The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-07-26
ONCE MORE kNOCKEDO OUT
TROUSSEAU AND HIS INDIA
REPORT.
The Conclusions Of the Medical Com
mission Rejected by the Body
which Employed It.

DIR. Trousseau has eulogized the report
of the Special Leprosy Commission
appointed by the Executive Committee
of the National Leprosy Fund of Great
Britain, though probably because it
endorses the opinions on leprosy which
he low claims to hold, that consider
able attention has been called to it,
From a copy Of the report now in the
STAR Office the following digest of its
contents are taken:
The report is signed by five commits
sioners, the English members being
Messrs. Beaver Rake, George A. Buck
master and Alfred A. Kanthack, names
unknown to medical fame, and Arthur
Barclay and Samuel ]. Thompson,
both surgeons major in the Bengal
medical service. The names of the
two last should give some weight to
the report, but, unfortunately, Mr.
Barclay died before the report was
drawn up; but his confreres signed his
name to it nevertheless, claiming that
the conclusions and suggestions were
drawn up previous to his death, and
were known to be in accordance with
his views. Hence, the report actually
represents the conclusions of four com
missioners, only one Of whom was
familiar with the country and the sub
ject to be investigated.
The following summary is taken
from a memorandum on the Report of
the Leprosy Commissioners, as pre-
pared by special committee, appointed
for the purpose and endorsed or an
noted by members of the Executive
Committee. This Special Committee
was composed of such eminent men as
George N. Cr:zon, Under Secretary
for India, and Edward Clifford, who
were nominated by the Executive
Committee of the National Leprosy
Fund Dyce Duckworth, M. d., L. L.
D., and G. A. Heron, NJ. D., F. r. c.
P, nominated by the Royal College of
Physicians; and Jonathan Hutchinson,
l.. L. D., F. R. S., and N c. Macna-
mara, F. R. c. S., nominated by the
Royal College. of Surgeons. The
members of the Executive Committee
are Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild,
M. p, Chairman; the Bishop of Lon
don; Hon. G. Curzon, M. P; Sir
Andrew Clark, b., F. R. S, President
of the Royal College of Physicians;
Sir James Psget, BIT, F. r. S; Sir
Joseph Fayrer, K. c. S. l., M. D; Sir
w. Guyer Hunter, X. c. M. G., M. D.,
M. P; Jonathan Hutchinson, Esq, F.
r. c. s., F. r. S; E. Clifford ESQ
and Frank Harris Esq The SPECIAL
Committee say on page 3 of the re-
port
"The conclusions at which the Com.
missioners arrived have been summa-
rized by them at the end of their report
as follows-the evidence upon which
these conclusions rest being displayed
at length in the earlier pages of the re-
port:
~ Leprosy is a disease sm geneyis; it is
not form of syphilis or tuberculosis, but has
striking astrological analogies with the latter
'(2) Leprosy is not diffused by hereditary
transmission and for this reason, and the es.
tablished amount of sterility among lepers
the disease has a natural tendency TO die out
'(3) Though in scientific classification OF
diseases leprosy must be regarded as conta
sious and also inoculable, yet the extent tc
which it is propagated by these means is ex
ceedingly small.
IA Leprosy is not directly originated by
the use Of any particular article of food, mol
by any climatic or teuric conditions, nor by
insanitary surroundings; neither does il
peculiarly affect any race or caste.
'(5) Leprosy is indirectly influenced by in
sanitary surroundings, such as poverty, bao
food, or deficient drainage or ventilation, fol
these by causing predisposition, increase the
susceptibility of the individual to the disease
20 Leprosy in the great majority of cases
originates de nOVo that is, from sequence OIL
concurrence of causes and conditions, deal
with in the report and which are related tC
each other in ways at present imperfectll
known
On page six Of the report the Specia
Comnittee say: upon the after
mentioned conclusions of the Com
missioners, numbered I, 2, 3, 4, S anc
E, your committee offer the following
remarks:' They accept Nos 1, 2, I
and S. They desire to express theil
disagreement with the concluding words
of No. 3-'That the extent to which
leprosy is propsgated by contagion anc
incubation is exceedingly small, pho
being satisfied 1oith the evidence Offered
by the Commissioners for this Opin
ion. They cannot concur in the view
expressed in No. 6, namely that ''Lep
rosy, in the majority Of cases, origin
ates de novo, that is, from a sequence
or concurrence of causes and con
ditions dealt with in the report, an(
which are related to each other in way
at present imperfectly known, being
of opinion that the evidence addaceG
in the report does not justify sncJ
conclusions.