MOLOKAI.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 13890, 26 October 1905, Page 3

MOLOKAI.

(By JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS, in. tho New Orleans “ Times-Demo crat.”) To at least seek a means of healing the leper—that hitherto incurable and always most pitiable of outcasts—Dr Walter Wyman, surgeon-general of the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service of the Federal Government, will forthwith erect upon the beautiful _ island of Molokai, Hawaii, an interesting institution to be known as a “ leprosarium.” Upon a peninsula of eight square miles, jutting out from the northern coast of Molokai, is located our territorial leper colony, shut off from the remainder of the island by a rang© of bold, precipitous cliffs. Beyond this steep range—which stands as a discouraging hairier against th© escape of the 990 lepers of the settlement—a mile square of land has just been turned over by the territorial authorities for this new hospital and experiment station. No more advantageous spot for such research could be found iipon earth, and in the two Kalaupapa and Kalawao, situated within t}i-e colony, the physicians in charge will find convenient for study all phases of the terrible disease. NOT A MELANCHOLY PLACE. These two groups of white cottages and churches, surrounded by tropical fruits and flowers and enclosed by fences of stone or lava, ar© not th© melancholy and sombre places which you had in your mind’s eye a moment ago. Chief Quarantine Officer Gofer, who visited them recently and reported their condition to the public health service, said that among th© 400 lepers who stood upon tho wharf when ho landed on Molokai, he saw a number of distorted faces, but not an unhappy one. Hoi could but admire the hopeful and cheerful manner in which the colonists resigned themselves to their fate. The greater part were gaily dressed in their holiday c'othes—the men in white duck trousers and straw hats of the latest fashion. A leper band was discoursing lively music, and things in general took on the appearance of a country fair. Many of die lepers have saddle horses, and while exercising thereupon enjoy some of the moat beautiful tropic scenery to be had iu Hawaii. Some earn pocket money by work'ng in the “taro” patches of the settlement, where are grown those starchy tubers from, which the Hawaiian makes his esteemed “ poi.” The fresh water from tho cool mountain streams is piped to their settlements. All of the necessities of life, including food, shelter and clothing—even matches, kerosene and soap—are furnished to them gratis by the Government,' and what extra pin-money they earn may be invested at the “ Board of Health ” store for the little foibles and vanities of life. This mercantile establishment, kept by a leper, employee of the Board, takes in some £2500 or more per year, expended in luxuries contributing to the happiness of the optimistic outcasts. CAN NO LONGER TOUCH VISITORS. Until a few years ago friends and relatives were allowed to visit th© lepers of Molokai only onoe a year, but the territorial Board of Health, under our improved regime, has lately ruled that such visits may be made at any time. The innovation, of course, brought much happiness to the little colony, but ,by way of . reciprocation the Government now exacts that personal contact between lepers and their visitors must not occur; whereas, formerly, visitors might embrace and kiss their diseased friends, the former are now marched from the steamer landing to a corral .with double fence, and the lepers may gather about and talk to them only through th© bars. No lepers are allowed within the spacious grounds of the superintendent’s homo. Once each year the Hawaiian Board of Health visits the colony, inspects all of the buildings and takes luncheon at the superintendent’s dwelling. After this refreshment tho president goes to the gate of the enclosure and announces himself ready to listen to any complaints and petitions from tho colonists. About 165 healthy persons live within. the colony ■ and contribute to the happiness or comfort of the lepers. Some seventy of these are employed to feed and otherwise care for helpless lepers, about eighty are non-leprous children of lepers, and the remainder are employees of the administrative department —servants, Catholic Brothers and Sisters. It is th© general opinion that, in time, these normal ones will become lepers. About one of their ranks falls a victim each year. One of the sights of the colony is the grave of Father Damien, at Kalawao. Adjacent is the church built by this good martyr. Joseph de I' easier Damien was a Belgian priest, and when he arrived at Molokai, in 18/3, he was an active, healthy man of fine physique, and only thirty-four years of a-ge. Hp remained perfectly well for eleven years, at the end oi which, in 1884, ho commenced to feel pains in lus left foot. In six months, during which the priest believed himself only a victim of rheumatism, the disease became manifest, and after a period ox nearly five years it had gradually gnawed into his vitals and claimed him as a victim. RACE SUICIDE NOT THE FASHION. The four score of lepers’ non-leprous children to be seen on Molokai are retained in the colony because their parents will not consent to their transfer to the Kapiolani Home, at Honolulu, an institution founded for the purpose of giving such little ones a clean start in life. “Race suicide” is by no means popular on Molokai, devoutly as the health authorities wish it were. Indulgent—indeed, to a foolhardy degree—is the law which gives these infected parents th© right to retain their offspring on the island. It would seem to the writer that tho Government should not only prevent this optional retention of helpless children, but- take even a more radical step, and enforce “raoosuici.de” in the colony. According to Dr George Henry Fox, clinical professor of diseases of the skin. New York College of Physicians and Sur-

geons, leprosy is doubtless hereditary; but is contagious to a much slighter degree than is commonly supposed, the husband or wife of a leper often remaining perfectly free, while the children suffer. Dr Gofer, however, reports the case of a man on the island of Maui, Hawaii, who lived fifteen years with his leper wife and had fourteen children by her, neither he nor, at last accounts, the children developing the disease. THE BATH CUKE. The only treatment applied to the lepers of Molokai is the so-called Goto method used at the Baldwin Home for Leper Boys, an institution of the colony supervised by Brother Dutton, a Catholic priest. The more than a hundred patients here are bathed two or three times daily in hot water, containing an infusion of hiohiyoo bark, " t-aifunshi ” and connection with the bath a certain tea and pill, of unknown ingredients, are administered. In the colony there is also the Bishop Heme for Leper Girls, containing over a hundred inmates. It is noted on Molokai that lepers performing regular manual labour or enjoying systematic physical exercise show a much slower advance of the disease than those leading an inactive life. Some sufferers are able to prolong their existence on the island for thirty years.

The now leprosarium will receive forty lepers at a time. It will be located at some distance across the precipitous range which isolates the leper peninsula, whoso area is but one thirtyfifth of the entire island. The inmates will be given the most scientific methods of treatment developed by the wide world of medicine. The germ of leprosy (bacillus leprosi) has been disbut much remains for thorough inquiry into curative methods. Various bacteriologists are now at work upon an anti-toxin’ for the disease, and now and then despatches from abroad announce progress along these lines. No experiments causing the patients any discomfort or danger will, _ of course, be made at the institution. Anti-vivisectionists need have no fear that a repetition of such methods as the Kenan experiments, famous in medical annals, will be attempted at the -leprosarium. EXPERIMENTED ON CONDEMNED CRIMINAL. Kenan, a condemned Hawaiian criminal, was inoculated with leprosy in 1883, his consent, also that of King Kalakaua’s Government, being given. Kenan’s death sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life, oh condition that a tubercle cut from the arm of a leper should be transplanted to his arm. After the operation he was confined, and kept under regular microscopic examination. After he had been removed to Molokai, and had died there of the disease, it was discovered that there were lepers in his family, and this intelligence put a damper on the claims of the experimenters that they had proved the inooulability of leprosy.