The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-01-27
THE <srI.LEPRoUs SERUM.
Latest Results Reported By Dr. Csrras
suIlia-The Ce.tsGiousness OF Leprosy.

Latest Results Reported By mr.. Csrrss-
suina-The Ce.tssiousness OF Leprosy.
To THE EDITOR or THE sUN-Sir: I have re-
ceiyed from DR.. CarrasauillA Of Bogata. Co
lombia. six c~onslRnments Of anti-leprous serum,
twenty-five bottles In all. Further ~consipn-
ments will DO forthcoming at short intervals.
or the above consignments I have sent n por-
ton 10 DIR. Hansen Of Norway. DR.. o. Peter
sen, Inspector. General Of Lcprosy OF 81. Peters.
burg. and the President Of the Hawaiian
Board Of Health. Honolulu. These gentle
mon will experiment with the serum and mako
. report Of results obtained at tho first lep-
rosy CONGRESS. TO be hold In Moscow In August,
1907. Carrasquilla in his latest letter to me.
dated Dec. Is. 1906. says:
THE efficacy Of the anti-leprous serum. tried
for one year on . large number Of patients.
leaves no doubt, as you viii ind out yourself.
The.proccss gives all kinds Of securities, which
makes me hone that you will recommend II TO
the attention Of Others and persuade them IN
study IT,"
The above-named countries, Norway. Russia.
and the Sandwich Islands. have had the fol-
lowing experiences with ~leprosy. In Norway
In 1855 there wero 2.s77 lcpcrs; from that
time to 1891 there wore 4.75s additional cases.
IN al, 1885. In 1885 tho mixed isolation law.
that 10 isolation in'hospitals and In families,
wal, passed. Under that law lsprosy has do
creased to 800 cases. which ID. the present
number. Is IL any wonder that the physicians
Of Norway believe In contagioni
during the period In which IL was generally
believed that the. disease was MOI contagious.
s the ,.S'r ap sSspisf IN i 1879 P closed Mob msPr 3; ki In,
and Prof. Petersen began TO study the disease.
and reached the conclusion that climate. .situ-
spread. In. 1894. q commission having been
appointed by the Government to study the
question Of leprosy reported that they had
t=.siou'; they consequently advised the s.sre-
In thu Sandwich Islands leprosy wes i'm.
ported In ls+s. or 1919, as some say. Before
1s4s. at any rate. the disease, was very raro
or else 10 worked unknown to the Inhabitants.
Hildebrand. in 1853. was the first TO report .
case Of leprosy. In 1897 ther. were siE lepers
From that time the disease spresd in an un.
heard-of manner. In 1895 there. wore 900
lepers in a population Of as. 600, In 1881 and
Ave years. one-tweifth OF the population had
become lepcrs. EFT nunc erudim,ni." says DR..
RTobel,n. from whose woik."Es No ContasiosA
D. suriaue Robelin. published in the Chronicd
Medioo-C hirurotcd. Havana. 1880. I quote these
came At last in 1866. To-day there are only
While the New York County Medical So
Y - thNso NN'At bNAbNN htvAhs W ,'hAh -
ought To have had them before them. they
have approved o report OF their Committee on
Leprosy. composed OF tho Health Commis.
s.onsr and several professors OF dermatoloyy.
to the effect that leprosy is not u DANCE rous
disease. and hat isolation IA not necessary.
In Colombia. while there was no isolation.
leprosy increased In forty years from, 400 to
81 1000 cases. The Government now II. very
much alive TO tho situation. The Church has
raised 5000. 900 for a national lazarrtto. II II
believed there. generally. thnt fhc solution OF
tho question Is either TIE Cnrrasquilla serum
euro. II it shall prove effective. or absolute $50
lation. And the question Ia taken very fear
fully N heart: they cannot afford there 10 de.
clare jauntily that leprosy Is not dangerous.
The lepers are at ths present time crowdin Z
Bogota IN receive the possible benefits OF Car.
rasauiiln's treatment. Their crowdinK there
has become 4 real nuisance.
According q. the report OF the Health Com.
the spread Of leprosy in New Y"rk's climate.
Therefore. this Is the place for starting a Car
r~asauilia institute for the treatment Of tn.
lepers in the United States. The different
States OF Minnesota. Wisconsin, Louisiana,
&c. will DO very glad to unload their lcpcr
populations into this favorable climate. II .
chance OF cure by Carrasauilla's serum 10 Of
f.red TO them here. As soon ne the bars are
down and the three lepers OF North Brother
Island are discharged by our Health Com.
missioner. when every pretence of isolation shall
have been given up and lcprosy officially rec.
ognized as not being dangerous. no one can
have any objection 10 the coming to New York
Of all the lepers Of this country.
ALBERT s. AsHMEAD.- ". D..
210 West Fourth street, New York.