OCR Text |
Show Leprosy in America. Sirs. Harding Davis writes In tho Xew York Jnuepcndtht, unrfir the heeding "Th flague Spot of America," Amer-ica," or the eiletencs of lepro-y in America: "As early as 1718 the uegrots IraiorteU into IxHilrUua frum Guinea brought with them three kindled ulseases the Aftlcan yaw, the elephantiasis, and the ginuino ler-rcy of the Bible. So rapid was the spread of tbo last disease, dis-ease, and to great the terror which it inspired, that UIKm made an ineffectual in-effectual efTon to held the lctiras together. In 175 Governor Mlro founded a boilUl for them near the Ikijou St. John- They were confined con-fined toa ridge of land surruundlng it called Jj Iirra des l.epreux. In consequence ol this isolation, according ac-cording to Gajarre, lejirney almost died out iu Louisiana, tbo hospital was deserted, aud the land is mis a densely populated quarter of the clly. In l!s7U tiie lepto-y appeared again in Vermillion 1'arisU. A womau named Ourblauc. from the south of France, i'l whose family It had been hereditary, suddenly sud-denly developed iu her old age the terrible, u mlstakeble symptoms. Iter husband and seven children all II. d and Kit her to tbe rare uf a jouugglrlof thenelghbofhoo-J, who took pny on her extremity and tenderly nursed her to the end. After her death thedlseaseappeartd Inthlsberelc girl and in six of tbe aid woman's chlldred. They all died. Other Cafes In which the con-Lmrioii con-Lmrioii was clearly traied to theOur-blanc theOur-blanc family appe&ten. lpers now liecumu Iretiueut patients ill tbe Charity Hospital In New Otleaus. riio most patr-ttlc case among them iras that cf Fattier liogliull, a Catholic priest, a powerful, muscular muscu-lar man of noble prettnee, from the Apcuuine MouuUin, who fur four Iti-n years had ministered to the atlents In this hospital. He was :illed upon to administer the lift ntes of his Church to Bimeoftliedy-nglepcr-jbutwaswamedofthedau-;rrulcuutuci. He quietly pruCeedeel wiui ins uuiy, uuisiug luc jvx.-i-j giving them extreme unction, and laeing them in the grave. He was at once infet ted with the diseuse and died about two years ago. The chief seatof Iejirosy in Ixjuirlana, however, has always been on the llayou Lafoulche, below llarang'e Caual. In 18S0 tb3 legislature wasrou'el tu action on this subject, and Dr. Joseph Jones, of the Hoard of Health, with his ton, volunteered to cxamiue into tbeconditlon of the infected district. Hu louud the cabins of tbe Inhabitants standing III low marsbei usually rich Helds IrrlgateJ up to the very door; their diet coulsted largely of fish and rice. They wero constantly sul-Ject to low, malarial atmosphere. Tbe leprosy, inherited in some of these families from dlstontancestors in Africa or southern .Europe, was spread by contaglou and nursed by the low, poverty-stricken, malarious conditions of their life. The Iej-ers lied on his arrival or were hidden by tbclr friends, as it u.is feared they were to be carried oil to come isolated Island in the sea, like that of Molokai. Dr.Joues however, discovered whole families in which Asiatic leprosy bad existed ex-isted for generations. Some of the victims ith their leonine faces and bauds turned to stone were living alone in huts thatched with al-mettos, al-mettos, amsng tho swamps, feeding themselves on such rice and roots s they coulJ find, abandoned by man, and it must have seemed to them by God himself. Dr. Joues 04 lib return vehemently urged the Ifejislature of Louisiana to do something some-thing for the relief of this most wretched communlt) . Nothing was done then, and nothing has since been done. It is rumored that leprosy le-prosy Is still on tho Increase in tills region. As far as I kuow, not even the devoted Komtu priest has ;ene-tratediuto ;ene-tratediuto its shades of death. Why should not wc too do something iu memory of Father Damlen? What shall wc do for these our own lepers?" |