The Red Cloud chief., 1901-08-30
SPREAD or the TF5=]~
NAL ExPANsi6NzA
- m
Europe Alarmed at the Outlook "A Lopez
s~an'tsrium Established In siermnny-
One Proposed Ia srance --i.as Spanish
Methods Disease In Norway.

Incident to colonial expansion. there
has been. particularly In France and
Germany. 80 marked an Increase In
the number OF cases of leprosy In Eu-
rope that the matter IN receiving seri-
GUS attention. There arc even alarm
lists who say that western Europe IL
on the eve OF another outbreak Of the
disease such AZ followed the return
OF the Crusaders. The question was
brought up before the French Academy
Of Medicine In 1886 and 1883. In Ber-
lin. Ia 1897. there was an International
medical conference to consider pre-
cautionary measures to prevent the
spread Of the disease. On May ~ last
DIR. Besnier of the French Academy
OF Medicine declared that II was ad-
visable to establish In France q ma
tional leprosy sanitarium. where per-
sons tainted with the disease might
be- isolated. Taking this state OF af-
fairs for his text. NJ. Dastre has con-
tributed to the Revue des Deux Mondes
q study OF leprosy and the present dan
ger Of a spread Of the disease. He
points out that In two regions In
France leprosy has existed continu-
ously since the middle ages. These
are Brittany and the n~eighborhood OF
Nice, The Nice lepers are supposed to
be descended from n leper colony that
dated back to the Saracen invasion.
As recently as 1888 W distinct out
breaks OF the disease occurred along
the Alpes- Maritlmes coast. causing the
death of some twenty persons. In
dividual cases OF the disease are still
found In the neighborhood. In Brit
tany leprosy in the seventeenth CEN
fury were very widespread and II has
never been entirely stamped out. In
a majority Of the recently imported
cases from the French colonies In the
Orient the patients are government
employees, commercial travellers, mis-
sionaries. soldiers aud sisters Of char
ity. All told II IL estimated that the
proposed leper colony In France would
begin with between 300 and 400 pa
tients. Germany established u leper
sanitarium two years ago.. Up to 1870
the disease was unknown In Russia. A
few years ago II appeared In the
Memel district. causing the death OF
nineteen persons. In 1899 seventeen
districts around the city were found
to be contaminated and the sanitary
department Of the German government
opened a leper hospital. to which all
sufferers were forced to go. and In
which the isolation was complete. The
regulations on the subject are very
German merchant who anne home t.
enjoy a fortune which he had amassed
In one of the tainted colonies and who
was found to be suffering from lep'
rosy. He was ordered to move out o.
the town forthwith. purchase a coun'
try house remote from all neighbors
and then live absolutely isolated from
the world, under penalty OF being re
moved to the lcper hospital. Thu
authorities even went SO far as II
designate the particular room In thu
house which the leper and each Of thu
members of his family were to occupy
Great Britain. with more foreign pos
sessions In which leprosy prevails
than any other country In the world
has always fully protected herself from
invssions Of the scourge. In the 81
years from 1853 to 1898 only 90 I'm
ported cases were reported. In Por
tugal II Is estimated that there ar
In the neighborh00d Of 1000 cases o
leprosy, while In Spain there are
certain number OF breeding places q
the disease. The lepers In Spain ar
|, not isolated. They work In the field
oven marry. they are avoide'
only when the m'".!.s.s..?9
] avoided only when the manifestation
Of their disease are particularly pro
/, nounced. There Is one leprosy-lnfccts,
, region OF Spain which has a curlou
history. 1t is Sagra In the province o
/ Alicante. l.epr0sy was unknown Their,
until 1850, VIXEN It was introduced b!
a man who had returned from tn
Philippines to enjoy the fortune h
: had acquired. The case was SO IA
, similar to that OF the German mer
chant already described. Spanish meth
, ODDS are not as thOrough-going as Ger
man and no restraint was Tut ON tn
leper. He communicated the diseas
to his friends first and 1t gradual,
spread to the nearby villages OF JalOn
Parent and Orba. Within a very few
|, years more than 200 persons were pro
nounced lepers. and only recently q
many as $50 OF these unfortunate