The San Francisco call., 1908-08-30
Army Officers Will Undertake Special
Inquiry as to Cause Of Leprosy
Surgeon Who Studied Disease in the Philippines
Believes That 1t Is Not Contagious
By C. c. Carlton
SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE CALL

SPECIAL DISPAT(
NEW YORK, Aug. 2s.-The United
States army is to undertake special
Investigation of leprosy. The sad ex-
perience of General WardwelPs wife in
Arizona and Los Angeles has attracted
the attention of physicians to the IN
ternational leprosy congress to be held
in August OF next year at Bergen, Nor
way.
washington was excited this week
over the fact that leper was at large
and roaming the streets of the national
capital because there was no hospltal
that would shelter him and no asylum
for him but the street Army surgeons
at posts in the Philippines, Hawaii etc,
will be requested to report their opln-
ions as to whether the disease can be
communicated by association or con-
tact Many physicians ridicule the
popular fear of leprosy and hold that
it is hereditary, constitutional and in
fectious, but not contagious. Among
these is Army Surgeon Mcdonald. who
made a study of leprosy in the Philip
pines. He says:
My observations were made on the
island of Samar, P. L, at the barrio of
Mastlog, on the Dolores river. while
campaigning in the field with troops in
1906. Many elderly people Of this bar
rio, both male and female, were vic
Tins Of leprosy. When asked how the
disease was contracted they referred
back to a time some 80 years ago, when
q terrible storm visited the interior of
the island and destroyed all their vege-
table food products. They were COM
PEELED for months to live on fish and
clans taken from the river and they
all declared that the disease started at
that time and season, and that the fish
and clam diet was directly responsible
for it.
CONTAGION is DENIED
During all these years these people
have lived under miserable sanitary
conditions in crowded small huts and
the disease has spread but little, If any
The general impression among these
people is that it is not contagious at all,
only very slightly infectious. The fact
that they have raised children and
grandchildren and that-there is no lep-
rosy among the younger ones seems
strongly TO verify their belief
They also believe that leprosy makes
them immune from many of the pre-
vailing diseases, such as cholera, tuber-
culosis and the many fevers, and,
strange to say, deaths are rare among
them from epidemics, which take off
many of the younger generation
These people also firmly believe that
the disease has ULOlQuStQ AnCAA 4tNCcf
as they are quite old. Probably it does
have its effect, owing to the fact that
the disease incapacitates them from
working and going around actively,
thus avoiding many dangerous events
which a roaming native would be sub
ject to.
Many of the so called cases of lep-
rosy among the younger natives have
proved to be ordinary cases of tuber-
culosis."
DANCER COPIES STATUARY
Miss Isadora Duncan's success in
Greek dances at the Criterion theater,
under the management of Charles
Frohman, is the talk of New York.
Critics OF dancing are almost unani-
nous in the opinion that Miss Duncan
is supreme in her art Her technique
is described as wonderful Whether
her dance is a bacchanalian, Ianguorous
and sensuous. or a Strauss waltz, her
grace Is sylphlike and her interpreta-
ton Of the music that accompanies her
thoughtful and unique
The basis of Miss Duncan's natural
dance. as she calls it, is Greek in idea,
but not severely Greek in practice. Her
poses. attitudes and gestures are copied
first hand from Greek statuary which
she studied during that part of her
travels that took her to Athens. But
she does not dance in a Greek costume,
and her particular wish is that her art
should not be mistaken for being Greek
art exclusively.
Many of her dances, most OF her
dances in fact, are interpretations Of
composers like Gluck, Beethoven and
Strauss. She has a wonderfully in
tricate waltz to the accompaniment Of
the Blue Danube" Each Of Miss Dun
cans dances is an idea in itself Each
+afT c+n nd &
distinct from anything else in her
repertoire. She las the "DanSe des
Scythes." which is martial, and the
"Danse Bacchanale," which is amorous,
gay and statuesque.
The costume for Miss Duncan's
dances is transparent drapery. Bare
feet. bare limbs with clinging drapery
is her usual mode of dancing. The ex-
trene rigor and physical exertion of
Miss Duncan's work upon the stage, a
two hours entertainment with scarcely
any interruption, will make IL impossi-
BILE for her to give more than five per-
formances a week. A brief tour of
American cities is now being arranged
for Miss Duncan. and this, she hopes,
will include San Francisco, her old
home
Miss Duncan says:
DANCING SCHOOL PLANNED
while my primary purpose in re-
turning to America is to fulfill a con-
tract with Charles Frohnsan, my prin-
cipal object is to take advantage of
very substantial offers that have been
put in my way toward establishing in
America a school that shall teach
dancing. not as a recreation or as q
fad. but as an aid TO health and the
correct development of children. ]
have already received adequate prom
ises of financial support.
The names OF those who are be-
hind the project I can not divulge for
the present, but it will not be long
before New York has a school of dane
ing, just as Paris and Berlin have. It
will not be founded exactly in New
York, but in one of its suburbs Scars
dale has been mentioned as a suitable
spot. We shall make a very unpre-
tentious beginning, but in the end we
hope to establish an institution that
viii be national in its scope"
MARRIAGE A SENSATION
The sudden marriage of Miss Lii
lian Albertson. leading woman in paid
in Full" to Abraham Levy, a rich re-
tired broker, offered a genuine sensa-
ton TO theatrical circles. especially as
the marriage was the lculmination of a