The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-08-15

lSldnQ. MIS-. Ndpeid, OF nlBH SoNldl III
Gle. had her cottage OF enforced exile on
that island Of sepulchers. A legislator
of the Hawaiian Islands is there closing
his life. He was probably a good legis-
lator In the day Of his health, but can
not help thinking what a good thing II
would be if all the leprous legislators OF
the earth could be put in some island
by themselves. Such a Punishment would
be a mighty thing out at Albany. Har-
risburg and Washington legislatures,
state and national.
The United States government could
afford 10 provide such a Mololxai, and the
moral lepers sent there could have their
legislature and congress and board or
aldermen and army and navy all or the
same blOtch. But while the Hawaiian
legislator could be found out and sent
10 the so-called isle Of precipices' the
moral leper is not so easily designated
because he has the blotch not so much on
his forehead as on his heart. What every
state and nation now needs is a Molokai,
or isle Of lepers.
LeDrosy Diagnosed.
Conversation about leprosy with a for
mer member Of the board Of health for
the Hawaiian islands revealed to me the
following facts:
Question--In what part Of the system
does leprosy begin its work?
Answer-It attacks the nerve centers.
Question: thought it was a disease Of
the blood.
Answer-No. It begins with the nerves.
and just as the girding of the trunk Of a
tree first shows its whitening results in the
tip end Of the long branch Of the tree so
leprosy is first apt to show itself in the
paralysis or doubling up Of the little
ringer, or in the toe. or in the lobe of the
ear Sometimes there appears upon the
body shining surface, and il is unim-
pressible. Prick II with a pin, and there
is no sting. All the rest Of the patients
body may be in perspiratiOn, but that
spot remains dry. Sometimes all the
signs of physical disorder disappear and
the disease seems gone. Then there Will
come leprOus fever, and that Will throw
out a blush or effiorescence that more
emphatically announces the progress Of
the disease Then all signs Of skin dis
turbance disappear. but after the follow
ing leprous fever the case is worse than
before. SO each retreat Of the disease Is
followed by a more decided advance.
Question-Is it painful?
Answer-No That is one OF the
mercies From the first assault Of the
plugue to the hour Of death there is an
absence Of physical suffering.
QUeston-But Is there no mental de-
preston
Answer-Oh. yesi At the first ac-
on him a horrid gloome settles upon the
patient but after awhile a slight hope Of
recovery is born, and the incipient leper
tries all forms of cure. and no form is so
absurd that will not recommend itself as
worthy Of experiment. And then all the
time the patient thinks it is something
besides IeprOcy.
Question-When a victim Of the disease
is first charged with having the plague
should think he would resent it?
Answer-Yes. and the English law
makes it a libeious case for the courts if
man is unjustly ciarged with being a
leper. Boards OF health have to be very
careful IN the work Of segregs ton.
No Cure Now known for the Plague
QUESTIONABLE there any cases of cure?
Answer-The only cases | recall are
those mentioned in the bible-Naaman
the Syrian hero. and the ten cases that
Christ cured, nine of them too mean to
acknowledge the divine medicament.
Question-What in ordinary cases is
the velocity Of the disease and how long
before il completes its work?
Answer-Well, 1 have known one case
TO last sixteen years. I think the usual
durance is five or six years.
tion-Has the leprocy different
modes in demonstrating itself?
the anaestheuc. The former is most re-
pusive. 1t swells and boats and dis
torts the face. The last sign ~ humanity
is blOtted from the cOuntenauCe. There
are cases of this kind called 'leonine,"
for the reason that the face is so widened
and enlarged and made severe that the
countenance looks like a lion. The an
aesthetic form is whitening. a thinning
out, wasting away. d depletion, skele-
tonizing process.
Question-Is it contagious?
Answer1There ara different opinions
about that. ] have seen in married life
the husband or wife a leDer for years and
the partner in life always in good health.
/ have known a leproUs parent TO have
a healthy child. ] was talking on this
subject to eminent physician. who
said to me: do you see those two chill
dren playing together? The one is a
leper and the other my own child. and I
have no fear about continuation
QueStion-How many patients are
there in MOlOkai at the present time?
Answer-AbOut !. 600.
Here ended my converse ton with the
formed member Of the board Of health
of the Sandwich islands I'd To date the
woe goes on. Only two weeks ago a ship
took twenty-five more lepers TO MolOkai.
The scene Of parting is said 10 be so
heartrendinE that but few people 20 to
the wharf to witness il. The wailing
and hOWllng at the parting of families as
the filial and fraternal and paternal and
maternal bonds are broken IS something
that haunts the memory. Not long ago
a young man sentenced to the leper is
land declared that he would not be taken
alive. He shot three of those who were
attempting 10 segregate him and then
hid In a hut until cannon on a neighbOr
ing hill bombarded the hut into a wreck.
Then a relative went TO the hut and
found the young man dead.
But do not let US give up discouraged.
Leprosy as well as cancer and all the
other uncOnquered ailments will yet be
cured. I do not know where the cradle
now holding the coming doctor IS being
rocked, whether at Molokia, or in Homo
lulu, or on the banks Of the Thames, or
the Rhine, or the Tfber, or the Ural or
the Hudson, or the Savannah, nor do I
know from what college he will unroll
his diploma, nor in what laboratory he
will make his experiments, nor in what
decade he will give proclamation Of the
worlds emancipation from diseases as
yet incurable, but he VIII go through
the same prosecutions that DR.. Jenner
did because Of his discovery of a way TO
halt smallpox. and as DIR. Kelley has en-
dured because Of his almost supernatural
cure Of alcoholism, and the new discov-
cry will run the gauntlet Of caricature
and expulsion from medical societies, and
will. ike the most illustrious being of
all ages. become the target for eXpector-
alton, but the discoverer will give
leprosy the command, Thus far shalt
thou go. and no farther" and that dis
ease will wTiggle and crawl and shrink
out of the world. and after the medical
emancipation is dead the nations will
build a monument so high to his memory
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