The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-03-26
THE ruATUA REMEDY. J


we are sorry that DR. SIoggeit. in an
s~er TO the inquiry OF the German
consul as TO the value OF the tuatua
remedy for Ieprosy. should have report
ed against IL at this time. No one in
Hawaii - supposed 10 know anything
Of what tuatua will actually do. unless
ii be the lady who has reported such
success with it in Tahiti or DIR. Camp.
who has interested himself in the cases
there and at last advices was hopeful
OF good results. According to Dr.
Sloggett's statement in the Star the
tests at Molokai have scarcely begun
He says: We have not enough OF the
plant TO make experiments with at
present. but soon shall have. DR.. Oil
yer Of the Ieper settlement has been
given some. ard is growing the plant at
! NauIapapa. As soon there is
enough he will experiment and we
shall get definite reports" And yet in
I the same breath. the President of the
Board OF Health adds. for the benefit
/ OF the German consul and the public.
that this talk OF tua;ua is all nom
sense"
Could DR.. Sloggett have reached this
conclusion in a scientific way? What
are his authorities? What experiments
has he witnessed? What data has he
with which To confound the United
States government which sent the tua-
tua plant here with the recommended
ton that IL be tried as a specific for
the rotting plague? Upon what grounds
intelligent woman in Tahiti. familiar
with all forms OF Ieprosy. and interest
ed in a test of tuatua which. she ayers,
is turning out successfully? What we
fear is that DR.. Sloggett is basing his
views wholly upon that innate con-
servatism OF the medical guild which
led the doctors Of the time to challenge
Harvey's discovery OF the circulation
OF the blood and Jenner's theory of
vaccination. II so. we respectfully pro-
test in the name of the victims of lep-
rosy in Hawaii and for the well-being
OF this Territory. Such conservatism
as we have described rs that OF the
horse which would rather stay in his
burning stable than break for the
open door.
One thing the public asks and ex-
poets OF the Board of Health and it's
President. is the widest hospitality to
every method OF cure OF contagious |
disease which carries with it any prom |
Use OF success. however slight. or which /;
has reputable testimony behind it. By |
that method discoveries of infinite val |
ue have been made. Medical science |
has not yet reached the end Of the /
passage. All OF natures indictments /
have not yet been collected and labeled. |
There are secrets OF vast moment TO |
the human race still locked in the lab /
oratory of the earth. 1t is the business
of the physician and the chemist to
search for them with patience and
hope; not to settle back with the COM
placent thought that there is nothing
left to learn. There is a part of the
lay public, and a very considerable
part. which believes that a physician
would rather let a patient die than to
seek a remedy in the medicines of
some other school than his own. or TO
look for one among the vulgar herbs
and simples OF the field. Possibly this
view is unjust. But men will not think
so while physicians stand off. at the
approach of any new remedy, and con-
denim IL before it is tested.
Every bane has it's antidote." If
this is true. somewhere in natures
pharmacopoeia is a specific for lep
rosy. Where is the physician in Ha-
wall who can stand up and say. with
his hand on his heart, that tuatua may
not be the cure which the world has
waited for so long?