau, and certainly not h
great professional intelligence. But v
feel assured that unless prevented, he
in the way of infiicting a most greivol
injury upon Hawaii. The policy
segregation, instead of being oppose
and weakened, needs all possible Ell
couragement and reinforcement again
the ignorant folly of the natives WI
clamor for their lepers to be set free
spread poison and pollution among Il
people. -The Friend.
A, Exnaps;ve and Musical Redstead