Evening star., 1898-09-20
AN ANCIENT sCOURGE,
1H-NSHENH SCOCNUE.
some Countries Where the Dreaded
LeProsy Still Prevails.
nj tha n,da n.T

sumo countries where the Dreaded
LeProsy Still Prevails.
From, the London Mall
Few things offer more satisfactory food
Tor reflection than the banishment of lep-
rosy from the British islands. Its ravages
are now for the most part confined to the
great oriental population but in mediaeval
England the disease assumed gigantic pro-
portions.
Leprosy is believed to have existed I'm
Egypt as early as 1900 B. C. Herodotus
knew of it in Persia, and the early Chinese
writer's refer to the disease.
1t Is improbable that leprosy afflicted
early Greece and Rome, as the ancient
writer's of these countries invariably sneak
OF 1t as 70, eign disease 1t. however. ap-
peared in both countries in the first CEN
tury before Christ. and accompanied the
Roman colonists into Spain, Gaul and
Italy.
In England a leper or lazar house was
es tahlished in Canterbury in A. D. 1896
Inc crusades are credited with being an
important agent in the dissemination of
this terrible disease, for during this period
II made rapid strides throughout Europe
In l226 We hear of the existence of 1890
'erer hospitals in France alone.
The number of leper houses in Europe
was estimated by Mathew Paris at the
that between the first leper house built and
the year l4I2 no less than lI2 institutions
were built in this country. The leper house
OF the middle ages were for the most part
religious. and dedicated to st. Lazarus In
the eye of the law the leper was dead
The church adopted the same view, and
read the burial service to the poor unfor-
tunate on the day of his removal to the
laZar house. This was perhaps scarcely
less charita BILE than the modern act of
reading the burial service to a condemned
man on the scaffold but the church in
those days went further-it threw a SHOW
elful of earth over the poor wretch as a
symbol Of the grave that was yawning for
him.
The lepers wore a special costume, usual
ly a long gray gown with a hood drawn
over the face. Instead of the heartrending
Jewish cry. "Unclean, unclean," the med
iaeval leper announced his approach by
means of wooden clappers.
From the year 1920 there was a decided
decrease in the number of lepers in Eng
land. commission appointed in the reign
of Edward " reported that few lepers re-
nsined in any of the lazar houses. Be
fore Henry VIII came to the throne lep-
rosy had practically disappeared and Italy
and France saw the last of the Scourge
about the same time
In Norway. Ireland and Russia trace of
this mediaeval blight is found today, while
1t fingered in the Shetland Isles until the
close of the last century. Rare cases are
Greece at the present time. While the dis
ease was thus dying out of Europe isolation
was everywhere strictly enforced.
LeproSy followed the Chinese immigra-
ton into America, appearing far east as
Chicago. In South Africa and Australia it
is encountered. The disease was carried
into the Sandwich Islands in 1850 and has
been spreading with alarming activity. 1t
is rampant in the Hawaiian Islands, where
the immortal Father Damien went to min
lister relief to the lepers, and who by his
death has left a monument of devotion
that will last for all time.
1t is curious fact that leproSy among
the lower animals is unknown, and this
renders any demonstration of the bacillus
extremely difficult.
In man, however, the disease has been
communicated in this manner. Keanu, a
Hawaiian criminal preferred having a por-
ton of leprouS tubercie grated beneath
the skin of his left arm rather than suffer
death on the Scaffold. Members of keanuS
family were leprous, but he himself had
given no indication of the disease. In six
months laprosy developed, and in six years
the man was dead.
The cause of the disease is little known,
but qualified observers believe it to be
strongly hereditary. SOM think that fish
food, especially when Salted or decom-
posed, is the main cause of its origin. Dirt
able to its growth. But whatever the
cause let us be thankful for its departure
from these islands.