Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-10-02
WOMAN|SCURED
OF lEPROSY ATTACK
Amazing Results Follow Use
of Special Kind of Oil in
Hawaiian Colony.

HONOLULU, October Twenty
five years leper, but now discharged
by the physician of the United States
public health service in charge o
the Kalihi leprosy investigation sta
ton here without an apparent trac
of the disease in her body. is thu
record of Mrs Rosalie Blaidsell o.
Honolulu, given to the Associated
Press in what is believed to be tn,
first interview of it's kind ever pub
lished.
Refined chaulmoogra oil, prepared
by DIR. A. L. Dean and his conferee:
of the University of Hawaii, and adj
ministered by DIR. J. T. Mcdonald. di'
rector of the investigation station
DR.. F. E. Trotter, president OF the
Territorial Board of Health. and their
associates. is credited by the public
health officials with having arrested
the disease in three years, five months
and seven days of treatment.
Today Mrs. Blaisdell is living a.
her home here. going in and out
among her friends and taking up the
threads of a busy life which were cut
when the malady forced her with
out the camp"
Mrs. BlaisdeIrs Past Life.
Mrs Blaisdell is full FLOODED
Hawaiian. last of long line OF
''priestesses of the flame" in the old
Hawaiian temple worship. Before
she entered the Kalihi institution for
treatment she organized the Daugh-
tiers and Sons of Hawaiian Warriors.
one of the strongest of the Hawaiian
societies in the islands. She speaks
English fiuently, also Hawaiian. and
her information on world affairs is
far above the average.
My grandmother told me to OBJ
serve our old tabus' (rules of con-
ducD or 1 would be stricken with
leprosy" said this daughter of a
race that believed in divine
trinity 5000 years ago and taught
the power of mind over matter CEN
turtles before the Christian era. Il
did not heed her warning and in 1895
II red, burning spot on my right
cheek announced that my punishment
had come. 1t re-appeared off and
on. but not in aggravated form I'M
til 1908"
1t was a revelation to learn from this
woman that cheerfulness, laughter and
joy of living were the rule rather than
the exception among the 100-odd pa
tients at kalihi.
All Happy In Colony.
I'VE had our afternoon teas. our anna
teur theatricals, and, of course, in a
community whose great majority We're
Hawaiians. our musicals" she said eff
new awnings were needed for the build
ings the board of health furnished the
material ana we OlQ inc SEWING. ~
operation was the keystone of the sta
tion's activities. for we knew that the
territory's funds were heavily taxed to
meet the expense of our treatment.
Chaulmoogra oil is extracted from the
nuts of the chaulmoogra tree. native
of Burmah and other Asiatic countries.
In the station grounds at kalihi is a
young chaulmoogra tree, planted and
cared for by the patients. the emblem of
their home.
Before her release 'tsnips'' were taken
from Mrs. Blaisdells skin for bacterio-
logical investigation-she had thirty
eight "snips"-ktaken during her treat
lment. The result Of the last official ex-
animation and a special examination
taken at her own request is contained
IN the following statement given Mrs.
Blaisden by one of the attending physi-
clans:
ssMy efforts on Sunday to obtain from
you at least a few fragments of dead
bacili from five former localities chiefly
affected, must tell you. ended in COM
plete failure, although I tried my best
to find few for demonstration pur-
poses