AN AFFLICTED TOWNSHIP.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5558, 8 April 1905, Page 15

AN AFFLICTED TOWNSHIP.

A colony of goitre afflicted persons exists in Canoe township, in the northern part of Indiana county, (1.8. A. Here, according to the investigations of tlio State Board of Health, more than ono hundred persons, in , a population of 1200 are subjects of this disease. Juneau and Eossiter, tho only hamlets in tho towushin. lie at tho huso of Cnnoo ridge, at an elevation of 1800 feet above sea level. The former has a population of thirty-three, and every third inhabitant is afflicted with tho disease. Of this number four are dwarfs, made so by tho ravages of tho disease. Superficial investigation at Eossiter allowed that almost ten per cent, of the inhabitants are subjects of the disease, and healthy persons moving into tho region soon become afflicted. In a family of nine persons four aro goitre victims, and on tho streets one may seo at any time scores of those afflicted. In this district tho disease usually appears in early life, often from tho eighth to the twelfth year. Its growth is slow, hut after a few years of. comparative quiescence a sudden increase is not infrequent. Tho population of Canoe township is made up of Americans who have lived there for three generations. Tho people originally engaged in lumbering, hut as they cleared the land they busied themselves in farming, and that is almost the exclusive occupation. In tho memory of tlio oldest inhabitant—a woman of ninety—goitre was prevalent there in her girlhood. But in the last ten years the disease has become more commah than formerly, and the majority of cases are found in tho present generation. Investigation showed that the disease is peculiar to Canoo township and confined to tho elevated section. i