The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-12-01
HAVALE'S
1PLACUE IS
CONTAGIOUS
The Startling Assertion
Made Before a Med
iCal Body.
EIGHTEEN LEPERS IN
SAN FRANCISCO.
DR.. Jellinik Maintains That
the Disease Must Be
Isolated.
HE MAKES A STUDY OF
THE SUBJECT.
Dlk Mat heWs Thinks HIS Report
Shou Open the Eyes of
the PeopIs.
DR.. Jellinik Maintains That
the Disease Must Be
Isolated.
HE MAKES A STUDY OF
THE SUBJECT.
Dlk Mat heWs Thinks HIS Report
= HShou d Open the Eyes of
the PeopIs.
Special Dispatch to THE CALI,

II V.
ion," said DR.. Matthews OF the State
Board of Health to-day, this report
should open the eyes of the people of Cali
f5rAia to The danger which must follow
the annexation OF the Hawaiian Islands.
To.open our ports and country to race
of people who have for generations trans
mitted this dread malady, and to en-
courage i stromatic mlrgIing of that race
with ours, thus subiecting Americans to
q disease highly infectious and pestilen-
tial, is something horrible to contem-
p ale. Yet that is exactly what annexa-
ton means from hygienic and santa ry
stand point"
These startling words of warning were
inspired by the report to the State Board
Of Health of a critical study of lepTosy by
DR.. E. O. JeiIinik, consulting ply stefan
TO the German Hospital OF San Francisco
and chief of clinic in the neurological Ge-
parlment of the Mount Zion Dispensary.
The work possesses unusual interest
and great scientific merit for two reasons.
Il is based on observations made in indi-
yidual cases at the Pes house OF San Fran
cisco, and sets forth convincingly the fact
that leprosy is a disease as infectious as il
is malignant.
Sixteen of the lepers are men and two
women. Six are white and twelve Chinese.
The doctor experienced great .fficulty in
studying them, owing to the primitive
condition of the Pesthouse and the stub
bornness of the victims in resisting exam
jr3tion. ! he youngest is 1612 years I'd,
Aae Oldest 48 In their cases leprosy was
a resent in the ancestors; once in the
El0lher, twice in the iather. They all
Incurred leprosy IN the United States.
one case is from Mexico. five are from
Honolulu and twelve from China.
If you will permit me 10 draw on your
Imagination" is the striking conclusion
OF The report, Il VIII picture to you a hut
where these ou;casts of humanity are
huddIed together as in the medieval CEN
turtles. This picture can be appreciated to
Its full extent only after visit to the
, Pesthouse. And this Pesthouse has ex-
listed from year to year, occu pied by the
poor and innocent individuals who are
no more responsible Tor their condIt on
and aot less unhappy than the blind, deaf
and dumb, who have a house tit to be &C.
cupied. The lepers, however, must live
like animals. | have never heard OF send
ing patients suffering from smallpox or
typhus or other infectious diseases 10 an
asylum for the blind, deaf or dumb in
order TO isolate them from the com mum
ity; but such is the case in San Francisco
waen patients suffering from other in
fec:lous diseases are sent 10 the Pest
house.
The leper home should be an asylum
for LEI rosy, The same as asylums for other
diseases are set aside for their respective
inmates. Under these conditions the
Safe has no right to isolate-at least no
State III the United States, which stands
together with EnglSnd at the front OF
civilized humanity, and is recognized as
occupying this place by the nations OF the
world.
When we ask why San Francisco has
no proper place Tor The humane isolation
OF lepezs we are told that this city has no
money for this purpose. This answer
does not adequately CORES pond 10 the
dignity Of sucu q city as San Francisco,
ald, aside from this, no one can believe
" nat a city which could raise the money
% build such magnificent and i'm posing
City Hail cannot raise the com paratlvely
Insignificant sum necessary for The build
ing OF an institution which humanity,
civilization and The protection of the COM
munity demands. 1t would certainly
bring more credit upon San Francisco
were We to erect a suita bic ylum for our
lepers than does the City Hall with the, I
might say, inhuman inhabitation now
known as the Pestnouse for its back
ground"
Respecting propagation of the disease
by contact DR.. Jeliinik says:
OF our cases sixteenwere born in a Ieprous
locality, the other two in localities where the
disease IS not prevalent All OF them, how
ever. have spent from eight days TO many
years in places where leoprosy Is epidemi tic
These individuals were all Tree from leprosy
when they came 10 America, but this d. es not
signify that the disease was Contracted mere
for we know that the period OF incubation is
protracte3, and extends at least from three to
five years, though cases of ten, twenty,
tweniy-seven and thirty-two years Of incuba.
ton have been noted.
1t appears to me certain that n ali our cases
the disease was acquired by contact with
lepers. To make plan how direct is the eVi.
dence of contact mode OF propagation
need only mention the history OF the Fin VINO
during MS eight days sojourn in Honolulu was
constantly in contact with girl who was sent
to Molokai a leper two years later, ana who
was no doubt affected at the lime OF his asso
cietion with her Also the case OF the brothers
Bindt who were heredItarily free, but who
simultaneously came into close cont CT with
lepers and were simultaneously affected
According TO Brocq the first leper, Chinese
cooIy was discovered in the vicinity OF Homo
lulu in 1853. Eight years later several lepers
were found among his associates, and twenty
years afterward with population OIL 1000
people, there were 1000 lepers upon Inc Ii a
Wallan Islands
The doctor cites numerous instances
from the books in which the infectious
character o. leprosy is abundanily proved,
/and adverts particularly 10 The weI-known
kgases of DR.. Ro bertson, Father Damien,
Hfather Bog!Io!a and Pastor Becker, who
A1eCame infected from contact. He adds
An my opinion neither the disease itself nor
pre9lsposition has proved 10 be hereditary. Ii
the ne w-born child was to be removed IRON
It's leprous parenls Immediately after birth
ana IN spite of this subsequently deTeloped
me disease, we might consider this positive
proof IN favor OF the theory of the inheritance
OF the disease. Such proof far as know,
mas never been brought forward. On the con-
Lery there are instances in which children
VINO Were removed from leprous parents never
became ahlcted. The fact that the children OF
IepIous pafen S acquire the disease speaks not
80 irucH LOT Incredibly as it does for contagion,
loI uuiing early lie the children are in such
con ,ace with their parents that this factor
hnIGn speaks SO directly for contagion must
"e eliminated before any proof OF heredity Can