The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-05-21

II la ynI0 uOCO0 W0 COuuu0 OuTb0tVoo " 8iNiuB
On outline Of the impressive facts. leaving tho
explanation Of them to professional opinion.
To begin with Russia. It seems indisputable
that leprosy is increasing with startling ra-
pidity in that country. especially in the Baltic
proyincee. At Riga. In 1887. DR.. Bergman dis
covered thirty.seven cases In tho town and
tventy.one In the environs. There are now
over one hundred. In 1892 the municipal
council found itself constrained to erect a
lsper hospital at . cost OF 10000 rubles. In
the nsiGhborhood Of Dorpat the lepsrs number
- many as seventeen per thousand. and
another report says that in certain districts
ten per cent. Of the population are affected.
As TO Norway. there IL q current Impression
thstleprosy has been diminishing. but DR.. Van
dyke Carter, who has closely investigated the
subject. asserts. In the British Medical Journal.
that 60 far from leprosy In Norway howin q
tendency to subaide. there 10 ample evidence
Of q present activity equal to that displayed
BIZ tho disease twenty-five years ago. In Spain.
according to o communication made to the
british MEDICAL Journal in 1897. leprosy has
been spreading for some years past. and has
ut last aroused the attention OF the Govern
mont. Ono village. Parcsnt. with a population
OF 100 Inhabitants. has had in twenty-seven
years IS casos OF leprosy. PedreRuer. with q
population OF 100. has had. In about forty
years. 10 lspers. while Murln. with only 100 In
habitauts. has had IA victims OF the disease.
OF course those are germ ~contres. whore OPP
portunities OF contaGlon are great. but OF late
tho malady has appeared in villae os where 1t
was before unknown. In France n. Besnier. q
member Of tho French Academy Of Medicine.
reports that leprosy. far from disappearing. is
spreading rapidly. Tho same physician puts
ut 100 tho number OF lepsrs in Paris in o.
tober. 1901 In the French penal colony OF
Eaw Caledonia. where leprosy was unknown
before 1853. 1t has been found necessary to
establish two leprous asylums. and q third
lisaretto 10 about to DO built.
Passing to Egypt. We find DR.. Greene OF Cairo.
Director Of the Sanitary Department, reporting
TINT the total number Of cases registered 10
o.059 but he adds that " this docs not. by any
moaps. represent tho whole Of tho lepers IN
Egypt. for many districts where have reasont to
suppose some exist. sent in blank returns. In
ConstantiE opIo DR.. Dujardin Beaumetz sstI-
mites that there are 1900 lopers. soms Of
whom arc ut largo. In the island OF Samos.w with
u population Of $4,000. there aro 43 registered
victims OF tho disease. In Syria lepers abound.
nah tho most rspulsivo examples OF the
n,alaty that our author hns beheld wore in the
sl.,aaretto at Damascus. In Palestine. also. no
noticed many lopers in the most hideous state
OF .lsformlty. In Crete there arc 1000 OF them.
AMI they are likewise numerous in Cyprus.
1thodes. and tho islands OF tho GrsciRn Archi-
pclngo. Let US look now Mt South Africa 1t
srsms that. at 4 pu bile meeting held In Cape
T,,wn In 1890. Sir Gordon Sprigg averred that
there were between six hundred and seven
hundred lepers in Cape Colony. The preamble
o. an act passed by the colonial Legislative
Assembly IN 1884 declares that the disease OF
~lcprosy is prevalent ut the Cape ana has lately
been spending. In Natal. in 1891. leprosy
- x,.n = H. ,yi,an t,l L. afk, 1..x-l.
or native villages. in ono electoral division
alone. Turning to India. we learn from
the BRITISH .Hriicdt journal that the
nnmbsr OF irpers has been ~increas-
ing at tho rate Of about 10000 every
ten years; In 1880 the Prince OF Wales
s,i,tod that India contained 100000 lepers.
The number mt large in BOMBAY alone Is esti-
mated. at ]. 900. and thny Eay be seen near tho
public tank dressing their terrible sores or
scratching their n!oors against the iron railing
Of the Elphlnstone High School. According
10 tho Lahore Grii and Military Gazette. leprosy
hns obtained I terrible hold even over the
wiite residents In India. many Of whom are
billing " q in tho slums and byways Of tho
10; so cities. In Burmnh. according to the
report OF MT Investigating committee. thcre
are moro lepers now tlinn there wsro ten years
sa.". In Csylon leprosy is extending rapidly
smong tho native population. The leprous
ASYLUM near Colombo which. In 1880. contain
cd only 100 patients. has now 2OS. The num-
Der Of lepers ut largo In the island is COM
pnsad at !. 800. The malady Is chiefly encoun-
tered among the poor. lll-fed. and ill-housed
classes OF the community. With regard to
Tonquin. we learn from the British Medical
Journal that in n village noar Hanoi. which
has 400 inhabitants. nearly oDe-half are az
fsc. ed with leprosr. That the disease is by no
means unknown 10 the Australasian colonies
10 shown by a report made 10 the legislative
we're thirty cases OF leprosy under Official
Ieunorvision. About hnlf Ut the victims were
- European descent. A school in New South
Wales has recently been closed by the
government In consequence OF reports
afhas children In it were developing
eymptoms Of ~lsprosy. According TO tho
sydney Mor.ins Herald. tho spread Of lon.