The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-14
LEPERs IN THE UNITED STATES.
So Says n Physician, Who Has Made
a Speciality study of II.


I'm the United States to-day there are
not less than SIG cases Of leprosy. They
should be carefully segregated, so as to
stamp out the disease. 1 am now work
ing to that end" said DR.. A. Winter Hit.
DR.. Hit has recently returned from a
two years sojourn in India, where he
made careful study Of leprosy. He is
an American, and formerly occupied the
chair Of dermatology in the college of
physicians and surgeons in st. Louis,
and edited the Journal of Materia Med
lca- Though still young man, he has
made TWO trips around the world. He is
regarded as one of the greatest living
authorities on leprosy and skin disease.
sicians of this country aroused; then the
lawmakers will be appealed to. The ex-
tent OF the dread disease, he says, is not
| understood Physicians generally do not
recognize it, and diagnose it as some
thing else.
The disease is by no means limited
ciety, said DR.. Hit. Nor is it caused
by Nth or unSanitary surroundings,
though, of course, il thrives best where
these are present. One of the Egyptian
Pharaohs died of leprosy, and also Rob-
ert the Bruce, King Of Scotland.
THE same climatic conditions are pres
ent in this country as in lands where the
disease prevails. With our rapid and easy
communication with the outside world,
the bacilh of leprosy can readily be
brought here from Mexico, South Amer
lea, Cuba and elsewhere. The disease is
contagious, but not hereditary, and is
conveyed by accidental incubation. Twen-
" years ago III lepers emigrated to
Minnesota from Norway and Sweden.
They are all dead now, and none of their
children are affected.
"A moist climate, such as that along
our western and southern coast, is where
leprOsy most abounds. There are many
cases in California among the Chinese.
HfraFN sHrg lac m
leans there is a group Of eighty-two lep-
ers. The Middle states will never be trou-
bled much, though there are two fully
developed cases near Lexington,
Perry county, Ohio, in a natiVe-born Amer
lean family named Carey. Two of the
girls We're inoculated from their father,
who had contracted the disease in the
south during the war. 1t had been dag
nosed as eczema, but before II had de-
veloped he died from the effects of sun
stroke.
segregation of all lepers should be re-
CURED by state and national enactment.
l am endeavOring to secure the co-opera-
ton of state boards of health and state
medical societies. 1t might be well 10
have congress pass an act to apply TO
all the states. California and Louisiana
need it most, but wherever there are
Cinnamon there will be leprosy. have
been in Chicago only two weeks, but l
venture to say l could turn up a case
in this city after / had made a search.
1t is one Of the dangerous features Of
this thing, however, that 1t is so easily
MAIDEN Tor long time
india, China, the Sandwich Islands,
and parts of Africa suffer the most from
it, but in my travels in various parts of
the world 1 have found it almost every
where Even Iceland is not exempt"
DR.. Hit described at length his expert
ences with the lepers of India, as we'll as
some of the many interesting incidents
which have marked his journeys He told
Of a reception by the Kajah of Lormi, a
rich Indian province. He had healed the
prime minister, and hence the king was
kindly disposed. He called on the Amer
lean physician with his retinue, and a
few minutes after DIR. Hit returned his
visit riding an elephant. During the re-
ception he and his companion, DIR. North,
were given a veritable shampoo with altar
of roses, lime and sandalwood A drop of
the precious Iluids is very valuable in this
country so the cost of this bath Is difficult
| to compute.
'.'The English government is. very care
less in treating leDers in India" said DIT.
Hit. II have a photograph of one sell
ing rice In bazaar. The government is
also radically at fault in the matter of the
opium trade. Instead of restricting it the
traffic is being pushed by the officials.
Four editors were imprisoned in bombay
not long since for exposing the true state
of affairs. British free speech is often I'M
known in British India"