Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1921-06-16
NO. IA
convincing evidences of the value Of
the chaulmOogra Oil treatment
How Oil is Administered.

Tie OIL treatment.
How Oil 10 Administered.
"The Injections" to quote from this
report, "are usually made at weekly
intervals in ascending doses. The mi
tial dose is commonly one cubic cent?
meter, and this is increased TO the
point of tolerance. Much difference
exists among the cases as TO the
amount Of the mixture which they
are able to take. In some cases n
few cubic centimeterS produce marked
reactions in the LESSONS, accompanied
by fever and cardiac distress. Some.
times 1t is better TO reduce the amount
of the dose and TO inject at more fire.
quent intervals. The object sought Is
to so regulate the dosage so as to pre-
Vent reaction of TOO violent a charac-
ter. Quicker results are also aprar-
emily obtained when it is possible 10
inject the mixture into large leprous
deposits, or to divide the dose by in
iecting it into q number of smaller In
filtrations."
Experience so far leads to the infer
ence that with additional study the
prospects seem fair for greatly i'm
proving the conditions obtained at
present.
The conclusions of DR.. IIeiser were
reached in 1914, and therefore In
quoting them at this time 1t should be-
borne in mind that more convincing
results have been obtained. He was
not inclined to believe that the devel-
opment of the treatment as he OBJ
served it in the Philippines warranted
the claim that anything like u specific
had been found.
"EXperience does show he contin-
ued, that chaumooSra Oil gives more
consistently favorable results than any
other that has come to olr attention.
1t produces apparent cures in some
cases, causes great Improvement in
others and arrests the progress of the
disease in almost every instance. We
have on hand at least twenty per-
sons who have been microscopically
negative ever since they have begun
the treatment. The treatment is ap-
parently equally efficacious In all
forms of disease. Experience shows
the great desirability of further trial
in the hands of other workers in diff
ferent parts of the world, with the
hope that improvements may result"
One of the most interesting groups
of cases, consisting Of twelve Filipinos
of various ages and sexes, shows that
there is fighting chance at least for
the average leper. If the deductions
We're applied on large scale from
these figures 1t would be shown that
only II per cent of the patients showed
merely slight Improvement, the ma
.iority registering apparently clinical
recoverles or marked Improvement.
The studies of the typical cases
there presented reveal that often the
negative" condition of the skin was
not reached for two years, but that
the improvement was progressive.
Known to Ancients.
Few realize, until they have turned
back into the world history, how wide
spread leprosy was at one time. AL
though there has been some confusion
as to the exact nature of some Of the
eruptive malady so designated, there
Is no doubt that the scourge Is a
very ancient one. The records show
that the early Egyptians knew all
about it, The Greek writer's, such as
Aristotle, were familiar with 1t, al
though Hippocrates, Father of Medi-
cine, does not mention It,
60
in tropical countries and seems to
have been especially nurtured by
warmth and foul living habits. 1t
heavily scourged Europe, however, in
the Middle Ages, especially In France,
England, Spain and Germany. Its
presence Is recorded at Canterbury In
1896. 1t ravaged Europe for centuries,
and even in the ninteenth century
there were many cases in Scotland.
There is leprosy in Norway and In
Iceland, for, strangely enough, cold
as are those countries, there are GER
tain portions Of them In which the
disease has a stubborn foothold
The effort to stamp out leprosy on
the European continent caused the
erection of many leper houses In the
cities and villages. There are said
to have been 10000 of these institu-
tonS erected.
Leprosy at the present time is
known in many parts of Asia, Africa,
South America and the West Indies.
Very often cases Of 1t appear in the
United States, and not infrequently
the Board of Health has removed the
sufferers from the terrible disease
from tenements of New York city.
Although leprosy is classified as an
exotic affliction, 1t is often far nearer
to us than we realize. The fact that
so efficacious a means Of fighting 1t as
chaulmoogra oil has been found Is in
deed a boon to the entire world.