Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-09-13
LEPROSY IS N0T CONTAGIOUS ITS SAID American Consul at MaIlcaibo 50 Decides Alter ! Long Sldy
 dH ALSO SAYS IT IS DURABLE Little Hope However in Venezuela or the Other Latin
 Countries.

Washington, Sept f3.-After dis
 playing rare heroism by the devotion of lifetime to study of leprosy,
 Eugene H. Plumacher, American con sul at Maracaibo, Venezuela, has de cided that the dread maladY is not contagious but is hereditary to a de- gree not reached in any other disease. He has made an exhaustive report to the state department telling of his personal attendance upon lepers af- gicted in the most revolting form. His report indicates that leprosy Is curable, but that there Is little. hope in Venezuela or other Latin-American leper colonies, where nutritious foods : and expensive drugs rarely are pro vided.
 .Dr Plpmacher was appointed to Ma racaiho fin 1878, where in jOlnture with his duties as consul he has con- stantly observed leper cases, and their treatment and where he experlmented in no small way In this lie has had the benefit of correspondence with the most advanced scientists of the United States and Europe and 1t was through his. efforts that the 'aTua Tua'' plan. used in treating the dis ease. Is now planted in all countries which have leper stations. At the re- quest of these scientists Dr Plumach- CT took large number of photographs of lepers, personally removing the bandages of the afflicted. It was pro phesied that he would contract the disease but he did not Using n se- cret medicine which he obtained through Dr. S. c. Boutwell,. now mar shall of the supreme court of Porto Rico. he experimented with it on prl-i vate cases. Ten lepers were given into his special charge. These cases embraced both classes of the disease, the dry class where extremitIes be- come calclnIzed so that fingers and toes may he broken of without pain ,t0 the patients: and the, otller class known as wet or soft leprosy where every part becomes purified and rotsi away leaving at last nothing but trunk of human being. Ills reports point out tlint the treatment produced much good results. but that the lack of roper food make absolute cure ini- possible. .t.
 From his observations of the ten cases In his cnre the consul concluded that without plenty of nutritious food to build up the system of the afflicted there never will be good results from the treatment of the lepers at. Mnra- caIbo. The poor creatures there are fed mostly on cheap fish. as the board of directors of the lcprosy Institution hns not the means to procure better food. Many specific instances are given by Dr Plumacher of his treat ment of lepers.
 Dr Plumacher concludes:
 "What leprosy Is we do not yet know. but our people at home should he enlightened through the press that .it Is cruel to shun and abandon a poor suffering. human creature. because he Is 'lnzarus.' Smallpox is much more contagious. will cheerfully at- tend to any class of lepers. but small pox makes me shudder. l would. if allowed the selection. rather storm a battery than go to examine small- pox patient"
 The report gives statistics showing the alarming number of lepers In the republics of Colombia and Venezuela.