The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-05-21

cosquey;;as tie Plague Of the Ages.

w..hins.b.. D. c. May ss.-ln
the conquest Of leprosy. tor which .
SPECIFIC cure has been developed BY
American physicians at the Ha-
waiian leper colony. one Of the old
est and most terrible plaques Of the
human race ha4 yielded to medical
science.
DR.. Johnathan T. Mcdonald. who
has been associated with the work
in Hawaii for u years and played
an important part in perfecting the
cure Of the disease, gives some facts
about this most ancient Of the Ills
Of man and how It has yielded to
treatment.
Although there are many diseases
which are known to have attacked
man through ages OF civilization.
leprosy is undoubtedly the most
ancient of them all. Records OF
leprosy in China 90 back 5000
years, of 1000 years before Christ.
Whereas Egypt Is generally con-
coded to be the birthplace of this
disease, the contagion and spread
of leprosy throughout the world
has been terrifying in it, complete
ness. Scarcely q country, no mat
ter how tiny or remote, has not at
some time been touched by it. The
name for the disease has been
translated into every language.
In practically all cases where
leprosy has been carried from one
community or country to another.
1t has been carried by human beings,
for scientists have been unable to
find, to date, any lower aanimal
which can contract leprosy. In the
year. 81 A. D. the disease was
spreading all over Europe. The
Romans got it from the Greeks ;
Pompey had carried it into Italy rs
as early as the first century, B. c.,
and it was common among the Jews
26O years previous to that. Later
pilgrims from the Holy Land car
ried leprosy to England and the
noble armies Of the crusaders
spread it wide-cast when return
| ing to their home lands during the
10th, 18th and 18th centuries
Wales, Ireland, Norway and Swe-
den became 30 infected as to have
the disease assume the proportions
of plague. The exact date when
the disease invaded America can.
not be traced, but it is thought prob
able that most of the comparative
ly few cases in this country have
been brought by returning travel.
ers who visited the Orient.
Tive Million Lepers.
At the present time. according tc
statistics compiled by DR.. Victor G
Heiser, there are 1000, 900 lepers In
the World; that is, one out of every
500 Inhabitants Of the world is 8
leper. The largest number of these
are in China. According to a lepel
conference held at Calcutta in Feb.
ruary of 1890, it is estimated tina,
there are approximately 10000
lepers in India. There are severa
thousand in Japan and only 500 in
Hawaii. in spite of the popular be.
lief that Molokai houses large
percentage of the worlds lepers
There are many cases of leprosy in
Central and South American coun.
tries. and comparatively few scat
tered throughout Mexico, the Wes'
Indies, the United States and Can.
ada. Russia and Sweden have
some cases and it is common IL
Asiatict countries other than thoss
above mentioned. The western
coast Of Africa is also seriously in.
fected with leprosy. 1t can thu,
be seen that leprosy has not yet
ceased to be a'world menace.
And what methods has the worlt
used to get rid of its oldest dis
ease? First Of all. segregation hal
been practiced and secondly, medi
cal attempts at remedies. Leprosy
is spread by bacteria. especially
those Of nose secretions, according
to the most general belief, al
though its origin has been attribu
ted variously to climate, too little
salt in food, insanitary living con
rditions and eating spoiled fish.
The idea of segregating leperl
occurred to mankind at an early
date. Herodotus says that the Per
SLAMS Of his time exiled lepers
Moses, following the customs O
ancient Egypt, segregated the lep
ers among the Jews. History show
that the Chinese went so far as Il
burn lepers alive. Medieval Franc,
provided lepers with rattles I,
warn all Of their approach and en-
forced uniform gray for the appare
of these unfortunates.
Today all Christian countries
have sanitariums or missionar,
hospitals for the care and segrega
ton of those inflicted with leprosy
There are three hospitals for lep
ers in the United States. located 1;