The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-10-07
HOW LEPROSY Is TREATED
BY HAWAIIAN Prizes S
lContinued from Page


eases which have followed the advent of civilization
i'll the islands have also contributed their part An
acute form Of one of these diseases has played
havoc in race virgin to the disease. But all these
agents today have done their worst. Mosquitoes,
i'll my opinion, are to be held responsible for u
number of the new cases You know that the micro
scope and mcronolne are the great agents used to
determine the nature of ailments; with their and 1t
is possible to go to the cause itself of the deo-der
the bacteria When the baciIli Of leprosy Is found
i'll the interior parts of an individual you maybe
sure that that individual is leper: this Is logic:
but 50 long as the bacilli has not penetrated into
the interior the individual is not leper And after
muny years of experiments, study and observation
| give it as my deliberate opinion that eprosy Is
mocluaed by mosquitoes and by the organs of res
piration as easily and as often as by any other
means.
The other day ] was painting the foot of
leper-or. rather | was Just finishing wax model
OF the foot of a eper And while | was busiy en-
gagged III my work there mosquito. which
chose large red spot on the foot Of the patient
upon which to ulight. and from which it promptly
proceeded to absorb material for a good meal
Quickly / seized the intruder between two fingers
and made it disgorge upon piece of sterilized
glass good part of its ill-gotten gain With my
instruments | made a careful examination. and
there. true enough. on that piece OF glass. could
be seen very distinctly the bacilh of leprosy. OF
course this was nothing new to me, out | like to
repeat my experiments whenever possible, that
the results achieved may be beyond the possibility
of a doubt. | have examined thus quantities of
mosquitoes swollen with the blood of Iepers and in
every case have reached the same results. which
have led me to the opinion that the bacilli of lep-
rosy is nOculaed by mosquitoes Before tins con-
cluson is accepted by experts and writers OF sclen-
titic books it will be necessary, doubt to prose
cute experiments more numerous and convincing.
but nevertheless | hold to the conclusion Just for
mulated based upon personal researches and expert
ments and shall continue to do so.
TO assure myself that the bacilli is also alb
sorbed by the breathing organs | prepared ster-
ilized glass containing a small quantity of normal
solution In this solution | placed rubber tube
also sterilized Then having covered the glass.
requested leper to breathe repeatedly upon the
tube When | analyzed the contents of the glass
found there. beyond any doubt, the bacilh of lep-
rosy Following the same experiment and as
complement thereof [ scraped my tongue with
needle of patne sterilized Studying carefully the
little cells which adhered to the needle, I found
there also the telltale bacilh. ! repeated it III my
nose with the same result Undoubtedly these ex-
pernents must be often repeated at ditfrent days
and different hours. What | have done, far. is
not sufficient, perhaps. for conclusive scientific
demonstrations but [ believe that my theory that
the bacilli of leprosy is inocuated by mosquitoes.
atmosphere will prove to be correct one.
Here at the settlement doubts but that
we are surrounded by bacteria. 1t is in the air,
in the clothing III the pores of the body 1t is easy.
certainly. for the bacilli to pass from the exterior
TO the interior of the human organism. A little
scratch will suffice for the transfer and III my
opinion it is thus that Brother Serapion contracted
the disease When he was making his nightly visits
to the hospital see if his services were needed
by any of the inmates the foul smell that pervaded
the atmosphere provoked frequent vomiting of blood.
which goes a long way to prove that there must
have been some internal abrasion It is through
this abrasion that in all probability the bacilli en-
tered into his internal organs"
1t may be said here what Father Joseph failed
to mention. that whenever he or Father Maxim. of
Kalaunapa. oficate at mass in the church they are
compelled to Nuke short but frequent visits 10 the
outside of the building in order to breathe lit
tie pure air. the atmosphere of the church being
so fonl a. to result in suffocaton for non-leper
The theory advanced by Father Joseph and now
made public for the first time i novel one, but
well worthy of the serious consideration of the
members of the medical fraternity.