Evening star., 1922-09-03
Successful Treatment of Leprosy in Hawaii
Made Possible by Washington Mans Research
-HE world has heard q gres

~HE world has heard q great
deal Of late about the wonder
full results being obtained In
L Hawaii by the use of chaul-
moogra oil In the treatment of lep-
rosy.
Some. recalling that the dread dis
ease had been known for centuries
as incurable and that victims of the
malady had been subjected to q "liv-
ing death"-exiled for the remainder
of their existence from their fami-
lies and former associates and
Stunned, by all mankind as ''un-
clean"-have entertained reasonable
doubts of the accuracy of the reports
Physicians and other scientific men,
always open to conviction. have gen.
orally withheld comment or have ex-
pressed hope that dispatches from the
island respecting the cures effected
were true.
The general public has come to
credit the sporadic announcements
as their tone of enthusiasm has in
creased, and the layman has marveled
at the advances of science. with the
remark: We'll. l will believe almost
anything can be done in these days Of
civilization"
WHILE groups of persons are thus
reacting to the news. virtually
weekly reports are received of addi-
tional cases proving the efficacy Of
chaulmoogra oil in treating lepers
confined In government institutions
isolated in the Pacific ocean.
We read of the release from quar-
antine and the return to old associa-
tions of as many as forty or fifty
patients at one time, pronounced by
reputable specialists entirely free
from the so-called incurable infection.
We note formal statements to the
effect that of scores sent to their
homes in the past few years not one
has suffered from a recurrence of the
disease.
We wonder at announcements that
the oil seems to exert its curative
functions best in the aggravated
cases, that patients not in an ad-
vanced stage respond more slowly to
treatment than do those previously
considered beyond hope.
Here in Washington, however. the
progress reported in press state
ments regarding the use of chaul-
moogra oil would undoubtedly have
been brought home to us with greater
force had it been generally known
that the man who made such miracles
possible lives and works right in our
midst.
The man, DR. Frederick Belding
Power, Phi. D., Ill. D., F. c. s.. is in
charge of the phytochemical labora
tory of the Department of Agricul-
ture. and he daily may be seen work.
ing with strange liquids. surrounded
by complicated apparatus and chemi-
calls. on the fifth floor of the bureau
of chemistry. 18th street southwest.
1t was Dr. Power who first investi-
gated chaulmoogra oil successfully
and isolated the acids from the oil
so that they could be made available
TO perform their work in behalf of
suffering humanity. Unless DR.. Power
had obtained these acids after several
years of exhaustive research In Lon
don the startling recoveries regard
Ing which the newspapers have made
frequent mention would not have
taken place.
At the time of the prosecution of
this research work DR.. Power was
director of the Welcome chemical
research Laboratories in London, a
post to which he was appointed in
1895 by his former classmate in COL
'ege. Henry 8. Welcome, founder of
she laboratories. Prior to these in