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Show I10W LEPROSY IS TREATED j BV HAWAIIAN PRIESTS Father Joseph, in His Bacteriological Labcra-I Labcra-I tory, Gives His Opinions Concerning j Causes of Loathsome Disease. I (Catholic News, Xew York.) Brother Serapion Van Hoof, the young man who, following in the footsteps of Father Dajnien, went lo the leper settlement of Molokai in 1S95, to I join the little band of men and women who have oiisccratod their lives on the altar of Cod and humanity, hu-manity, has become a leper. The story has" already pone around the world, attracting the attention of j bacteriologists and leper experts everywhere and .3 railing forth many inquiries as to the circuni- t fctanees under which he contracted the disease, j Father Serapion, according to Father Joseph, I of Kalawao, Molokai, contracted leprosy by absorb- I ing into his system the bacilli of the disease during I his nightly visits to the patients of the Baldwin I Home hospital. This conclusion of the father i himself a leper student of many years experience I will, if correct, upset many accepted theories and, Iat all events, is sure to bring up again one of these important questions with which science has been I struggling unsuccessfully for a long time: What is leprosy? "What are the primary causes that are responsible for it? Is it really incurable? I Leprosy is a disease which seems to defy all ordinary rules both in the manner of its appearance appear-ance and development. It shows at lirst by discoloration discol-oration white ppots on the lower limbs usually. In the case of Brother Serapion this discoloration appeared upon his right arm. rendering it very 1" weak, and paralyzing two or three fingers of the right hand. Then comes a depression of the muscles, a wasting that continues until all the fingers bend I backward, shrivel and drop off. The face takes on I ; a bluish pallor. Blotches appear above the eyes. I : The ears become elongated, the diseased portion I sometimes being four or five inches in length. One I of the most curious phases of leprosy is that, al- though contagious, it docs not seem to transmit I . itself through the blood of the persons so afflicted. I For instance, there are at the Bishop Home, Kalau- I papa, and the Baldwin Home, Kalawao, "a number I of children of both sexes, born at the settlement . . . of leprous par 'ta -tilBif ted v;itli-the wofet .j iorra of the disease but. who themselves are' free' I froin it. The writer knows personally three women 1 whose fathers and mothers were lepers. These women wo-men were born at the leper settlement, where they remained until their eighteenth year. Then, the doctors declaring them to be non-lepers, they were sent to the Kapiolani Home, in Honolulu, in which institution such girls may remain, in charge of the Good Franciscan Sisters, until they have made I plans for their future life. They may marry, go to . work or remain at the home, at their pleasure. Here I again is another ieculiar case, showing the errratic J pranks of leprosy. There is or was until a short I time ago living in the city of Honolulu a woman IK who had been married three times. Each of her husbands eventually became a leper and died at the settlement. The woman never had so much as the slightest suspicion of the disease. I In order to get the best information obtainable upon the subject, the writer secured a permit from the health committee of the Hawaiian legislature to accompany its members on their periodical visit I to lolokai, which occurs once every two years. I During the stay of the party upon that island of . J misery, desolation and death I secured a horse and ? went forth to interview Father Joseph Juliotte, the I. parish priest of Kalawao. Father Joseph has been at the leper settlement many years and is in charge of the church hallowed by the heroic labors of Father Damien. In his humble rectory he has fitted I up a complete bacteriological laboratory. With the I help of the territorial government which does more I for its unfortunate wards than any other govern- jnent upon the face of the earth and the assistance i of kind friends the world over, the good priest has I become the happy possessor of a set of instruments , ih which he is able to prosecute his researches ; and studies. Microscopes, microtomes, photographic h and photomicrographic implements of the most deli- j I eate make and precision may be found on the table j I of this remarkable laboratory. Xeatl.v arranged a? upon the shelves arc numerous bottles, labeled and j 1 classified, containing all sorts of preparations, drops I : of blood, whole human fingers and toes, flies, I mosquitos. bits of flesh all preserved in diverse . kinds of alcohol and in a normal solution of physi- ological salt. With the aid of a good microtome it ' is possible to study the most minute details of these exhibits, and it is worth going miles by land and I sea for the privilege of witnessing this scientific I priest conduct his experiments and listen to his in- . teresting, if technical, views upon that disease which l 1 t-o far has succeeded in baffling the learned meni- bers of the medical fraternity. Father Joseph laughs to scorn the theory that ! the fish-eating propensities of the Hawaiian people I is one of the greatest means of the spreading of. leprosy. With a twinkle in his wonderfully blue j and intelligent eye he meets the theory with the I question: "Wiry, then, is it. since the Hawaiians have been eaters of fish for centuries, that the disease dis-ease did not make its appearance in the islands until 1SG3, when it was introduced, therein by Chi- j nose coolies?" And when one conies to think of I it, the allegation does seem a little carious. j I I "But I will tell you," continued the priest, "what i r my opinion on the subject is. There are several j I things that contribute to the prevalence of leprosy. ; ! First, you will never see a person of clean habits I I and living in clean surroundings contract leprosy ! J unless he should live among lepers. Filth, then, is J one of the agents of contamination. 'Awa' is an- j j other. You know how awa is made by the natives. ! They take awa roots, pound them to pulp and place ; I j them in a large bowl, around which a number of - j lhem sit and into which they cast their saliva. This, !when it ferments, produces the liquor so favorite Among Hawaiians and Chinese, but which is their most relentless enemy. Then, again, certain dis- ' Continued on Page o.) 5 I i ! HOW LEPROSY IS TREATED ' BY HAWAIIAN PRIESTS ; (Continued from Page 1.) eases which have followed tin advent of civilization ! in Ihe islands have also contributed their part. An : acute form of one of these diseases has played I havoc in a race virgin to the disease. But all these J agents today have done their worst. Mosquitoes. in my opinion, are to be held responsible tor a number of the new cases. Vou know i hat the micro- ' scope and micronome arc the great agents used to . determine ihe nature of ailments; with their aid it j i possible to go to the cause itself of the disorder the bacteria. When the bacilli of leprosy is found in the interior parts of an individual you uiay--.be j sure that that individual is a leper: lhU is logic: but so long as the bacilli has not penetrated into the iiiterior illt individual i not a leper. And after j many years of experiments, study and observation : I give it as my deliberate opinion that leprosy is inocluafed by mosquitoes and by the organs of res-pirationas res-pirationas easily and as often as bv any other I means. j "Ihe other day I was painting the foot ot a j leper or. rather. 1 was ju-t finishing' a wax model of the foot of a leper. And while I was bpsity en- ' gaged in my work there came : mosquito, which i chose a large red spot on the foot of the patient j upon which to alight, and from which it promptly j proceeded to absorb material for a good meal. I Quickly I seized the intruder between two fingers j and made it disgorge -upon a piece of sterilized j glass a good part of its ill-gotten gain. With my instruments' I made a careful examination, and there, true enough, on that piece of glass, could be seen very distinctly the bacilli of leprosy. Of course tins was nothing new to uic, but I like to-repeat to-repeat my experiments whenever possible, so that the results achieved may be beyond the possibility j of a doubt. 1 have examined thus quantities of j mosquitoes, swollen with the blood of lepers, and in j every case have reached the same results, which j have led me to the opinion that the bacilli of lop- j rosy is inoculated by mosquitoes. Before this con-elusion con-elusion is accepted by experts and writers of scientific scien-tific books it will be necessary, no doubt, to prosecute, prose-cute, experiments more numerous and convincing, but nevertheless I hold to the conclusion just formulated, for-mulated, based upon personal researches aud experiments, experi-ments, and shall continue to do so. "To assure myself that the bacilli is also absorbed ab-sorbed by the breathing organs I prepared a sterilized ster-ilized glass containing a small quantity of normal solution. In this solution 1 placed a rubber tube, also sterilized. Then, hav.ing covered the glass. I requested a leper to breathe repeatedly upon the tube. When 1 anayzed the contents of the glass I found there, beyond any doubt, the bacilli of lep- i rosy. Following the same experiment, and a a I complement thereof. I scraped my tongue with a j needle of platiue, sterilized. Studying carefully the j little cells which adhered to the needle, I found I there also the telltale bacilli. I repeated it iu my nose with the same result. Undoubtedly these experiments ex-periments mnst.be often repeated, at diffrent days aud different hours. What I have done, so far. is not sufficient, perhaps, for aconclusive scientific demonstration: but f believe that my' theory that the bacilli of leprosy is inoculated by mosquitoes, by the breathing organs, and trausriiitted by the atmosphere, will prove to be a correct one. - , "Here at the settlement no one doubts but that we are surrounded by bacteria. It is. in the air. in the clothing, in the pores of the body.. It is easy, certainly, for the bacilli to pass from the exterior to the interior of the human organism.. A littb' scratch will siniice for the. transfer, and in niy opinion it is thus that Brother Serapion contracted the disease. When he was making his nightly visits to the hospitnl to ee if his services .were, needed by liny of the inmates the foul smell that, pervaded liie atmosphere provoked frequent vomiting of blood, which goes a long way to prove that, there must ; have been some internal abrasion. ' If is through ! this abrasion that in all probability the bacilli en-i en-i tered into his internal organs.'' S It may be said here, what Father Joseph failed i to mention, that whenever he or Father Iaxitn..of Kalauonna. officiate at mass in the church they are comttelled to ucike short but frequent visits to the 1 outside of the building in order to breathe a lit- tie pure air. the atmosohere of the church being ! so fofil a- to result in suffocation for a non-leper. ! The theory advanced by Father Joseph, and now made public foi' the first time, i- a novel one, -but well worthv of the serious consideration of the members of the medical fraternity. |