The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-27


Is called consumption of the tubercular
Kind, and 1t is a significant fact that in
the majority of the leprous cases the dis
ease is also of the tubercular kind. As
10 Dr. Smith, he does not in the least.
disguise for himself the chances he daily
takes but he has, as it We're, become en-
urely Indifferent 10 them. He has devoted
MS whole life to the study of the disease
ana instead of the possibility of watching
1t having any terrors for him he seems to
mink that perhaps should he die of il. he
might be able to do humanity the greatest
service of all. He is constantly expert
mentlng and keeps in close touch with ex-
perts. of other countries. Just now he is
writing an exhaustive brochure on the dis
ease, which he hopes to finish shortly.
lie keeps a register of all the families in
which the disease has appeared at any one
time or other and as soon as it appears
again he compels them. more by moral
persuasion than any other force, to send
the member who is attacked to the Laza-
retto.
The nuns, who belong to the Sisters of
Providence, are sixteen in number. The
number of patients at present is twenty
one, fifteen men and six women, all of
them French-Canadians from New Brun-
swick, with the exception of three Ice
landers, settlers in the northwest. The
numbers shows a. decrease of 40 per cent
within the last four years.
Mere Doucet is the superior Of the sis
tiers in charge, but Soeur Sormany con-
ducts visitors through the institution.
It is kept wonderfully clean. Downstairs
is the pharmacy, and the remainder Of
this floor is taken up with reception rooms,
and a beautiful little chapel, which is ar
ranged in such a way that the female
patients can attend the services without
| leaving their dormitory. The general
public is always admitted to this floor,
though fey the nenD1a
the surrounding districts, avail them
selves of the privilege. The next floor
contains the dOmitories, dining-rooms.
bathrooms and private little rooms for the
particularly bad cases.
Have you no fear of catching the dis
ease?' was asked of Sister Sormany.
None whatever" was the reply. we
never think of it," Certainly the nuns do
not look as if the idea troubled them. or
as if they ever became tired of or dis
gusted with their repulsive surroundings.
They are wonderful women. Upstairs
| everything was as neat and clean as on
! the first floor Everything has apparently
been arranged to give the inmates the i'm
| preston that the place is not a prison or
a compulsory hospital, but a home, and
| everything is as cheerful as possible.
| There is accommodation for about forty or
| fifty.
The dormitories in the male and female
Il
rooms, full of light and bright fittings
On each side are rows of beds. Not regu-
lar hospital cots, but light iron beds with
| sliding curtains of a light material on
| each side. In the center are large tables
| Those in the female dorm.tory were
adorned with flowers, those in the men $
department with a game that is played
with colored marbles Each bed is named
| after a saint and has the saints name
inscribed on little plate at the top of he
| curtain frame The decora tons consist
| of pictures of saints and religious texts.
| The rear of the female dormitory is COM
posed of plate glass. This as a rule is
! but when there is service in the chapel
| the blinds are drawn up and the female
! patients are thus enabled to take part in
the service without going downstairs.
| When the writer visited the male dormi-
| tory one of the inmates, a boy of only IA,
was i'll with a severe attack of pain, a
symptom of the disease, which can be
best compared to an acute attack of rheu-
matism. In fact, almost the only pain
| the lepers suffer is of that kind and the
disease, far from being accompanied by
| horrible physical sufferings, as most peo-
pie imagine, can be best compared in
| that respect 20 a chronic rheumatism.
Hide Their Faces.
The dining rooms are small but clean
| and cheerful. The female patients were
| at dinner and were chattering and laugh
| ing but as soon as they saw stranger
! they became silent and turned their
| hideous faces away--net in time, how
| ever; and it was difficult to imagine that
| these livid, distorted Visages had once
| been comedy, and in one or two cas- s,
! handsome. There is little that is human
in any of the faces belonging to the ad-
/ vanced cases. Pulled up and swollen in
] horrible fantastic thew 1Vl1
! Nightmares, the dreadful aspect of which
! is intensified by the knowledge that every
! part of the body is in similar condition,
! if not worse. There is a general inclina-
! ton on the part of the sufferers to hide
| their designations The sight of a came
ra will scare them into complete retire
ment and there are only one or two pho
! tographs of faces of inmates in existence
| Most of the cases are of the tubercular
| kind usually spoken of as elephantasis
| There are few cases of the anaestheuc
! kind in which the contraction of the
nerves and muscles does not produce such
! a horrible though perhaps more
! fantastic appearance. Thanks to the
| remedies used to retard and allevi-
| ate the ravages of the disease,
very few cases where fingers and
other parts of the body have dropped off
are met with here, but all are more or
| less liberated though carefully applied
!
skin and parts of the body have lost all
| sensation of pain.
Women More Cheerful.
While the women were cheeful, the men
were sullen and cranky, but probably the
weather, which was dun and rainy and
| prevented them from going out, had
something to do with their state of mind.
They are allowed to roam at will over the
Lazaretto grounds, and two boats are at
| their disposal. with which they can go
| out and row and sail and fish and shoot
on the gulf. They also have a workshop,
but they are absolutely forbidden TO go
outside the Lazaretto boundaries on land,
and they never break this rule. of late
years very few attempts have been made
at escaping. One woman who was
brought in during the winter sprang out
of a two-story window on the snow one
night and made her way home across
twenty miles of ice. There was no one
home and she stayed there till she had
eaten up all the provisions and then re-
turned to the Lazaretto of her own &C