The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-02-11
NEW REMEDY CONES FROM
JAPAN.
Physicians Discuss Respective Merits
OF Cures-Hawaii a Center for All
Kinds Of Specifics.

/ hlndS or SpeCihcS.
! A new alleged cure for Ieprosy has
Just been received by the Board of
/ Health, for which as much is claimed
les for the tua-tua shrub. DR.. Nc
donald says of it: Like tua-tua,
"a brings testimonials Of cures
lbaving been effected and Dr. oliver
Iwill take IL in hand with the hope of
finding something definite from the ex-
Ipcriments This latest remedy comes
f. ON Japan where IT was brought to
tie notice of the American Minister at
FTOkio by a japanese army surgeon who
lis enthusiastic over it properties. We
don't know what it's name is or any
thing about it, 1t is in the shape of
powder, supposedly vegetable and is
Iput up in quart bottles, each bottle
containing enough for the thorough
Treatment and cure Of a leper. What
Iits properties are supposed to be or how
ItC acts beyond the fact that it is a
Ipurgative we do not know. The treat
ment preSCribeS that the doses be grad
Iually increased from 6 grammes to 10
and that the patient be kept in a CON
Iuuuous sweat and the course punctuat-
led by hot baths We are going to try
IlJ over at MOlOkal. 1t was sent
through the Marine Hospital service"
The tua-tua plant still seems to an
uncertain element in the cure of leprO-
isy and although it possesses certain
lsalts or certain qualities that are to an
[eEtent etiCaciOus in arresting the dread
disease, it has not yet accomplished by
lactual local experiment, anything that
has not ben done by the use of other
Shrub remedies.
Chaulmoogra oil, for instance, which
has been extensively used here by the
Board of Health and resident physici-
lans was successful in arrestng the ra-
nrao Of 40 nd ir,
lducing apparently the eruptive nOdules
lon the body but, no matter how long
1.-THE treatment was kept up, the minute
lthe oil was dispensed with the appar-
lent cure proved to be merely tempOr-
larry arrest and the case was as help
Hess as before,
Dr. j. T.. Mcdonald this morning.
while describing the effects of the
IChaulmoOgra oil, made the following
statement with regard to the position
Tor the Board of Health on cures for
Fleprosy:
1t must not be imagined for one mo-
tuent that the Board of Health is not
leager to endeavor to find a cure for
FleprOsy, nor that they will not enthu-
: IsiastiCally experiment with anything
that seems likely to assist in cleaning
: out the disease. But you must remem-
Der that Hawaii is known everywhere
as a sort Of headquarters for leprOsy
and every remedy suggested or tried
THAT comes along is sent here for trial.
The general public would be sur
. Iprised if they had any idea of the num-
/ Iber of sO-Called remedies that are be-
ing constantly sent to the Board of
/, Health as certain cures, as well as to
the local physicians Some of these
/, |are almost as palpably absurd as
witch doctors charm or a negrO's hoo
tdOo. Neither do we necessarily think
less of the specific because it was dis
> covered by some Old priest i'm South
l. America, rather than having been
evolved from the laboratory of a world
renowned physician. Quinine, the great
! specific for intermittents was first
4 found by an old priest in South Ameri-
: ca though II was long before the aka
5 Iloid quinine was evolved from cinchona
I, on Peruvian bark. As bark it was used
as for many years, Chewed and the
bitter astringent just swallowed before
, science discovered its essential values.
But there have been so many guar
! |anteed cures like ChaulmoOgra oil that
. have been eagerly and enthusiastically
= taken up by the Board, and fancied
success all resulted in failure after fail
u .ure that it is no wonder new cures are
i looked carefully into and regarded
' |muCh as a repetition of all those that
. have been sent and tried before
Dr. Camp who has had actua! eXpe-
- ITienCe of the new remedy and it's phy-
IsiOlOgical results, is also dlihdent about
=, Its permanent value, 81 have says ne
. noticed not only a reduction, but a
- Temporary disappearance of the tuber-
- ICles while under the treatment of tua-
= tua but the cure, if cure IL is, is a
- lengthy process and one can hardly tell
- in a year, or maybe two years whether
=, the treatment is really effeCting cure
h "Leprosy itself is as old as man ap-
" .parently and in all these years the to-
N tai sum of the discoveries that have
., |been made concerning It,, lies in tht
- statement that we know 1T is bacillary
~ when we were trying the treatment
- by tua-tua we were required to make
monthly reports which We're totally in
. Iadequate to report progress. The tua-
!, tua plant may, like the Koch remedy
- for consumption, have come before ltS
=, time, although of course the living
g Ilepers will get little satisfaction from
IS the fact that the cure may be perfect
!, ed after they are dead. We do no
"a know i'm what way the tua-tua plan
= effects the patient any more than We
know how or why quinine destroys ma
n Ilara. At present we are using the
m whole Of the plant although we have
n llately started experiments with DIS
II Iuling the leaves and the stems separ'
o. lately. The tua-tu may have some
. germ of wonderful cure that needs the
# elimination of certain parts of th'
T., Iplant We discard the roots at present
1 THE cure may lie in those, or in the
a. berry only.
/. Medicine Is not a science like mathe
ID Imatcs it is an art. We find one Trims
% IOures and we use IL again. The cases
# that come under the immediate notice
n, |Ot praCtciug physicians are not actua
|lcpprs. Those keep away for fear o
.- being reported to the Board of liealii
BE- land there are many who have not ye
n, been discovered. If these lepers wan
o.. %