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 uk^^ -^W^-iJ^V— > 
 
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LEPROSY 
 
 AND THE 
 
 Charity of the Church 
 
 BY 
 
 Rev. L. W. Mulhane 
 
 "And Jesus making answer said to them: Go and relate to John what you have 
 heard and seen. 
 
 The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead 
 rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them." St. Matthew XI. — 2 and 3. 
 
 CHICAGO NEW YORK 
 
 D. H. MCBRIDE a CO, 
 
Copyright, 1896, 
 By L. W. MULHANE. 
 
DEDICATED TO MY FRIENDS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MEDICAL FRATERNITY 
 
 WITH WHOM MY RELATIONS FOR OVER FIFTEEN YEARS HAVE 
 
 BEEN OF THE MOST PLEASANT KIND, FORMED, AS THEY 
 
 WERE, AMID THE SAD AND VARIED CIRCUMSTANCES 
 
 OF HOSPITAL, PEST-HOUSE AND SICK-ROOM. 
 
 '■''God-like is the physician who is a philosopher.'''' — Hippocrates. 
 "The philosopher should end 7vith medicine, the 'physician begin with phi- 
 losophy. ' ' — Aristotle. 
 
 "'Honor the physician for the need thou hast of him.''' — Ecclesiasticus, 
 Ch. xxxviii, vs. 1. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Arcinive 
 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 
 Open Knowledge Commons 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/leprosycharityofOOmulh 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This book lays no claim to any originality. It 
 is merely a compilation of facts picked up here and 
 there. Portions of it have already appeared in a 
 pamphlet issued a year ago. The demand for the 
 pamphlet was so much beyond expectation that the 
 compiler was induced to enlarge, revise and add 
 some recent information, and put it in more durable 
 form. He hopes his readers may obtain some faint 
 idea of the awful scourge of leprosy, an ancient 
 and yet prevalent disease, and of the heroic work 
 of Charity accomplished by the sons and daughters 
 of Holy Church who are engaged in the work of 
 caring for lepers in all parts of the world, from 
 Canada to the islands of the Pacific, and from Ice- 
 land to the regions of India. 
 
 Iv. W. MUIvHANE. 
 
 Mt. Vernon, Ohio. 
 
 Feast of The Holy Guardian Angels, 1896. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE. 
 
 I. I,EPROSv IN Ancient Times 13 
 
 II. Leprosy in the Middee Ages 19 
 
 III. Leprosy in Our Day 24 
 
 IV. Leprosy in the United States 27 
 
 V. Leprosy in Louisiana.. 35 
 
 VI. The Menace oe Leprosy 38 
 
 VII. Leprosy: Different Forms — How Contracted- 
 Can it be Cured? 52 
 
 VIII. Leprosy as discussed in the Pan-American Med- 
 icaid Congress 63 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Chapter. Page. 
 
 I. The Care oe Lepers 73 
 
 II. The Sandwich Isi^ands 79 
 
 III. The Trinidad Leper Coeony 110 
 
 IV. Canada and Iceeand : 116 
 
 V. In Japan 118 
 
 VI. In Madagascar 125 
 
 VII. In South America 130 
 
 VIII. In India 133 
 
 IX. In Louisiana 147 
 
 Conclusion 154 
 
 9 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Dead of the Pi<ague ,. 21 
 
 Father Damien and his Leper Boys 23 
 
 IvEPERS IN DaRCEY ISI.AND, VANCOUVER, B. C 25 
 
 Hattie AND Hannah Garey, Lepers near New Lexing- 
 ton, Ohio 30 
 
 TUBERCUI.AR Leprosy and Anesthetic Leprosy 45 
 
 TuBERCui<AR Leprosy 52 
 
 Father Damien,. 72 
 
 Bird's-Eye View oe Moi.okai 81 
 
 Monument to Father Damien at Kalaupapa 89 
 
 The Church at KaIvAmao, Showing the Tree Under 
 
 Which Father Damien is Buried 84 
 
 Father Damien the Day Before his Death 86 
 
 Father Damien's Grave at Kalawao 92 
 
 Major Joseph Dutton 94 
 
 Father Wendewn's Church at Kai^aupapa 97 
 
 Interior of the Church at Kalaupapa.... 102 
 
 The Cemetery at Molokai 104 
 
 The Rev. Father Pamphile, S vS. C C 106 
 
 Father Conrardy , 107 
 
 Two Japanese Lepers 119 
 
 Leper Colony in Madagascar 126 
 
 House for the Female Lepers, Mangalore, India 135 
 
 Group of Male Lepers, India " 138 
 
 A Group of Female Lepers, India 142 
 
 Father Muller and a Little Leper 143 
 
PART 1. 
 
 LEPROSY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 LEPROSY IN ANCIENT TIMES. 
 
 Leprosy seems to be a very ancient disease. The 
 13th chapter of the Book of Leviticus treats of the 
 law concerning leprosy in men and garments, and 
 the 14th chapter, of the rites of sacrifice in cleansing 
 leprosy. It was regarded by the ancients as a dis- 
 ease peculiar to Egypt. Herodotus speaks of it as 
 existing in Persia. Pliny knew of it, as did Diodorus. 
 Lucretius says: "Leprosy is a disease born in Egypt 
 along the waters of the Nile, and nowhere else." The 
 Hebrews brought it with them from their Egyptian 
 slavery and the Mosaic law shows how dreadful must 
 have been its ravages and how great the terror which 
 it excited. Regarding it as a disease sent directly by 
 God, they required that the person supposed to be 
 infected should go and show himself to the priest, 
 and, if in his opinion, the disease was leprosy, he 
 was declared unclean and at once separated from the 
 people. So strictly was the Mosaic law observed 
 
 that even kings afflicted with the disease were ex- 
 
 13 
 
14 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 pelled from their palaces and shut out from society, as 
 is mentioned concerning Ozias in the last verses of 
 the 26th chapter of the Second Book of Paralipo- 
 menon. Outside the gates of the cities and in se- 
 cluded spots were usually found leper villages, where 
 these outcasts of society dragged out their wretched 
 lives, depending upon their own labors and the alms 
 of the charitable for their living, as we find recorded 
 of the four lepers outside of the city of Samaria, as 
 mentioned in the Fourth Book of Kings, Chap. VII, 
 and of the ten who came to Jesus Christ asking to 
 be healed — St. Luke, Chap. XVII. No class of 
 people were free from its ravages. Chap. V, Fourth 
 Book of Kings, describes to us Naaman, the great 
 general and valiant man, as being a leper, how he 
 was cured by washing himself seven times in the 
 River Jordan, and how Giezi on the same occasion 
 went forth from the presence of Eliseus stricken with 
 the disease. When a leper was cured, he came to 
 the gate of the city and was examined by the priest 
 as to whether he was truly healed or not. After this 
 he went up to the temple, took two pure birds, made 
 a wisp with a cedar branch and another of hj^ssop, 
 tied together with a scarlet ribbon made of wool ; an 
 earthen vessel was filled with water and one of these 
 birds was fastened alive to the wisp. The leper who 
 was cured killed the other bird and let the blood of 
 it run into the vessel filled with water. Then the 
 priest took the wisp with the live bird, dipped both 
 in the water tinged with the blood of one of the birds 
 and sprinkled the leper with it. After this the live 
 bird was let loose and the person healed and purified 
 
Leprosy in Ancient Times. 15 
 
 in this manner was again allowed to mingle with his 
 friends and use sacred things. 
 
 Father Calmet, the Benedictine scholar of the last 
 century, in his "Dictionary of the Bible," gives the 
 following summary of the Mosaic law which was to 
 guide the Jewish priests: "The first indication of 
 leprosy is an outward tumor, the second is a pustule 
 or abcess, the third is a whitish or red and shining 
 spot, to which the epithets, white, brilliant, are often 
 applied. Whoever presented one of these marks was 
 shut up for seven or fourteen days. The certain 
 signs of leprosy were, first, a whitish, reddish shining 
 spot; second, the hair pale and red in the same place; 
 third, the part more deeply sunk than the rest of the 
 skin. A simple white spot was not sufficient to 
 cause a man to be called a leper; it was necessary 
 that this should grow and increase. When the 
 whole body was white from the head to the feet, it 
 was pure leprosy \ and when the flesh was covered 
 with white tumors, and the hair, on the parts where 
 these were to be seen, had changed color and become 
 white, it was inveterate leprosy.^ and rooted in the 
 skin. If in a cicatrice, or in a place which had been 
 burned, a white tumor or a whitish spot 'was seen, 
 shining or red, more depressed than the surrounding 
 parts, it was a mark of true leprosy.'''' This diagnosis 
 is similar to the three forms of leprosy that the best 
 informed physicians now mention, viz. : ticberose^ 
 macular and anaesthetic. 
 
 Wallace, in his "Ben Hur," says: "These four 
 are accounted as dead — the blind, the leper, the poor 
 and the childless — thus the Talmud. That is, to be 
 
l6 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 a leper was to be treated as dead — to be excluded 
 from the city as a corpse; to be spoken to by the best 
 beloved and most loving only at a distance; to dwell 
 with none but lepers; to be utterly unprivileged; to 
 be denied the rites of the Temple; to go about in 
 rent garments and with covered mouth, except when 
 cr}-ing 'unclean, unclean!' to find home in the wilder- 
 ness or in abandoned tombs; to become a materialized 
 specter of Hinnom and Gehenna; to be at all times 
 less a living offense to others than breathing torments 
 to self; afraid to die, yet without hope except in 
 death." 
 
 Again he says: "Once Tirzah's mother felt a dry 
 scurf in the palm of her hand, a trifle which she tried 
 to wash away. It clung to the member pertina- 
 ciously; yet she thought but little of the sign till 
 Tirzah complained that she, too, was attacked in the 
 same way. The supply of water was scant, and they 
 denied themselves drink that they might use it as a 
 curative. hX length the whole hand w^as attacked; 
 the skin cracked open, the finger-nails loosened from 
 the flesh. There was not much pain withal, chiefly 
 a steadily increasing discomfort. Later their lips be- 
 gan to parch and seam One day the 
 
 mother led her child to the light and lo \ the young 
 girl's eyebrows were white as snow. Oh, the anguish 
 of that assurance! The mother sat awhile speechless, 
 motionless, paralyzed of soul, and capable of but one 
 thought — lepros}', leprosy! . . . Slowly, stead- 
 ily, with horrible certainty, the disease spread, after 
 awhile bleaching their heads white, eating holes in 
 their lips and eyelids, and covering their bodies with 
 
Leprosy in Ancient Times. 17 
 
 scales; then it fell to their throats, shrilling their 
 voices, and to their joints, hardening the tissues and 
 cartilages — slowly, and, as the mother well knew, 
 past remedy, it was affecting their lungs, arteries and 
 bones, at each advance making the sufferer more and 
 more loathsome; and so it would continue till death, 
 which might be years before them." 
 
 IN CHINA. 
 
 The Rev. J. Edkins, D.D. , the most distinguished 
 sinologue now living and one of the most eminent 
 authorities on the history of China, has written 
 instructively of leprosy. In Chinese one of the first 
 references to leprosy, he says, is the " Wars of the 
 Contending States." A passage in that history says 
 Yu Jang painted his body with varnish to represent 
 a leper, and removed his beard and eyebrows, pun- 
 ishing himself in this way to change his appear- 
 ance. 
 
 This he did to disguise himself with a view to facil- 
 itate his assasination of an enemy, who had killed his 
 feudal chief, ruler of Tsin. The enemy was T'sau 
 Siang Tsi, ruler of the T'sau feudal State, not T'sau- 
 chow-fu, where Shantung borders on Honan. 
 
 This author puts the origin of leprosy in China in 
 the time of the Chow dynasty, 314-1121 B.C. In a 
 Japanese work published in Tokio in 17 81 and trans- 
 lated a few years ago by Mr. T'suchiya of New York 
 and Dr. A. S. Ashmead of the same city, there is an 
 allusion to a pupil of Confucius, who was supposed 
 to be a leper. The diagnosis consisted in the fact 
 that the master inserted his hand throug-h the win- 
 
1 8 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 dow casement of the patient's room, saying : "This 
 good man has this hatefnl disease." 
 
 IN ROME. 
 
 A Latin tradition has it that a certain high official 
 named Volusian, was sent by Tiberias to seek the 
 Prophet, Jesus of Nazareth, and bring him to Rome, 
 that He might heal the Emperor, who had been 
 stricken with leprosy. When Volusian reached the 
 city of Jerusalem, Our Lord had been crucified. The 
 official was dumbfounded at the news that Pilate had 
 dared to put to death one so remarkable, and at once 
 set about to learn all he could of the works of Christ. 
 Among others he met Veronica, it having been related 
 to him that she possessed an image of the great 
 Projphet. When it was shown to him he fell upon 
 his knees and resolved to take Veronica with him to 
 Rome and also Pilate as a prisoner, Pilate was con- 
 demned to perpetual exile and the Emperor was 
 cured by looking upon the divine face imprinted on 
 the veil of Veronica. Tiberias lived a year after 
 being cured of his leprosy. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 LEPROSY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 With the tide of emigration westward during the 
 decline of the Roman Empire, leprosy was spread 
 over Europe, and during the Middle Ages prevailed 
 to such an awful extent that from the 6th to the 15th 
 centuries the efforts of both the civil and ecclesiasti- 
 cal law never ceased to stop its spreading. The sep- 
 aration of the afflicted was still a universal practice, 
 but under the influence of the church a more humane 
 spirit presided over the treatment of the lepers, and 
 hospitals and asylums were provided for them. In 
 the 13th and 14th centuries the awful disease had 
 made such headway that leper institutions might be 
 said to cover the face of Europe, and at one time 
 there was scarcely a town of any size in France but 
 had its leper asylum. Michaud, in his history of the 
 Crusades, says that the testament of Louis VIII., an 
 historical monument of that period, attests the exist- 
 ence of two thousand leproseries (hospitals for lepers) 
 in the kingdom of France alone. In England no 
 leper-houses existed from the 12th to the i6th cen- 
 tury, one of the best known of which was that of St, 
 James at Arundel, the seat of the present Duke of 
 Norfolk. This leper-asylum, the records state, was 
 attended by an Augustinian friar, who received for 
 his services forty shillings per annum. Sir James Y. 
 
20 Leprosy, ajid the Chanty of the Church. 
 
 Simpson, Bart. , of the University of Edinburgh, in 
 his essay on " Leprosy and Leper Hospitals of Eng- 
 land and Scotland," says : "By Astruce, Bach and 
 others, it has been averred that the leprosy of the 
 Middle Ages was introduced from the East by those 
 who returned from the Crusades, though the disease 
 was not unknown on the Continent at an earlier 
 period and there were two lazar-houses at Canterbury 
 during the reign of William the Conqueror, seven 
 years previous to the first Crusade." Henry III. was 
 suspected of being a leper. Some writers have 
 asserted that Henry I\". was afflicted with leprosy 
 towards the end of his life. Robert the Bruce died of 
 it and Baldwin IV., King of Jerusalem, died a leper 
 at the age of twenty-three. In England, according to 
 one writer, " The tenor of various civil codes and 
 enactments made a leper legally and politically dead 
 and he lost all privileges of citizenship." In the 
 days when this awful scourge reigned supreme, the 
 ofrand master of the order of St. Lazarus, instituted 
 for the care and relief of the lepers, w^as obliged to be 
 chosen from among the lepers. Father Helyot, in his 
 " History of ^Monastic Orders," says : " What is very 
 remarkable is, that the Order of St. Lazarus could 
 only elect as grand-master a leprous knight of the 
 hospital of Jerusalem, which lasted up to the time of 
 Pope Innocent IV., that is to say, about the year 
 1253, when having been obliged to abandon Syria, they 
 addressed the Pontiflf and represented to him, that 
 always having had, from their foundation, a leprous 
 knight for grand-master, they found themselves in the 
 impossibility of electing one, because the infidels had 
 
Leprosy in the Middle Ages. 
 
 21 
 
 killed all tlie leprous knights of their hospital at Jeru- 
 salem. For this reason, they prayed the Pontiff to 
 allow them to elect, for the future, as grand-master, a 
 knight who had not been attacked by leprosy and who 
 
 DEAD OF THE PlwAGUK. 
 
 might be in good health ; and the Pope referred them 
 to the bishop or Trascate, that he might accord them 
 this permission, after having examined if that could 
 be done according to the will of God. This is 
 reported by Pope Pius IV. , in his bull of the year 
 1565, so extended and so favorable to the Order of 
 
22 Leprosy, a?id the Charity of the Church. 
 
 St. Lazarus, by which he renews all the privileges 
 and all the gifts that his predecessors had granted to 
 it and gives it fresh ones." 
 
 An authentic representation of the leprosy in the 
 Middle Ages exists in a picture at Munich by Holbein, 
 painted at Augsburg in 1516 : St. Elizabeth gives 
 bread and wine to a prostrate group of lepers, includ- 
 ing a bearded man whose face is covered with large 
 round reddish knobs, an old woman whose arm is 
 covered with brown blotches, the leg swathed in 
 bandages through which matter oozes, the bare knee 
 also marked with discolored spots and on the head a 
 white rag or plaster, and thirdlv, a young man whose 
 neck and face are spotted with brown patches of vari- 
 ous sizes. Virchow thinks that the painter had made 
 a study of lepers from the leper houses then existing 
 at Augsburg-. 
 
Leprosy iji Our Day. 
 
 25 
 
 straiiit whatever. The malady also exists elsewhere 
 in France, notably in the neighborhood of the cities 
 of Nice and Marseilles. Not a single country in 
 
 Europe is free from it. It is found in Spain and Por- 
 tugal, and in Italy the cases are so many that a laza- 
 retto has been recently established at San Remo, on 
 
26 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 the Riviera. It is very common in Turkey and the 
 Grecian Islands. In Crete there are about 500 cases. 
 In Sweden the disease is gaining a foothold, 463 
 cases being reported last year. In Iceland also it is 
 increasing. The following list, though no doubt 
 incomplete, of leper hospitals that are still main- 
 tained may give an idea of its extent throughout the 
 world: At Cape Town, Mauritius; at Malacca and 
 Singapore, at Colombo, at Madras, Cochin and 
 Bangalore, at Bombay and Rajkot, and at Calcutta, 
 Benares and Agra, There are also leper hospitals at 
 Bergen, Molde and Trondheim, at San Remo, at 
 Oporto, Coimbra and Lisbon, at Terceira (xlzores), 
 Las Palmas (Grand Canary) since the 15th century, 
 and at Funchal (Madeira) since 1500; at Pernambuco, 
 Bahia and Rio, at Macao for 200 years, at Canton, 
 Damascus and Jerusalem; at Molokai, Sandwich 
 Islands; at Cocorite, Isle of Trinidad; Tracadie, New 
 Brunswick; at Tananarive and Betsileo, Madagascar; 
 and at Indian Camp, White Castle, Louisiana. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 LEPROSY IN THE UXITED STATES. 
 
 We find cases among the Chinese in California, 
 among the Norwegians in ^Minnesota, and among the 
 negroes in Louisiana. According to Dr. Fox, of 
 New York, during the past ten or fifteen years there 
 have been constantly from one to half a dozen or 
 more cases in the hospitals of New York City, while 
 others have been reported from Boston, Philadelphia, 
 Baltimore, Chicago, and other cities. Most of these 
 cases have occurred among sailors or others who have 
 spent considerable time in tropical countries where 
 leprosy is common, and there contracted the disease. 
 Occasionally a press dispatch like this appears: 
 
 New York, Nov. 25. — A leper in whom the dis- 
 ease was well advanced was found in the street to-da}\ 
 He was taken to the offices of the health board and 
 examined by Dr. C. E. Benedict, of the Bureau of 
 Contagious Diseases. Dr. Benedict ordered the man 
 sent to the Reception Hospital. The man said he 
 was Fito Delbo, and that he came here several 
 months ago. Lately he has been living in the tene- 
 ment 32 Cherry street. 
 
 Leprosy exists in Key West, but it is imported, 
 and not indigenous, although the conditions of the 
 climate favor it. The same mav be said of the Chi- 
 
28 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 nese lepers in California and those among the Scan- 
 dinavians in Minnesota and other northwestern States. 
 Nearly all the cities along the seacoast have had leper 
 patients in their wards at one time or another. 
 
 Two cases in Ohio that have come under my per- 
 sonal observation have attracted universal attention, 
 and for that reason I beg the induloence of the reader 
 for going into detail concerning them. 
 
 TWO OHIO CASES. 
 
 At the May, 1895, meeting of the Ohio State Medi- 
 cal Society, at Columbus, Dr. J. G. McDougal, of 
 New Lexington, presented two cases of suspected 
 leprosy to the physicians. The "Journal of Materia 
 Medica," published at Terre Haute, Indiana, says: 
 "The .discovery of these cases has caused no little 
 excitement and apprehension, and has filled the secu- 
 lar press from one end of the country to the other. 
 We have been so accustomed to think of this loath- 
 some disease as a thing entirely foreign to our country 
 and as belonging to the ages of the past, that it is 
 little wonder the discovery of these cases has created 
 some excitement. If the feeling of concern shall 
 crystallize into some definite action by the proper 
 national and state authorities, looking to an immedi- 
 ate, enforced segregation of all lepers — both native 
 and foreign born — then these poor children will not 
 have lived and suffered in vain. We are indebted to 
 Dr. McDougal for the following brief and accurate 
 history and diagnosis of these cases, reported by him 
 to the "Journal of the American Medical Associa- 
 tion," in its issue of February 3, 1895: 
 
Leprosy in the United States. 29 
 
 ABSTRACT OF DR. M'DOUGAL'S REPORT. 
 
 On December 19, 1894, there appeared before the 
 New Lexington Board of Pension Examiners, Han- 
 nah M. Garey, an applicant for a pension as a depend- 
 ent child of George W. Garey, a deceased soldier of 
 the One Hnndred and Eighty-Seventh Regiment, 
 Ohio Infantry. Examination disclosed that she was 
 a victim of ancesthetic leprosy, the following manifes- 
 tations of which she presented: The left hand and 
 distal third of forearm were sv/ollen and rather 
 firmly thickened, the hand and wrist being about 
 twice the normal size. The distal phalanges of all 
 the fingers were lost and the stumps healed. The 
 thumb was slightly flexed, the nail deformed, thick- 
 ened, and discolored. 
 
 The hand was being amputated at the radio-carpal 
 articulation by a narrow encircling ulcerative process, 
 and the work was so near completion that only the 
 ulnar. vessels and a few tendons attached the hand. 
 Both surfaces were covered by granulations and bathed 
 with extremely foul-smelling pus. The right hand 
 and fingers were swollen and clubbed, the distal 
 phalanges of all the fingers lost, and the thumb 
 affected as the left. 
 
 Both feet were swollen to one and a half times their 
 normal size and the swelling also involved the lower 
 third of the legs. The first three toes of each foot were 
 lost at the middle of the proximal phalanges and the 
 little toes at the distal joints. The remaining toes were 
 clawed and the nails deformed. In the middle of the 
 left sole was a deep ulcer, from which there was a very 
 offensive discharge. All the affected members were 
 
30 
 
 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Ch2<reh. 
 
 decidedly anaesthetic — the thermal anaesthesia being 
 especially marked. There was an anaesthetic bleb, the 
 
 size of a silver quarter, on the outer side of the right 
 arm just above the elbow. The tongue, lips, and nose 
 
Leprosy in the United States. 31 
 
 were scarred and deformed from ulcerations that had 
 healed. The subject of this description is eighteen years 
 of age and this malady began to manifest itself when 
 she was fifteen months old. In two or three years 
 the toes began to ulcerate and come off, and the hands 
 became involved, the flesh ulcerating from the fingers, 
 leaving the blackened dry bones exposed, and these 
 she persistently drummed on the tables and chairs, 
 until her mother cut them ofi" with shears. She 
 menstruated regularly from the time she was fourteen 
 years of age until about one year ago, when menses 
 ceased. The drain from the amputating ulcer, which 
 developed about eighteen months ago, probably 
 caused the cessation of the menstrual flow. 
 
 Learning that a sister eight years of age had been 
 similarly afilicted for three years, I visited her, find- 
 ing the following evidences of the same disease: 
 Her feet are clubbed and legs stocky, and the skin 
 covering them is thick and scaly and decidedly anaes- 
 thetic. Two toes are lost from each foot. The hands 
 are also thick and the skin covering them rough and 
 anesthetic; the nails are growing deformed and dark. 
 
 The parents and grandparents of these leprous 
 sisters were all natives of Ohio and belonged to long- 
 lived families. The parents were married in 1866. 
 There are eight children and all are healthy except 
 Hannah INI., the fourth born, and Hattie, the last 
 born. The mother is forty-four years old and healthy. 
 The father was pensioned for sunstroke. He died 
 from apoplexy March 10, 1893. The mother states 
 that the only visible disease the father ever had was 
 a skin eruption on the end of his nose and upper lip, 
 
32 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 which gave off an oflfensive discharge. It developed a 
 few years after their marriage and never healed. It 
 must have been slight, as several acquaintances of 
 whom I inquired had never seen the affection. He 
 had consulted physicians about it, however, who had 
 called it eczema and had treated him for it. 
 
 The One Hundred and Eighty-Seventh Regiment, 
 Ohio Infantry, of which the father was a member, 
 was stationed during the few months it was in service 
 at Nashville, Tennessee; Dalton, Kingston, and 
 Macon, Georgia. 
 
 I am willing to submit, without argument, that the 
 father was a leper, in whom the bacillus leprae did 
 not vigorously thri\'e; that leprosy was communicated 
 to him while in the South during the war, and that 
 he communicated the disease to two of his children." 
 
 Dr. iMcDougal read before the meeting at Columbus 
 a succinct report of the cases. In it he states that 
 the hand of the oldest girl, as shown in the illustra- 
 tion, was removed and sent away for bacteriologic 
 examination. The surgeon at Washington made a 
 report, the latter part of which I quote: 
 
 "All the sections were stained for lepra bacilli, 
 with negative result. Those sections containing 
 giant cells were also stained for tubercle bacilli. 
 None were found. The disease, therefore, in my 
 opinion, is neither leprosy nor tuberculosis, which, 
 by exclusion, throws some weight upon the suspicion 
 of syphilis. (Signed) :\I. J. RosEXAU, 
 
 P. A. Surgeon, ]\Iarine Hospital Service." 
 
 To this report Dr. ^IcDougal makes the following 
 answer: " Because no lepra or tubercle bacilli were 
 
Leprosy in the United States. 33 
 
 found he concludes the disease is neither leprosy nor 
 tuberculosis, and therefore must be syphilis. Rela- 
 tive to this I quote Morrow ('New York Medical 
 Journal, ' July 27, 1889,) who says: ' The bacillus is 
 not found in the chronic sores or necrosed tissues and 
 bones of the anaesthetic leper. Numerous and re- 
 peated examinations of sections of an amputated 
 finger showed no bacilli.' The same author, in his 
 text book published last year — 1894 — states with his 
 first sentence on the diagnosis of the anaesthetic form 
 of leprosy: 'While the identification of the lepra 
 bacillus in the tissues is rarely practicable in nerve 
 leprosy, yet the invariable presence of anaethesia in 
 established cases constitute a diagnostic element of 
 almost pathognomonic value.' And similar state- 
 ments are made by other authors. Did not, therefore, 
 our esteemed bacteriologist go beyond the pale of 
 scientific knowledge in expressing this opinion? And 
 into the realms of speculation when he concluded it 
 was, therefore, syphilis?" Dr. McDougal further 
 adds: " Moses of old would have dealt with them as 
 lepers on the discovery of far fewer and less charac- 
 teristic symptoms than these, and without his camp 
 would their habitation have been." 
 
 Dr. McDougal concluded his paper with these 
 words: " For there is no doubt but that leprosy is 
 on the increase, not only in other countries but also 
 in our own. If what I have shown you is leprosy, 
 let us do what we can to set aside all ignorant fear 
 of the malady. In the face of a disease which has 
 for ages been accounted one of the most dreadful of 
 plagues, it is not surprising that the public should be 
 
34 Leprosy^ ajid the Charity of the Church. 
 
 struck with panic. On the other hand, let lis profit 
 by the experience of the past and urge the adoption 
 of measures that will prevent its spread." The 
 writer, in company with Dr. McDougal, Drs. Moody 
 and Gordon, of Junction City, Ohio, and Dr. Jno. E. 
 Russell, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, visited these cases on 
 the 2ist day of July this year. What appreciable 
 change has taken place in the appearance of the 
 victims during the past year leads only the more 
 strongly to the conclusion that these girls are lepers. 
 However, to use the words of Dr. McDougal: " They 
 are not yet indisputably proven to be lepers." 
 
 Dr. A. W. Hitt, of Louisville, Ky., one of the 
 editors of the "Journal of Materia Medica," and one 
 of the most prominent leprologists of this country, 
 was present at the Ohio State ]\Iedical Meeting at 
 Columbus, and gave it as his opinion that these cases 
 were genuine leprosy — the anaesthetic form. He is 
 also authority for the statement that there are 522 
 genuine cases of leprosy in the United States. He 
 has visited India, where there are 189,000 lepers, 
 China, Egypt and the Sandwich Islands, and is com- 
 petent to judge, as he has made a specialty of leprosy. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 I.EPROSY IN LOUISIANA. 
 
 Leprosy is supposed to have been introduced in 
 Louisiana by the French Acadians in tlie latter part 
 of the eighteenth century, and ever since efforts more 
 or less successful have been made to check its 
 progress. In 1894, the legislature passed an act cre- 
 ating a Board of Control, whose duty it is to provide 
 a home for lepers and their care. When a desirable 
 location was nearly secured, the New Orleans City 
 Council refused to permit the erection of the home, al- 
 though as the Board says in its First Annual Report: 
 "For years the unfortunate victims of leprosy had 
 been allowed to travel on the street cars, eat at pub- 
 lic restaurants, beg on the thoroughfares and other- 
 wise expose an unguarded public." A location was 
 finally obtained by lease for five years in Iberville 
 Parish — at the old "Indian Camp" plantation near by 
 White Castle, a desirable locality in every respect for 
 such a home except from the point of accessibility. I 
 quote from the Board of Control Report the particu- 
 lars of its inception: "On the last day of November, 
 the first contingent of lepers was transported from 
 New Orleans, by night, to the home. This was ac- 
 complished with the greatest difficulty, on a coal 
 barge, towed by a tug. For a time the existence of 
 
 the home was threatened by the inhabitants of Iber- 
 
 35 
 
36 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 ville Parish. A rational judgment, however, sup- 
 planted an early and misguided prejudice and the 
 poor sufferers were only pitied the more because they 
 wished for themselves the isolation which the law 
 compelled. Every effort was made to obtain reliable 
 information concerning the number of lepers at large 
 in the state. Communications were addressed to the 
 coroners in every parish (county). This was barren 
 of results and even of acknowledgment save in two or 
 three instances. By personal persuasion, through in- 
 dividual voluntary inclination and, in some instances, 
 by legal action, the number of lepers has been in- 
 creased to thirty-one." Of these, twenty-two were 
 born in Louisiana, five of these in the city of New 
 Orleans. Two were born in France and two in Ger- 
 many. Most of them are afflicted with "mixed lep- 
 rosy," and they range in age from sixty-five to 
 thirteen. Four of the patients are daughters of the 
 same mother, and another is a cousin to these. 
 Among the suggestions made by the board are these : 
 "It is our opinion that influence should be brought 
 to bear upon neighboring states, with a view to the 
 creation of legislation directed at leprosy, to protect 
 themselves and prevent lepers from Louisiana emi- 
 grating, in their desire to escape the law. Police au- 
 thority should be given the Leper Board as a body 
 and as individuals, so that lepers can be apprehended, 
 investigated and committed without the delay now 
 entailed." The report closes with these words: "If 
 this last attempt at controlling leprosy is to be a suc- 
 cess, it must be a radical one, it must be an actual 
 one, and unhindered by politics or other obstacles to 
 
Lepi'osy in Louisiana. 37 " 
 
 its broad purpose. Heretofore failure has only fol- 
 lowed all attempts through the lack of interest of 
 those in authority or through an inadequate idea of 
 the importance of the office." Since these words 
 were written, Drs. Dyer and Scherck of the board 
 have resigned in consequence of financial difficulties. 
 The State Legislature has not shown a disposition 
 to uphold the effiDrts of the Board. The members of 
 Iberville protested against the establishment of the 
 home in their locality on the ground that its presence 
 would depreciate the value of every kind of property 
 in the neighborhood. On this plea purchase money 
 was refused by the state, and when the present lease 
 expires, it is likely no other locality will tolerate a 
 leper settlement unless it be one of the uninhab- 
 ited islands off the gulf coast. The settlement so 
 far has been a success, sheltering many lepers who 
 hitherto had hidden in the swamps or were concealed 
 by their relatives in out of the way places. It is very 
 unfortunate that the home loses the services of such 
 capable physicians as Drs. Dyer and Scherck, but it 
 is said it will not stop experimentations for a possible 
 cure of leprosy. Col. G. M. Bowie of White Castle 
 is said to be resolved upon having every cure reported 
 from any part of the world tried iw. the home. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE MENACE OF LEPROSY. 
 
 A communication which appeared last summer in 
 the columns of the Cincinnati Commercial-Gazette, 
 under the title of "The Menace of Leprosy," is so 
 replete with information that I give it a place in these 
 pages. By some it may be thought extravagant, yet 
 it has food for reflection to those interested in the sub- 
 ject. The writer says: 
 
 "A terrible and constantly increasing danger men- 
 aces the lives of tens of thousands, if not hundreds 
 of thousands of people in the United States. A hor- 
 rible, lingering, living death, far more to be feared 
 than either 3-ellow fever or cholera, under which the 
 individual either quickly succumbs, or is cured with- 
 in a few days, is now face to face with the Americans 
 in the incurable and loathsome disease of leprosy. 
 Unless stern and determined measures are taken 
 by the National and State Boards of Health, vigor- 
 ously to exclude leper subjects from entering our 
 Atlantic and Pacific ports, as well as from the Mex- 
 ican and Canadian borders, we may within a few 
 years be placed in the position of India, which to-day 
 has a leper population of close upon 132,000, all of 
 which has been developed within the memory of living 
 men. And if a close scrutiny is not kept by our 
 
 Consuls in foreign countries on the invoices of goods 
 
 38 
 
The Meiiace of Leprosy. 39 
 
 sent from places Avliere lepers abound, the contagion 
 may be spread here to the same extent it vras in Europe 
 in the t\Yelfth century, %\dien there were no less than 
 twenty thousand lazar houses on that continent, and 
 two thousand in France alone. 
 
 The disease is now right here amono; us. The 
 Eastern and Southern States have had the g-erms 
 brought to them direct from three sources — the West 
 Indies, Canada and Southern Europe; the Western 
 States from China, Northern Europe, and Oceanica. 
 The leprous taint is gradually spreading in Louisiana, 
 Florida, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and California, 
 and it is also to be found in a lesser degree in Texas, 
 Oregon, Utah, South Carolina and the Empire State 
 of Xew York. Prof Prince A. IMorrow, I\I.D., 
 Health Commissioner Dr. Cyrus Edson and Chief In- 
 spector of Contagious Diseases Dr. Alvah H. Doty^ 
 have not hesitated on occasions to warn the people of 
 the United States of the horrible peril now hanging 
 over the country. Our most prominent derm^atologists, 
 who are intimately acquainted with the facts, not only 
 through their theoretic scientific knowledge, but their 
 practical experience with the disease, are all united as 
 to the necessity of immediate quarantine restrictions 
 being carried out. One of these. Dr. Leonard F. 
 Pitkin, physician-in-chief of the Institute of Der- 
 matology, and who was associated years ago with the 
 late Profs. J. ]\[arion Sims and John T. Darby, in- 
 formed me a short time ago that while he was attend- 
 ing physician of the New York Dispensary' and a 
 member of the hospital staff at Ward's and Black- 
 well's Islands, case after case of leprosy was brought 
 
40 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Oucrch. 
 
 to the notice of himself and associates, proving con- 
 clusively to them that the lazaretto established on 
 North Brother Island, in Long Island Sound, had 
 been brought into existence not a moment too soon. 
 
 Through the carelessness of the health authorities 
 there has been allowed to come into existence at Key 
 West, in Florida, and New Orleans, in Louisiana, two 
 distinct and large colonies of lepers, nearly all of 
 whom found their way to this country from Cuba and 
 the British West Indian Islands of Barbadoes, St. 
 Kitt's, St. Lucia and Jamaica, and these, like all the 
 rest of the British colonies all over the world, are 
 positively reeking with leprosy. Emigrants from 
 there have not only found their way through the 
 southern ports named, but have also been permitted to 
 enter this country via the port of New York, which 
 is claimed to have the most perfect system of quar- 
 antine in the world. Health Commissioner Emery, 
 of Brooklyn, unearthed recently several cases of col- 
 ored lepers who had come directly from Barbadoes, 
 and they had been permitted for the last few years to 
 commingle freely with the people in the City of 
 Churches, until placed under municipal surveillance. 
 Dr. Thomas Wildes, who was the American Consul 
 for some years at Kingston, Jamaica, insists that it 
 has been proved to his satisfaction that this fright- 
 fully infectious disease, which he carefully studied 
 while in the West Indies, is rapidly spreading in New 
 York and other eastern and Southern cities, and that 
 cases which have lately come under his notice have 
 been imported without any peradventure from the 
 British insular possessions in the Caribbean sea. 
 
The Menace of Leprosy. 41 
 
 Dr. Doty, Health Officer of the Port of New York, 
 thoroughly appreciates the danger, and his mission to 
 Havana, in consultation with the United States Med- 
 ical Inspector Burgess, is not simply as announced, to 
 study the present great mortality from yellow fever in 
 Cuba, but also to become more acquainted there and 
 at New Orleans, which he will inspect on his return, 
 with the ravages resulting from leprosy. It is a strange 
 circumstance that the disease, which was rife in 
 Louisiana over a century ago, and where there was a 
 very famous lazaretto, died out only to be resuscitated 
 eighty years afterward by emigration from the West 
 Indies, This, according to Dr. Pitkin, brings us to a 
 very important question, that in the event of the an- 
 nexation of either Cuba or the Hawaiian Islands, where 
 leprosy is most rife, one of the consequences will be 
 naturally free communication, without those custom 
 regulations now existing. It is also not impossible that 
 New Foundland, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, 
 all of which are dissatisfied with British rule, may 
 likewise come under the jurisdiction of the Stars and 
 Stripes. If so, the same trouble will have to be con- 
 sidered, particularly from New Brunswick. Ac- 
 cording to A. C. Smith, 1\I. I., Inspector of Leprosy 
 and Medical Advisor to the Lazaretto at Tracadie, 
 New Brunswick, in his last report to the Minister of 
 Agriculture at Ottawa, there are leper populations in 
 New Brunswick, as well as in the adjoining British 
 dependencies. Some of these lepers, he states, re- 
 main at large, notwithstanding he has taken "meas- 
 ures to prevent them from engaging in the prepara- 
 tion of codfish." 
 
4^ Leprosy, and the CharHy cf the Clnireh. 
 
 Dr. Pitkin insists that not a railway train should be 
 admitted from Canada, or a ship from that country to 
 any part of our territory, either on the Canadian 
 border or to our ports on the great lakes, without a 
 rigid search being made for possible cases of leprosy. 
 
 The disease is also spreading in our Northwestern 
 States, through immigration from the Scandinavian 
 countries of Europe. Norway is the most important 
 European center of leprosy, where, in 1884, the leper 
 population amounted to nearly two thousand two 
 hundred. Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin have, 
 without any question whatever, leper colonies of 
 Scandinavian birth and descent. This fact was sub- 
 stantiated by Dr. Brockmann, who estimated that 
 " there must be in Minnesota alone 100,000 persons — 
 of Norwegian descent — of leprous ancestors." Dr. 
 Hansen, who discovered the bacillus of leprosy in 
 1874, and who made a tour of investigation in the 
 sections of the United States just named, corroborates 
 Dr. Brockmann' s position. Immigrants from South- 
 ern Russia have, it is claimed, also been the means of 
 spreading the contagion in some of our Western 
 States, as well as in the cities on our Atlantic sea- 
 board. This is an important fact, and should not be 
 overlooked, in view of Sir Morell MacKenzie's state- 
 ment that " leprosy is spreading to an alarming degree 
 in Russia, and in almost every other quarter of the 
 globe it is extending its ravages." 
 
 But of all foreio-n countries from which the dreaded 
 
 o 
 
 disease has been brought to our shores, the worst is 
 China. The immigrants from there have penetrated 
 every city in the land, carrying along with them the 
 
The Menace of Leprosy. 43 
 
 leprous germs, which through laundries and cigar 
 factories, where they have been employed, have dis- 
 tributed the seeds of the disease by wholesale. Statis- 
 tics gathered by the State of California have shown 
 that the disease has been established on a firm footing 
 there, and that it is distinctly attributable to Mongo- 
 lian lepers, some of whom, discovered in New York, 
 were quarantined on North Brother Island, where they 
 still remain. 
 
 The development of the disease in Hawaii can be 
 traced from its genesis in 1850. To-day one thousand 
 two hundred of the worst cases have been herded 
 together in the leper settlement of Molokai, which 
 has proved conclusively the contagiousness of the dis- 
 ease. The most notable case on record in this con- 
 nection is that of the humanitarian, Father Damien 
 de Veuster, who, in 1873, left his cure in Hawaii to 
 give up his life for the unfortunates kept apart from 
 the rest of the world at Molokai. When he first took 
 upon himself this act of self-sacrifice, and to which he 
 died a martyr, he was a robust, healthy man. Three 
 years later he developed incipient tubercular leprosy, 
 the most horrible and virulent phase of the disease. 
 Within ten years he was a corpse. 
 
 We are, however, in as great danger from foods and 
 merchandise exported to this country from localities 
 where leprous bacilli have practically taken possession 
 of communities favorable to its spread, through the 
 lack of proper hygienic conditions, and sustenances 
 more suited to barbaric than civilized peoples. Sugar, 
 bananas, and the like, that have been handled by 
 leprous West Indian negroes, we can not protect our- 
 
44 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 selves against, unless our Consular representatives 
 keep a strict watch on the localities from which they 
 are sent and warn the Federal Government of the 
 danger in time. Tea and ginger from China, codfish 
 from New Brunswick, and rags from the countries 
 bordering on the Eastern part of the Mediterranean, 
 have been particularly regarded by Dr. Pitkin and 
 other dermatologists as of the most dangerous of all 
 the ways in which leprosy may be communicated 
 through the length and breadth of this country. 
 
 The fallacy dogmatically promulgated, in 1867, by 
 the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, that leprosy was not con- 
 tagious, has been shown to be absolutely false by Dr. 
 Hansen's discovery of the lepric bacilli in 1874. This 
 is a slender, rod-like parasite, half to three-quarters of 
 the diameter of a human blood corpuscle and one-fifth 
 of its length. The British dogma of the non-con- 
 tagiousness of leprosy is no longer heeded by Ameri- 
 can and other dermatologists. But many of the 
 physicians and authorities in the British possessions 
 still hold to the position taken twenty-eight years ago 
 by the highest British medical authority, and the con- 
 sequence is that our best authorities have to regard 
 immigrants and products from all the colonial posses- 
 sions of Great Britain with the most terrible dread. 
 
 Medical science seems to be united now in the 
 belief that leprosy is not hereditarily transmissible, 
 and Dr. Pitkin, as an evidence of this, called my 
 attention to the fact that it was so recognized in the 
 notable instance of the foundation of the Kapiolani 
 Home at Honolulu for the non-leprous children of 
 
The Menace of Leprosy. 
 
 45 
 
 lepers. It has also been discovered that women are 
 less liable to the disease than men; thus, for instance, 
 there are ninety-nine thousand male lepers in the East 
 Indies to thirty-three thousand females. Although 
 incurable in individual cases brought on by want of 
 cleanliness, exposure to cold and damp, and the use 
 of semi-putrid fish and meat and rancid oil, yet 
 hygienic and proper sanitary conditions appear to have 
 destroyed it in certain communities. 
 
 TUBERCrXAR LEPROSY. 
 
 AN'.i;3THEXIC LEPROSY. 
 
 But it is erratic in its methods, as shown in the fact 
 that the incubation of the disease may go on unrecog- 
 nized from three to twenty years or more. Cases are 
 cited of persons having resided in the Sandwich 
 Islands, British Guiana, the United States of Colombia, 
 New Caledonia, and elsewhere, who, although they 
 unknowingly contracted the disease there, did not 
 show traces of it for long years afterward. 
 
46 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 Tubercular leprosy, Dr. Pitkin explained to me, 
 begins in a different manner from that milder type of 
 the disease, anaesthetic or painless leprosy. It com- 
 mences by exhibiting small spots where the lepric, 
 parasitic bacilli have made lesions or entrances into 
 the flesh. Then tubercules develop, unite with others 
 and give to the features a corrugated or furrowed 
 appearance, or sometimes that of nodular promi- 
 nences, egg-shaped in character. The clieeks become 
 tumefied, the lips swollen, the nose thickened, broad- 
 ened, and crushed in appearance, and the ears pro- 
 tuberant with thin lobes flabbily hanging down. The 
 eye-brows and eye-lashes disappear, and other frightful 
 changes take place, until in this, the first stage of 
 tubercular leprosy, the physiognomy is altered into 
 one hideous mass of disfiguration, and is no longer the 
 human face divine. 
 
 The early development of anaesthetic leprosy is 
 marked by the absence of febrile symptoms, but is 
 accompanied by disorders of sensation and nutrition. 
 Its principal symptoms are bluish red or reddish 
 brown spots, deepening into brownish yellow, or sepia 
 in tinge, according to complexion or race. Painlefs- 
 ness, or lack of sense, that is to say, anaesthesia, 
 follows through the nerve fibers being destroyed in 
 the parts of the body spotted. A person may have 
 these symptoms in the system for fifteen or twenty 
 years without having the faintest idea of the gravity 
 of the situation. Later, paralysis of the nerves affects 
 the facial muscles. Control of the eyelids is lost, and 
 the eyeballs not being protected, inflammation and 
 ulceration, through the exposure of the visual organs, 
 
The Menace of Leprosy. 47 
 
 bring on total loss of sight. A distinguished feature 
 of this form of leprosy is the leper hand, atrophy of 
 the muscles, making it claw-shaped. Another is the 
 paralytic club foot. In both of these characteristic 
 symptoms the fingers and toes gradually drop off, gan- 
 grene eating them away. As in tubercular leprosy, 
 death, which is painless, though longer delayed, finally 
 results from physical exhaustion of the patient, bring- 
 ing on dysentery, etc. 
 
 What shall be done, in view of the facts recited, to 
 arrest the further spread of the disease in America ? 
 Dr. Pitkin insists that first, the state sanitary code 
 ought to be amended to specifically include leprosy as 
 an infectious, contagious, or pestilential disease, 
 equally with cholera, yellow fever, small-pox, diph- 
 theria, ship or typhus, typhoid, spotted, relapsing, or 
 scarlet fever, which are, for instance, in New York, 
 the only ones particularly named in its sanitary code 
 as to be reported to the Board of health. Next, the 
 National Board of Health should force on federal 
 legislation looking toward the complete isolation and 
 segregation of lepers who may hereafter immigrate to 
 this country. The same national body should also 
 take steps to bring about an international conference 
 for the better protection of all countries against the 
 curse of leprosy. But especially, and above all, the 
 National Board of Health should see to it that the 
 State Department shall instruct every United States 
 Consul to watch carefully the onward march of 
 leprosy in those foreign countries to which they are 
 assigned, and to be imperatively instructed to refuse 
 their consular certificates and signatures for any goods 
 
48 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 proposed to be imported to this country against which 
 there is the slightest suspicion of their having been 
 handled by lepers, during the processes of production 
 and manufacture, not forgetting to put an absolute 
 boycott or quarantine on those ships the cargoes of 
 which are handled by leper stevedores, a not unusual 
 circumstance in the British West Indies. 
 
 If, however, these precautions are not immediately 
 carried into effect, Dr. Pitkin does not hesitate to 
 assert that we may have within the next ten years at 
 least 250,000 to 500,000 lepers included among the 
 inhabitants of the United States." 
 
 The possibility of leprosy spreading to such an 
 alarming extent as mentioned in the above letter is 
 denied by most authorities. 
 
 ]\Iajor Joseph Button, who was the companion of 
 Father Damien, the leper-priest mentioned in the 
 above article, in a letter to the writer from Molokai, 
 Hawaiian Islands, under date of July 12th of last 
 year, says of the spread of the disease in the United 
 States: "Your letter of May 24th received some time 
 since, also the two clippings concerning the two New 
 Lexington, Ohio, cases of leprosy. Cases of leprosy 
 are appearing in various sections of the United States, 
 several hundred cases in all, including the old time 
 leper-colony in Louisiana; but I feel certain that 
 special conditions surround every one of these cases 
 and that the disease will not spread in the United 
 States." This is the testimony of one who has lived 
 and labored among lepers, dressed their sores and 
 studied leprosy for the past nine years. 
 
 In another letter under date of Aug. 15, 1896, he 
 
The Menace of Leprosy. 49 
 
 says: "The (lay) opinion I expressed to you last year 
 relative to the probable danger from spread of leprosy 
 in the United States was in accordance with my judg- 
 ment then, and I yet have belief in its correctness. 
 But still I must admit that later developments and 
 the contrary views of many wiser heads, have caused 
 me to think more deeply upon it. One thing we can 
 note — that the majority of these cases are old ones. 
 It is the recent shaking up the subject has received 
 that has brought it before the public and made it look 
 important." Opinions vary among the best informed 
 as to its possible spread, at least in our Northern 
 States. 
 
 Dr. Fox, of New York, says: "In the city of New 
 York we constantly have a few imported cases of 
 leprosy. Some of these go unobserved, while others 
 are treated both in and out of our hospitals. The 
 popular dread of the disease, which is as intense as it 
 is unreasonable, is naturally heightened by the sensa- 
 tional accounts of lepers which are often to be found 
 in the daily papers; and since this arises largely from 
 an ignorance of the true nature of the disease, it 
 seems to me to be the duty of the profession to allay 
 as far as possible this uneasiness on the part of the 
 public. But there are some physicians who claim 
 that the danger is not a slight one, and that if lepers 
 are allowed to go at large in this country we will soon 
 find leprosy increasing here as it has increased else- 
 where. I cannot believe that there is any ground for 
 such a fear. Among the natives of the Sandwich 
 Islands, who live in large numbers under the same 
 roof and often in the same room, who have not the 
 
50 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 remotest idea of personal cleanliness, and who obtain 
 their food by dipping their ulcerated fingers into a 
 common dish, it is not surprising that leprosy abounds. 
 But the white population is remarkably free from the 
 disease, and I have yet to learn of any instance where 
 leprosy has ever obtained a foothold in and spread 
 through an intelligent and civilized community." 
 
 On the other hand many authorities might be 
 quoted who contend that leprosy constitutes a con- 
 stantly increasing danger to our country. The Chi- 
 nese imported the disease into California on an alarm- 
 ing scale, and why may they not spread it among the 
 people of our large cities, housed as they generally 
 are in portions of cities, where they are less liable to 
 sanitary supervision than almost any other part of 
 the population ? The physicians who advocate pre- 
 cautionary measures are not alarmists or extremists, 
 but are men downright in earnest concerning the 
 danger and are using their voice and pen in the effort 
 to stop the possible awful ravages of a disease that 
 has so far baffled medical science. Dr. Prince A. 
 Morrow of New York, in a paper read before the 
 Nev/ York Academy of Science, on "Personal 
 Observations of Leprosy in Mexico and the Sandwich 
 Islands," closes his remarks with these words, which 
 I think sum up in a few sentences the most practical 
 advice concerning the danger of the spread of leprosy 
 in our country. " I\Iy own personal belief is that the 
 extensive spread of leprosy in this country" must be 
 regarded a possibility, rather than a strong probabil- 
 ity. Still, in dealing with a disease with which med- 
 ical science has shown its utter inability to cope, 
 
The Menace of Leprosy. 51 
 
 except by prophylactic measures, it becomes the 
 manifest duty of the medical profession, in their 
 capacity as guardians of the public health, to 
 enlighten our legislative authorities as to this possi- 
 ble danger, and urge them to adopt measures for the 
 isolation of every leper in our midst, and especially 
 to prevent the immigration from foreign countries of 
 those who bear in their systems the seeds of this 
 frightful malady. ' ' 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 leprosy: different forms — how contracted — 
 can it be cured? 
 
 In tubercular leprosy, which is the severest form, 
 death usually takes place within nine years after the 
 symptoms are noted. The anaesthetic form may 
 develop gradually and exist for a long time without 
 any marked decline of health. Twenty-four years 
 
 has been given as the ex- 
 treme limit of the latter form 
 by physicians who have had 
 the opportunity of observing 
 it wherever it is endemic. 
 Very often both forms are 
 combined. After the first 
 few years, very little pain 
 is felt, until the disease 
 strikes inwardly, then it 
 becomes terrible. Leprosy 
 is dying by inches, a morti- 
 fication by piece-meal like to that which goes on 
 with dead bodies in the grave. Let an eye-wit- 
 ness of many cases describe it: "When leprosy 
 is fully developed, it is marked by the presence of 
 dark-red boils or sores of different sizes upon the 
 face, lips, nose, eyebrows, ears, fingers and toes. 
 The skin becomes wrinkled and shining and the fea- 
 tures are very much distorted. The hair of the eye- 
 
 52 
 
 TUBERCULAR LEPROSY. 
 
Leprosy: Different Forms — How Contracted. 53 
 
 brows, eye-lashes, and beard fall off, the eyes become 
 twisted in appearance, giving them a cat-like expres- 
 sion, the voice becomes harsh and nasal, the sense of 
 smell is impaired or lost, and that of touch or com- 
 mon sensation is strongly altered. The parts with 
 these ulcers upon them become, in the course of the 
 disease, sort of paralyzed, and ulcers soften and open, 
 making running sores. They attack the nose and 
 throat, becoming very offensive. Cracks and ulcers 
 appear on the fingers and toes, and joint after joint 
 drops off by a kind of gangrene. It is a singular but 
 fortunate fact that the leper suffers but little pain 
 until his last days." 
 
 Science has made a long and exhaustive study of 
 the subject in all its forms and phases, but with no 
 satisfactory result. The surgeon's knife and the 
 microscope have been used, but without the slightest 
 advance, apparently, towards anything like positive 
 knowledge regarding the nature and cure of the 
 dread disaase. Even to this day, doctors are not 
 agreed as to whether it is contagious or not. Some 
 say yes — some say no. Some say it is spread by 
 inhalation, some say by contact, while others as 
 strongly deny. Some will tell you that it is of para- 
 sitic origin, and claim to have discovered bacilli and 
 microbes in the tissues of the leprous subject ; which, 
 they say, puts the question as to its character beyond 
 doubt. Others discredit these discoveries, or refuse 
 to acknowledge that their presence, even if proven, 
 is conclusive evidence that such parasites are the 
 cause of leprosy, or that the fact of their existence, 
 even if granted, would afford any clue toward a sue- 
 
54 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 cessfui treatment of the disease. In a word, the leper 
 of to-day is no better off than he was in the time of 
 Moses. Nothing more can be done for his malady, 
 and now, as then, he must live and die an outcast 
 from society, dreaded as a plague during life, and 
 abandoned in death by all as an object of loathing 
 and disgust." Prof. Herbert says: " Leprosv has 
 its origin in microbes and is contagious," and adds 
 that, "Danielssen, Boeck, Helra, and \^irschou have 
 denied that it is contagious ; if so, how is it propa- 
 gated ? If not contagious, segregation is a stupid 
 measure, utterly useless and shamefully cruel." Dr. 
 Goto, the Japanese specialist, has obtained at ^Nlolokai, 
 Sandwich Islands, a certain amount of success. He 
 was employed by the Government until last year ; 
 but one who writes from there sa3's : '■ Nobody has 
 been cured, but it has apparently given a considerable 
 amount of relief It chieflv consists in taking- warm 
 baths prepared with a particular solution, which is 
 the doctor's secret. A large amount of sulphur is 
 also put into the baths. Besides this, a medicine is 
 given for internal use. But it is the bathing which 
 seems to produce the greatest relief" 
 
 The "Medical Bulletin," of Cali, Colombia, South 
 America, of June, 1886, contained an article on 
 leprosy, of which many cases are to be found in the 
 interior of that country. The writer believes the 
 disease can be acquired without contact, and cites 
 the case of a man who had never been in a locality 
 where the disease exists and yet became afflicted with 
 it through falling into a river while heated from a 
 day's sport. 
 
Leprosy: Different Forms — How Contracted. 55 
 
 James Ryder Randall, the well-known Southern 
 journalist, and author of that inspiriting Southern war- 
 song, "Maryland, My Maryland," commenting upon 
 the articles that appeared in the columns of the 
 " Catholic Columbian " on this subject, says: " As I 
 am in the critical and hygienic mood, I may as well 
 express some convictions of mine on the subject of 
 leprosy, which Father Mulhane has written of so 
 graphically, learnedly, and interestingly in the ' Co- 
 lumbian.' Some eight years ago, I suggested to a 
 Baltimore physician that leprosy had its origin in 
 water-taint. He promised to investigate the matter, 
 but probably forgot to do so. As the most eminent 
 biological chemist in the United States is about 
 formally to declare that the atmosphere does not 
 germinate what is called malaria, but that it is water- 
 borne, I hope to see leprosy scrutinized. When I 
 suggested this to the greatest leper expert in the 
 world, perhaps, he was amazed, and, from evidence I 
 have, was subsequently persuaded of its truth. In Mex- 
 ico, leprosy is directly traced to a certain lake water. 
 Some of our priests or chemists should examine 
 scientifically the water sources of the Sandwich 
 Islands, for example. Possibly, I have alluded to 
 this matter briefly before, but it is worth repeating, 
 and I hope that Father Mulhane, unbiased by old 
 theories, will give it his attention. I know the tradi- 
 tionally horrible surmise of its origin, but I also know 
 that some at least of the victims are free from such 
 reproach. I believe that the causes of disease are as 
 simple as their remedies are, when ascertained ; but 
 there is a tendency to complicate everything, in law, 
 
5^ Leprosy, a^id the Charity of the Church. 
 
 physic and even finance. We know well enough 
 what the nidus of cholera is, and I am inclined to 
 think that leprosy has its initial propagation in noth- 
 ing more mysterious than water peculiarly contami- 
 nated or poisoned." 
 
 The following extracts are taken from the report of 
 the President of the Board of Health of the Hawaiian 
 Islands for the last biennial period, ending 1894 : 
 
 "Many eminent medical writers consider it to be 
 very doubtful that leprosy is hereditary, but rather 
 believe that children, born of lepers, contract the 
 disease from their parents during childhood. There 
 are certainly many reasons to believe so, if it is con- 
 sidered how few of the children, born at the settle- 
 ment, who have been taken away when young, have 
 developed the disease." Another important state- 
 ment is "that segregation has now been practiced for 
 about twenty-six years, and considering the natural 
 decrease of the native population, and the number of 
 new cases which annually occur, it would seem that, 
 in proportion, there is now as much leprosy as at the 
 commencement, if not more." The last report for 
 1895, says: "It is gratifying to report that there 
 are indications that the disease is becoming less 
 prevalent. ' ' 
 
 ITS CURE. 
 
 Not a single well-authenticated case is known that 
 has been successfully treated. The victim may be 
 afforded temporary relief by skillful dressing of his 
 sores, but nothing more can be done for him. 
 
 Dr. Ashmead, of New York, the noted leprologist, 
 says: 
 
Leprosy: Differmi Forvis — How Contracted. 57 
 
 "The Japanese authors mention two methods of 
 treatment, or rather two cures. The first was im- 
 ported from China in the time of the Sung and Yuen 
 dynasties. It consists in the use of acupuncture 
 needles. Let the patient sit down naked in a dark- 
 ened room; burn camphor as a light, and examine 
 the entire surface of the body. In this way the poison 
 under the skin may be seen plainly by the physician. 
 Circumscribed blood-spots of various shapes will 
 appear beneath the skin. If they are scarlet the 
 poison is not severe; if dark purple it is of great 
 strength. The physician marks with ink the circum- 
 ferences of these spots as they are seen by the reflected 
 camphor light. The spots are mostly on the face, 
 hands, feet, and neck; very few of them are found on 
 the chest or abdomen. 
 
 "Open the windows and puncture the spots wath 
 red-hot needles; the latter, heated in a charcoal fire, 
 are used one by one within the marked places. Gen- 
 erally there is no bleeding nor is there any pain left; 
 if there is bleeding and pain the spot operated on is 
 not leprous. The needles may be introduced even to 
 the depth of an inch, without causing any pain. 
 After these operations the patient's body shows high 
 temperature, his face reddens, his mouth is dr}^, and 
 there is headache and intense thirst. Give him warm 
 water to drink, and apply the hot flat-top needle to 
 his bald vertex with a quick touch; thereupon he 
 feels relief. The needles are used three days in suc- 
 cession; on the second day the acupunctures are 
 made in the intervals between the first day punctures, 
 when, however, the needle cannot penetrate deep 
 
58 Leprosy, ajid the Charity of the Church. 
 
 without causing pain; on the third day again punc- 
 ture in the existing intervals. 
 
 "It cannot be denied that this treatment must be 
 efficient, for it is clear that if every leper spot, or, as 
 we might say, every bacillus, is disposed of, so is the 
 disease itself. 
 
 "The other method consists in the use of turpen- 
 tine or boiled pine wood. It has been used at least 
 for the last 2,000 years; for Kakko, who wrote in 300 
 A.D., has a mention of it in his book 'Prescriptions 
 Behind the Elbow;' that is, the pocket of the sleeve. 
 We find a mention of it also in the 'Thousand Golden 
 Remedies' compiled in Japan 640 A. D. 
 
 "Take some pure turpentine, boil it in a clean pan 
 with spring or rain water, keep stirring it; when it 
 becomes muddy and bitter pour it into cold water. 
 Boil repeatedly until the liquid turns white and loses 
 its bitterness. Dry in the shade; grind into powder, 
 and make it fine. Use it thus: Make a soft boiled 
 rice, mix the turpentine thoroughly with it, and eat 
 freely of it. If the patient is thirsty let him drink 
 nothing but pure water mixed with the turpentine 
 powder. After ten days' use if vomiting and purga- 
 tion come on, they are favorable symptoms. Resume 
 the treatment from time to time." 
 
 Dr. Bouffe, of Paris, claims that he has discovered 
 the leper bacillus in human blood and has adopted a 
 "serum" treatment, but no authority at least on this 
 side of the water places any confidence or hope in it. 
 I know of no better statement of the condition of the 
 subject as now known to medical science than that 
 of Dr. Ashmead, of New York, made under date of 
 
Lepro'^y: Different Forms — How Contracted. 59 
 
 July 19, 1896. He places the entire case at present 
 knowledge as follows: 
 
 "There are but three treatments to-day on which 
 leprologists found their hopes, if they have any — the 
 European treatment of Goldschmidt, the Carrasquilla 
 treatment of Colombia, South America, and the 
 Kitasato serum cure of Japan. 
 
 "Goldschmidt last December reported a case cured 
 by the 5 per cent europhen in oil in the islands of 
 Madeira. But as his report was made only five years 
 after the alleged cure, no leprologist accepts it as 
 authentic. xA.lvarez, the bacteriologist of the Hawaiian 
 Board of Health, tells me that he has used it in the 
 Sandwich Islands without success. 
 
 "The Carrasquilla serum treatment was tried by Dr. 
 Carlos E. Putnam, a pupil of Carrasquilla in the 
 Aqua de Dios leper hospital of Colombia, on forty 
 lepers without success. Dr. Putnam took blood from 
 the arm of a sixteen-year-old tubercular leper in an 
 aseptic bladder, let it remain there until it had set- 
 tled, then drew the supernatant serum by syringe 
 through the wall of the bladder, and inoculated the 
 serum into two asses and three she goats. His object 
 was, as he wrote me, to increase, if possible, the 
 natural immunity of animals by the immunity which 
 a leper might be supposed to have acquired in a 
 degree proportionate to the age of the disease. I say 
 might be supposed; but such an immunity, in any 
 degree, is but an hypothesis. 
 
 "After several days blood was drawn from these 
 animals, and forty lepers of different types and grades 
 of disease were inoculated with the serum. This was 
 
6o Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 done November i of last year. As yet no result has 
 appeared. 
 
 " This treatment was first proposed in the Poly- 
 clinic of Bogota, July i, 1895, by Dr. Juan de Dios 
 Carrasquilla. It is built upon the theory that the 
 leper bacillus can be cultivated in the blood current 
 of an animal. No cultivation of the leper bacillus 
 has ever been made in any other medium but the hu- 
 man tissue. The leper bacillus has never been found 
 in human blood. Thousands of animals of all kinds 
 — quadrupeds, birds, fish, etc. — have been inoculated, 
 and no result was obtained. I myself, a believer in 
 the intermediary host-function of the fish theory, 
 inoculated fish with the leper bacillus, but without 
 success. Even human beings have been objects of 
 this experimentation. In these cases, when leprosy 
 followed only after many years, it was, of course, im- 
 possible to say that it was due to the operation or to 
 the development of the previously existing germ. So 
 much for the Carrasquilla theory, which, as you see, 
 was built upon the possible cultivation of the germ 
 in the animal blood. 
 
 "Dr. Putnam's theory is founded on the possibility 
 of increasing the natural immunity of the animal by 
 inoculating it with the probable acquired immunity 
 of the leper. 
 
 " The two theories are essentially different, although 
 the application is the same for both. 
 
 ' ' Dr. Jules Goldschmidt, who spent twenty-six 
 years on the Island of Madeira, in charge of Portu- 
 guese lepers, writes: 'The Carrasquilla serum, or any 
 treatment by serum in leprosy, is, according to my 
 
Leprosy: Different Forms — How Contracted. 6 1 
 
 experience, perfectly inadmissible. Till nowadays — 
 and there is not the slightest proof to the contrary — 
 the Hansen bacillus has never been cultivated, and 
 animals are quite "refractaires. " How on earth can 
 it be possible under such conditions to obtain a 
 "serum"? You remember what I said about " lep- 
 rine" in my book "La Lepre" ? But this " leprine" 
 is to be compared to the " tuberculine," and has no 
 affinity with a serum. 
 
 " ' There must be some fundamental misunder- 
 standing regarding "leprosy serum." 
 
 " Dr. Havelburg, the bacteriologist of the Hospital 
 dos Lazaros, Rio Janeiro, says in a letter to me of 
 date May 26 last: ' Regarding serumtherapy, I am 
 thoroughly skeptical. In regard to leprosy, we hardly 
 could talk of such as long as the culture of the lepra 
 bacillus has not been made. Those experiments in 
 Colombia, South America, appear to me to be very 
 naive. I neither believe in nor trust them. ' 
 
 "As to the Kitasato* serum cure, it is not original, 
 being simply based upon Behring's idea of the anti- 
 toxine diphtheria serum. No advance has been made 
 nor is likely to be. 
 
 "Dr. Goto's 'Japanese treatment,' which consisted 
 of systems of baths and tonic and eliminative treat- 
 ment, has had a fair trial in Hawaii and has failed. 
 Dr. Goto had been taken from Japan by the Ha- 
 waiian government and given full opportunity to 
 apply his methods. 
 
 "The antivenom 'treatment of Calmette and 
 Fraser' was never tried, but a treatment almost iden- 
 tical has been known in Japan for a thousand years, 
 
62 Lepfosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 It consists in dissolving the snake niamiishi in wine 
 and using this solution internally. No favorable 
 results were ever recorded. 
 
 " Dr. Carreau, of Guadeloupe, noting that a leper's 
 skin became smoother after being bitten by a viper, 
 which eventually killed the man, thought that bv 
 using a remedy that would act in the same way as 
 the viper poison; that is, by increasing considerably 
 the amount of hemoglobine in the blood, grand re- 
 sults might be obtained. He used the chlorate of 
 potassa, a drug which has such an effect, but this also 
 was unsuccessful. 
 
 "These are the only known remedies upon which, 
 in late daj^s, the hopes of leprologists were built. 
 
 "We are thrown back, even now, on the old India 
 treatment, the cJiaitlmoog-"a oil, which is one main- 
 stay in the treatment of leprosy. It does not cure, 
 because the disease is incurable." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LEPROSY AS DISCUSSED BY THE PAN-AMERICAN MED- 
 ICAL CONGRESS. 
 
 In the report of "The Transactions of the First 
 Pan-American Medical Congress," held in Washing- 
 ton City in 1893, much valuable information can be 
 found upon this subject. 
 
 Dr. Beaven Rake, of London, Medical Superinten- 
 dent of the Trinidad Leper Asylum, late member of 
 the Indian Leprosy Commission, read a paper on "The 
 Communicability of Leprosy," in which he says: "To 
 Hansen of Bergen is due the epoch-making discovery 
 of the leprosy bacillus and the inauguration of a new 
 and scientific study of the disease. In 1880 he was 
 able definitely to announce the discovery of a specific 
 bacillus in leprosy. And Neisser, in the autumn and 
 winter of the same year, working at the San Lazara 
 Leper Hospital at Granada, Spain, confirmed Hansen's 
 results and applied the anilin-colors tests, which have 
 since been recognized as distinguishing the bacilli of 
 leprosy and tuberculosis from those of other diseases. 
 Since then Hansen's discovery has been confirmed by 
 observers in all parts of the world, and it may now be 
 affirmed that the leprosy bacillus is present in some 
 part or parts of the body of every leper at some period 
 or other in the course of the disease." Dr. Rake, in 
 
 his paper, goes into detail concerning the results 
 
 63 
 
64 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 which have attended the attempted cultivation of the 
 bacillus of leprosy. Culture experiments were not 
 very satisfactory, as when introduced into the body of 
 a healthy animal, they did not produce the disease. 
 At the Trinidad Asylum, the doctor inoculated cats, 
 pigs, rabbits, bats, fowls, a parrot and a dog with 
 pieces of cutaneous nodules and the discharge from 
 the ulcers. But he says from a consideration of all 
 evidence, he must conclude with Besnier that leprosy 
 is an essentially humian disease and cannot be trans- 
 mitted to animals. He concludes his paper by stating 
 that the risk of communicability of leprosy is so small 
 that for practical purposes it may be disregarded, and 
 that for an explanation of the occurrence of new cases 
 we must look to causes other than association of the 
 healthy with the lepers. In the discussion that fol- 
 lowed many of the doctors present dissented from this 
 view. Dr. Politzer said: "I believe in certain local- 
 ities leprosy bacilli are always present outside the 
 body, and that residents in these localities are con- 
 stantly taking the bacilli into their respiratory pas- 
 sages mixed with dust, or into their alimentary canals 
 in food or water." 
 
 Dr. Geo. W.. Woods, Medical Inspector, United 
 States Navy, in his paper, says: "The facts and the 
 reports of independent observers in all lands where 
 leprosy exists, demonstrating that we are in a period 
 of extension of this disease, call upon the medical 
 profession in all lands to arouse the people and work 
 with the government for its repression. The views 
 entertained on the subject have been so widely at 
 variance, that a British leprosy commission was or- 
 
Discussed by the Pan- -Imerican Medical Congress. 65 
 
 ganized and sent to India in 1890, which has but re- 
 cently reported the result of its labors and its con- 
 clusions. The commission was composed of members 
 of the colleges of physicians and surgeons of London, 
 Indian medical officers, and representatives of the 
 "English Leprosy Fund." A year was spent in the 
 investigation, 2,000 lepers were examined and answers 
 to carefully prepared interrogatories were received 
 from a majority of the medical officers of the Indian 
 Civil Service and the medical officers of the army. A 
 wider or a more complete field for a harvest of knowl- 
 edge can not be conceived, extended by interrogatories 
 addressed tc the other colonies and countries similarily 
 affected, and the conclusions of the commission are 
 thus summarized: (i) Leprosy is 2l ^iso^diS^ si li generis ; 
 it is not a form of syphilis or tuberculosis, but has 
 striking etiological analogies with the latter. (2) 
 Leprosy is not diffused by hereditary transmission, and 
 for this reason and the established amount of sterility 
 among lepers, the disease has a natural tendency to 
 die out. (3) Though in a scientific classification of 
 disease leprosy must be regarded as contagious and 
 also inoculable, yet the extent to which it is propa- 
 gated by these means is exceedingly small. (4) 
 Leprosy is not directly originated by the use of any 
 particular article of food, nor by any climatic or 
 telluric condition, nor by unsanitary surroundings; 
 neither does it peculiarly affect any race, or caste. (5) 
 Leprosy is indirectly influenced by unsanitary sur- 
 roundings, such as poverty, bad food, or deficient 
 drainage or ventilation, for these, by causing a predis- 
 position, increase the susceptibility of the individual 
 
66 Leprosy, ayid the Chanty of the Church. 
 
 to the disease. (6) Leprosy in the great majority of 
 cases originates de 7iovo; that is, from a sequence or 
 concurrence of causes or conditions, dealt with in the 
 reports, and which are related to each other in ways 
 at present imperfectly known." Dr. Woods, who has 
 spent much time at the leper settlement of Molokai, 
 agrees with the first and second conclusions of the 
 British Leprosy Commission. To the third, he says: 
 "Hawaiian experience compels an entire dissent to 
 the statement that "its propagation by these means 
 is exceedingly small," for there is every evidence that 
 it has thus spread over the island. Fourth, the con- 
 clusion, undoubtedly not to be controverted, that 
 leprosy has not its origin in any particular article of 
 food or in any climate, with the exception that a dry 
 situation, with a high temperature, is favorable to stay- 
 ing the progress of the disease, is sustained. He agrees 
 with the fifth conclusion. To the sixth, he says: 
 That leprosy arises de novo^ according to the commis- 
 sioners, has only to be mentioned to arouse a smile of 
 derision and is a most impotent conclusion to valu- 
 able work, which has rather sustained previously ex- 
 pressed opinions of eminent students of this disease 
 rather than added to knowledge of the subject. As 
 regards prophylaxis, the commission recommended 
 perfect hygiene and segregation, which is all that 
 Hawaiian medical men have found from experience 
 to be worthy of consideration; and with reference to 
 therapeusis the same conclusion has been reached, 
 viz. : no cure. That the various oils recommended, 
 especially Chaulmoogra oil and arsenic, are pallia- 
 tives, and all the other proposed remedies have 
 
Discussed by the Pan-American Medical Congress. 67 
 
 proved utter failures. Dr. Woods further says Dr. 
 Arning, of Hamburg, failed in his cultivation of the 
 bacillus in an artificial soil and also in the inoculation 
 of the lower animals, but apparently succeeded with a 
 criminal, Kenan by name, whose sentence of death 
 was commuted to penal servitude in consideration of 
 his consenting to experimental inoculation with the 
 bacillus. Dr. Arning' s experiment established the 
 wonderful vitality of the bacillus leprae and its extra- 
 ordinary power of resisting putrefaction, an examin- 
 ation of the dead showing the germs to be in a state 
 of activit}'' after three months of interment. This ob- 
 servation may be of great importance in any inquiry 
 into the etiology of leprosy. As regards the case of 
 Kenan, he was inoculated September 30, 1884, and 
 in March, 1885, microscopic examination revealed the 
 bacillus in large numbers near the spot of the inocula- 
 tion, and again fourteen months afterward, though 
 there were no evidences of leprosy. Later and after 
 Dr. Arning' s departure Kenan became a developed 
 leper and subsequently died of the disease. This case 
 promised to be one of great importance as establish- 
 ing the contagion or inoculability of leprosy, but in- 
 vestigation, made subsequent to Dr. Arning' s depart- 
 ure, seems to prove that Kenan came from a leper 
 family by heredity, if that be admitted as a factor, or 
 like exposure to cause, if we wish to exclude con- 
 tagion — may have been affected with the disease. No 
 such experiment, however, was necessary to an un- 
 prejudiced observer of Hawaiian leprosy to prove the 
 truth of contagion." 
 
 Two cases were reported to the Pan-American 
 
68 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Chiwch. 
 
 Congress, perhaps similar to the New Lexington 
 (Ohio) cases already alluded to in a previous chapter. 
 One has been reported by Dr. Benson in Dublin. A 
 man returned from service in India and developed 
 leprosy. His brother, who had never been out of the 
 United Kingdom, slept in the same bed with him and 
 about two years afterwards this brother also became a 
 leper. The cases were shown at the Dublin Medical 
 Society, and there seems to have been no doubt^ as to 
 the diagnosis, for doctors were present who hcid seen 
 leprosy abroad. The second case occurred in Mary- 
 land and was reported by Dr. Atkinson. A woman 
 who had not been out of the country became leprous 
 some years after contact with a leper. In ]\Iaryland 
 we know that leprosy is not endemic, and yet it must 
 be remembered that there are hundreds of doctors, 
 nurses and attendants in constant contact with lepers, 
 but these never develop the disease. Joseph Dutton, 
 the companion of Father Damien on the island of 
 Molokai, says in a private letter: " Some years ago 
 I thought there were some signs of leprosy coming 
 over me, in fact, there were some signs, and one of 
 them is not yet fully explained. Others signified 
 nothing after a lapse of time and all have passed away. 
 For the past five years or more there has been nothing 
 with me indicating a suspicion of leprosy. Indeed, 
 I am beginning to think I am in some way or 
 other fortified against it, for surely no one could have 
 had, in a legitimate manner, more opportunity for 
 taking it as in attending the sick, dressing sores, 
 etc., and in eating the common food handled and 
 cooked by lepers, as I have done." Dr. Hugus, of 
 
Discussed by the Pan-American Medical Congress. 69 
 
 Ravenna, Ohio, who spent three and one-half years 
 on the Hawaiian Islands in the employ of the Govern- 
 ment, in a private letter, says of leprosy: "As to its 
 contagiousness, I am satisfied that it is so, however, 
 but to a slight extent. With my hands intact and 
 skin unbroken, I would have no fear of handling a 
 leprous patient, but with any sores upon them, I 
 would be rather chary. I am satisfied that with 
 proper enforcement of the laws already existing on 
 the Islands and the enforcement of the law of segrega- 
 tion, leprosy would in time be unknown there. That 
 state of affairs must, however, come about by the 
 death of those now afflicted by the disease, as there 
 is, in my opinion, no known cure of the disease. Of 
 another thing, I am satisfied there are to-day more 
 lepers at large in the United States than are on the 
 Hawaiian Islands. Since having seen the disease, I 
 am well satisfied that some twenty years ago, we had 
 a leper a few miles from this place (Ravenna, Ohio)." 
 
"THE SINGING LEPKR." 
 
 By Eleanor C. Donnelly. 
 
 Deep in the heart of a solitude, 
 
 A huntsman, straying, found 
 A dying leper in a wood, 
 
 Stretched, singing, on the ground. 
 
 Yea, singing on a bed of ferns, 
 In strains so sweet and strong, 
 
 That never had the huntsman heard 
 So ravishing a song: 
 
 ' ' I see a glory in the air. 
 
 And in the midst thereof, 
 A radiant Face. O grave and fair ! 
 How full of pitying love ! ' ' 
 
 So ran the words. The strong man stooped 
 Above the leprous thing ; 
 " God save thee, brother of the worms, 
 How canst, forsaken, sing? " 
 
 Out of the pallid lips, the sweet 
 Unearthly whisper stole: 
 " There's nothing save this wall of flesh 
 'Twixt heaven and my soul: 
 
 " This foul, corrupted wall of flesh — 
 Behold ! it drops away. 
 Should not the ransomed captive sing ? 
 I shall be free to-day ! " 
 
 And even as the huntsman gazed, 
 
 Loosed was the singer's soul ; 
 
 A shower of lilies hid the corse — 
 
 The leper was made whole. 
 70 
 
FATHER DAMIEN. 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE CHARITY OF THE CHURCH TO 
 THE VICTIMS OF LEPROSY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CARE OF LEPERS. 
 
 Hospitals for the relief of lepers seem to have been 
 unknown among the nations of antiquity. Almost 
 from the commencement of the Christian era, pious 
 associations were organized for the care of these un- 
 fortunates and the great writer, Pierre de Belloy, in 
 his work, "Origin and Institution of Different Orders 
 of Chivalry," mentions an Order of St. Lazarus, 
 founded in the year 72 A, D. , so called from Lazarus, 
 the beggar mentioned in St. Luke, xvii:2i: "And 
 there was a certain beggar named Lazarus who lay 
 at his gate full of sores." These orders and homes 
 were consecrated to St. Lazarus, hence the name — 
 Lazarettoes — or to Job, for many were of the opinion 
 that Job's disease was leprosy, and of such malignity 
 as rendered it incurable and so produced a complica- 
 tion of diseases. Matthew Paris says that at one time 
 there were nine thousand hospitals or lazarettoes in 
 Europe. The victims were separated from their 
 friends and obliged by law to keep close to the hos- 
 
74 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 pitals; they had marks fixed upon their garments 
 whereby they might be known, and generally carried 
 a little bell or clapper with them, that they might 
 announce their coming and so be avoided. The 
 Council of Orleans, in 549, and that of Lyons, in 583, 
 prescribed to the church authorities the duty of 
 clothing and supporting lepers. 
 
 The Crusaders brought the disease from the East 
 into Europe, and they afterward established a mili- 
 tary order of St. Eazarus at Jerusalem, in the early 
 part of the 12th century, whose duty it was to take 
 charge of the victims and their asylums in the Holy 
 Land. These Knights of St. Lazarus, after being 
 driven out of Palestine, established themselves in 
 France and instituted a celebrated lazaretto outside 
 the gates of Paris, Afterward, under the protection 
 of several Popes, they settled in Sicily and lower 
 Italy, but with the disappearance of the disease they 
 lost their distinctive religious and charitable charac- 
 ter, in accordance with which their constitution re- 
 quired the Grand Master to be a leper. Glorious age 
 of Christianity ! What power ! What sacrifice that 
 thus could organize men to look after the victims of 
 dread leprosy — that awful disease that science cannot 
 prevent ! Medicine and skill can stay the ravages of 
 smallpox, curb cholera and yellow fever, ward off" the 
 attacks of hydrophobia, but God alone can cure leprosy. 
 ■'There were ten lepers and are they not now clean?" 
 But even in the days of the "Ages of Faith," the 
 leper under the most favorable circumstances was 
 completely and forever an outcast from the world, be- 
 ing considered both legally and politically a dead per- 
 
Care of Lepers. 75 
 
 son. He was forbidden from entering any place 
 where food was being prepared, from dipping his hand 
 in any running water, and from taking up any food 
 or any other necessary article without using a stick 
 or fork. 
 
 Ivcroy de la Marche : "La lycpre et les Lepros- 
 eries" — Paris, 1892, says: "Michelet and his school 
 have seized on the phantom of leprosy, shaking it, 
 just as the leper himself used to shake his rattle to 
 frighten the passer-by. According to these writers 
 leprosy was a consequence of the filthiness of our an- 
 cestors. People never washed in the Middle Ages ; 
 therefore leprosy was the result of a spontaneous gen- 
 eration in the dung-hill on which society was rotting. 
 And since the Catholic Church had formed medieval 
 society to her own image, she alone was responsible 
 for the ravages of the terrible malady. And the 
 church not only originated leprosy but she persecuted 
 its victims. She thrust the unfortunates into loath- 
 some huts, banishing them forever from human soci- 
 ety; she cruelly condemned them to be devoured by 
 the fire in their frames, augmenting their physical 
 sufferings by the tortures of perpetual solitude. The 
 theme has become hackneyed." 
 
 Rev. Reuben Parsons, D.D., in a recent number 
 of the "Ave Maria," gives an account of a document 
 discovered in 1891 by M. Abel lycfranc, giving the 
 rules for the leper house of Noyou, which had been 
 composed by the Catholic Bishop of that place — 1250- 
 1272. In those days no person made a will without 
 leaving some legacy to charitable institutions and es- 
 pecially to leper-hospitals. The lepers formed a sort 
 
76 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 of religious confraternity under the immediate direc- 
 tion of the bishop, but the immediate superintendence 
 of the community, lepers and all, was confided to a 
 "Master" and to a "Council," all elected by the 
 lepers. All who were able took their meals in the 
 refector}^ The inmates wore a uniform, but this 
 dress presented nothing of that sombre and repulsive 
 aspect of which we often hear. Each leper had an 
 excellent bed and plenty of clean linen. No leper 
 was allowed to enter the kitchen or the bakery, but 
 all the rest of the establishment was open to them. 
 Every possible provision was made for the most 
 minute and scrupulous cleanliness of person as well 
 as of every nook and corner of the institution. The 
 utmost care was devoted to the spiritual interests of 
 the lepers. They had a beautiful church and a chap- 
 lain always at hand. Games of chance were prohib- 
 ited, but all other means of recreation were provided. 
 In the preface to a little work — "The Eeper Queen, 
 or the Eegend of Aleidis, " the writer gives this de- 
 scription of the care of the church for the welfare of 
 the poor lepers. The misery of these poor outcasts, 
 as witnessed in his own land, touched the loving 
 heart of St. Francis of Assisi, who induced his breth- 
 ren to provide out of their poverty hospitals and sus- 
 tenance for the lepers near the convents and monas- 
 teries of their order. Hence, arose the " Homes for 
 the Christian Brethren, which became the coveted 
 refuge of these unhappy beings and eventually 
 superseded the pest-houses, whose very existence had 
 borne testimony to the demoralization which fear can 
 produce among men. 
 
Care of Lepers. 77 
 
 They were usuUy erected under the shelter of a 
 mountain, or near the outskirts of a forest, but as far 
 as possible from the highways, and as a matter of 
 course, in a district remote from any village or town. 
 
 The building contained one large hall, surrounded 
 by the benches of stone or wood that formed its only 
 furniture, and lighted by apertures, placed high to 
 prevent the escape of any of the inmates. Ingress 
 was afforded by a single door to this den of horrors, 
 whence egress, alas ! there could be none, except in 
 case of death, and then the corpse of the poor creature 
 thus happily released, appears to have been borne out 
 and buried within the precincts of what was most 
 truly their prison-house by his surviving companions, 
 who probably envied his lot. 
 
 Of chaplains or spiritual aid provided for the in- 
 mates of the pest-houses no mention is made. For 
 clothing and sustenance they were left to the alms of 
 the charitable and the affection of relatives or friends 
 — a sadly precarious dependence in such troublous 
 times, and these were handed through an opening in 
 the door, made "at the height of a man's face," by 
 means of a long pole, by the donor or his almoner, 
 who stood outside a fence at a distance of ten feet 
 from the pest-house. No other communication than 
 this was allowed with the outside world. And truly 
 few outsiders availed themselves of even so much. 
 In the hospitals erected by the charity of the Friars 
 Minor, small cells, each only large enough to accommo- 
 date one person, were raised on a plot of ground at no 
 great distance from the convent. 
 
 Each cell was surrounded by a fence at the pre^ 
 
yS Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 scribed distance of ten feet, and provided with a stone 
 bench, a bed and a crucifix, for the comfort and de- 
 votion of the inmate. A kind of turn near the door, 
 in which a daily supply of food and .water was depos- 
 ited, with a pitcher and a wooden cup, completed the 
 furniture of these humble abodes, for whose occupants 
 the title of The Poor Brethren., by which they are gen- 
 erally called, was surely a fitting one. At fixed 
 hours, a lay brother, or a testiary of St. Francis, 
 passed from one to the other of the cells, armed with 
 a pole, similar to those carried by the man-hunters, 
 and followed by an attendant laden with provisions 
 and such remedies as might alleviate the misery of 
 the sufferers in some degree. 
 
 The lepers were visited from time to time by such 
 of the friars as were deemed most skillful in leech- 
 craft, and if anyone, as in rare cases happened, was 
 found on careful examination to have been healed, he 
 or she were transferred to a lodging apart from those 
 appropriated to the plague-stricken, and after a suffi- 
 cient probation, if no trace of the disease reappeared, 
 was suffered once more to go at large. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
 
 I can give no better idea of the charity of the 
 Church towards the victims of the awful scourge of 
 leprosy than by reprinting an article of mine on 
 Father Damien, known now, since his death, as the 
 leper-priest — the hero of Molokai. It appeared orig- 
 inally in the columns of the " Catholic Columbian." 
 
 The hero of Molokai, Father Joseph Damien de 
 Veuster, was born at Tremeloo, Louvain, Belgium, 
 January 3, 1840. At nineteen years of age he was a 
 student at the famous Catholic University at lyouvain. 
 Having received minor orders, and belonging to the 
 missionary society of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and 
 Mary, under whose care the preaching of the Gospel 
 in the Sandwich Islands had been placed, he offered 
 himself as a missionary in place of an older brother, 
 who was prevented by sickness from going to Hono- 
 lulu. 
 
 Arriving there as soon as he was of the required 
 age, he was ordained priest by the Bishop and per- 
 formed the ordinary duties of a missionary priest 
 until 1873. In that year he was present at the dedi- 
 cation of a little chapel on the Island of Maui and 
 heard the Bishop express a regret that he was unable 
 to send a priest to the leper settlement on the Island 
 
 of Molokai. He at once offered himself. He was 
 
 79 
 
8o Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 accepted, and, with the Bishop and the French Con- 
 sul, set out in a boat loaded with cattle for Kalaupapa, 
 the port of the leper settlement. 
 
 At a public meeting of the eight hundred lepers, 
 half of whom were Catholics, the Bishop said: "Since 
 you have written me so often for a priest, I have at 
 last brought you one. " Father Damien bade good- 
 bye to the Bishop, and as the boat left the harbor he 
 turned at once to begin work and enter upon his new 
 mission, knowing full well that he must sooner or 
 later contract leprosy, so loathsome that it has been 
 said: "Corruption could go no further, nor flesh 
 suffer deeper dishonor this side of the grave. ' ' 
 
 He had no church, no house, no purse. He slept 
 for some weeks under a pandaniLs (screw- pine) tree, 
 under which his body now rests, within shadow of his 
 little church, built by his own hands and watched ten- 
 derly by his American friend, Joseph B. Button. The 
 flowers of the tropics nod their heads above his mortal 
 remains, the booming of the waves of the Pacific as 
 they roll upon the coral reef shore is softened by the 
 prayers of the lepers as they gather in the evening 
 twilight about that little mound, under whose green 
 turf rests the body of one of earth's great heroes, one 
 of God's noble priests. 
 
 Father Damien found the situation deplorable. At 
 the base of the cliffs, three thousand feet high, at the 
 northern extremity of Molokai island, juts out into 
 the ocean a peninsula three miles long and one mile 
 wide, and here he found two leper villages: Kalau- 
 papa, for those in the earliest stages of the disease, 
 and Kalawao, for those in the last and severest. The 
 
Sandwich Isla?ids. 8i 
 
 crater of an extinct volcano lies between the villages. 
 The whole point of land has been likened to the 
 
 handle of a frying-pan. Another calls it a crust over 
 the water with a bubble in the midst. Two hundred 
 
82 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 acres of tillable land down between the villages were 
 fenced in and Father Damien set the men and boys 
 yet able to work to cultivate it. The Government 
 also sent him some cattle. He found the lepers 
 sheltered in miserable huts, built by themselves from 
 the branches of the castor-oil trees and covered with 
 the leaves of sugar-cane. The death-rate was great, 
 the strong ones forgot the weak, and brute force 
 reigned supreme. 
 
 The people of Honolulu sent rather Damien some 
 lumber and $120, wnth which he himself built a house 
 that served as a temporan- chapel and headquarters 
 for giving out medicine and supplies. He then began 
 his eloquent pleas to the authorities for aid, which 
 were finally, to some extent, listened to and a change 
 for the better commenced. He looked a:':±r the 
 helpless, consoled them in their last agon} : :':en 
 
 dug their graves. The Government sent h:::: .. i^^ian- 
 tit}- of lumber, and he himself, assisted by the lepers, 
 built them comfortable little cottages. He started a 
 school with about forty pupils. The supply of water 
 was very bad and had to be brought on the backs of 
 the lepers for a long distance. This ht remedied by 
 constructing a reservoir on the cliff side, seven t\'-two 
 by fifh-five feet, and piping it to the settlement. 
 Food and clothi^ were procured from the Govern- 
 ment, and a store established. 
 
 An allowance of six dollars a year was granted to 
 each leper for clothes, and $1,000 was invested to lay 
 in the first stock of his store, which the Govern me": 
 loaned him, and the store was soon self-supporting. 
 He also succeeded in interesting charitable persons in 
 
Sandwich Islands. 83 
 
 Europe and America, and they sent supplies of cast- 
 off clothing and reading matter for the lepeis. Before 
 1878 — that is for five yeais — Father Damien was also 
 the doctor of the leper colony, bnt after that date 
 regnlar physicians A^ere appointed hy the Board of 
 Health of Honolulu to visit the colony at regular 
 intervals. He was their ruler, their doctor, their 
 priesL He punished the guilty, he settled disputes, 
 he was judge and jur^- —as w^ell as school-teacher to 
 their little ones. 
 
 How^ any one man could have accomplished all 
 this, strong and well built man as he was, seems 
 incredible. In iSSi, the king of the islands author- 
 ized Bishop Koeckeman to visit the leper island and 
 confer on Father Damien the degree of Knight Com- 
 mander of the Royal House. Of this decoration. 
 Father Damien remarked to Charles Warren Stoddard, 
 who visited him by permission of the king: "It is 
 not for this I am here."" The queen also visited the 
 island in 1S84 and soon after inaugurated a fair in 
 Honolulu for the lepeis' benefit A subscription of 
 $1,500 was raised in London and sent by Cardinal 
 Manning; and $5,000 were sient b}^ Rev. IL B. Chap- 
 man, an English clergyman. For a time after his 
 arrival on the island he was treated with great harsh- 
 ness by the authorities; permission isras refused him 
 to leave the island even to visit a brother priest on 
 the other islands for the purpose of going to confes- 
 sion. The sheriff had the authority to arrest him and 
 take him back should he make the attempt. On one 
 occasion, Bishop Maigret passed in a vessel within 
 sight of Molokai; the Bishop beseeched the captain 
 
84 
 
 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 to land, but he refused; all that he would grant was 
 to stop a few moments and whistle. The signal was 
 heard; a canoe put off from the shore and drew along- 
 side, but the ship's orders forbade Father Damien 
 coming aboard. The Bishop leaned over the vessel's 
 side, listening to the confession that came from the 
 occupant of the canoe. It was made in French, 
 
 THE CHURCH AT KAI^AWAO, SHOWING THE TREE UNDER WHICH 
 FATHER DAMIEN IS BURIED. 
 
 which penitent and Bishop alone understood. In 
 later days a formal permit was occasionally granted to 
 visit another island, which he only applied for when 
 he desired to go to confession. With the aid of the 
 lepers, he built a little church, painted it himself, 
 and the necessary altar furniture, chalice, and vest- 
 
Sandwich Islands. 85 
 
 ments were sent to him by friends in Paris. After 
 eleven years of constant mingling with the lepers, 
 . during which time he had buried one thousand six 
 hundred, although he did his own cooking and 
 washing, the first appearance of leprosy manifested 
 itself in his left foot and on the lobes of his ears. 
 This was in 1884. Following the usual course, it 
 developed slowh', disfiguring his hands and face, but 
 he was cheerful and continued his usual work. 
 
 " People pity me and think me unfortunate," he 
 said, "but I think myself the happiest of missionar- 
 ies." His poet friend, Stoddard, has said: 
 
 MOLOKAI. 
 
 "Almighty God knows what is best for my santification, and with the con- 
 viction, I say daily, Fiat Vohoitas iiia." — Father Bamien. 
 
 Laud lio ! L,and, like an emerald, gleaming 
 
 'Twixt deep-blue wave aud pale-blue sky; 
 A lotus isle for mid-day dreaming, 
 
 Seen vague as our ship sails by; 
 A land that knows not life's commotion: 
 
 Blest "No Man's Land !" we sadly say; 
 Has it a name, yon gem of ocean ? 
 
 The seaman answers, Molokai. 
 
 Crowd on more sail ! Though clouds were looming 
 
 Better the tempest's roar and strife, 
 Better the wild waves' shock and booming 
 
 Than that dread land of death in life — 
 A land where exiles ne'er cease mourning, 
 
 Where rank disease doth hold foul sway; 
 A land from which there's no returning — 
 
 The lonely isle of Molokai. 
 
 Yet one long look ere sight be weary — 
 
 Earth's holiest spot, in angel ken, 
 Is Avhere one, like the Son of Mary, 
 
 Doth give his life for siu-cursed men; 
 
86 
 
 Leprosy, a7id the Chanty of the Church. 
 
 And as the home of God-Hke mortal, 
 
 Who in such death can calmly sa}' 
 "Th}- will be done !" It s^^ms heaven's portal — 
 
 This hallowed isle of Molokai. 
 
 In December, 1888, he was visited by Edward Clif- 
 ford, an Englishman, who desired to tr}' upon him 
 gurgon (oil), an Indian remedy for leprosy. It gave 
 him some temporary relief only. At this time he was 
 
SandivicJi Ishifids. 87 
 
 described by Clifford as "forty-nine years of age, a 
 thick-set, strongly-built man, and with black curly 
 hair. His countenance must have been a handsome 
 one, with a well-curved mouth, straight nose and fine 
 head, but now the good man is awfully disfigured with 
 the disease." January 28, 1889, he wrote to a friend 
 this simple line: "Good-bye, till heaven." 
 
 Three weeks before his death he expressed his de- 
 light that he should celebrate Kaster in Heaven. On 
 the 28th of March he was completely prostrated, the 
 concentration of the disease in his throat and lungs 
 caused extreme suffering, and he himself recognized 
 signs of the end. The house was besieged by his 
 leper friends, who were with difficulty kept from the 
 little room. The evening before his death he took 
 leave of all and blessed them, especially the children. 
 
 He died about 8 o'clock on the morning of April 
 15, 1889, the Monday after Palm Sunday. The 
 motive of his life may be summed up in these words, 
 used by him in a report that he made to the Govern- 
 ment Board of Health in 1886 : "By special provi- 
 dence of our Divine Saviour, who, during his public 
 life, showed a particular sympathy for the lepers, my 
 way was traced toward Molokai, 1873." Thus lived 
 and died Father Damien, after a life of sixteen years 
 among the lepers of Molokai. The Pacific Ocean 
 daily sings his Requiem, as its surges roll in upon 
 Molokai's coral reefs; the world, when he died, stopped 
 for a moment as if to catch its breath, and then broke 
 forth with a song of praise that echoed round the 
 globe, and the leper- priest, the humble pastor of 
 Molokai's stricken ones, became the subject of the 
 
88 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 world's honor. Humanity was dio^nified in knowing 
 that one mortal had given his life for others, Chris- 
 tianity was strengthened, the gospel was again veri- 
 fied — " Greater love than this no man hath that he 
 lay down his life for another." 
 
 Yet, alas I There was one discordant note in this 
 symphony of praise. One man forgot his humanitv, 
 forgot his calling, forgot the spark of Christian broth- 
 erhood innate in e\-ery being, and let his prejudice 
 carry him away, and so broke forth in a torrent of 
 abuse. His rancor against the Church that Father 
 Damien loved in life and honored in death so twisted 
 his mental vision that, forgetting truth, honestv, and 
 Christian manhood, he called, in public print, ^lolo- 
 kai's hero all possible vile names — the favorite ones 
 — "lecherous dog," a "vile brute." The world 
 blushed, but did not long remain silent. Robert Louis 
 Stevenson, who now sleeps like Father Damien, 
 within the bosom of one of the South Sea Isles, came 
 to the rescue of his memory and with a pen of heroic 
 fire branded and burned the lie out of existence. This 
 mortal's name was Hyde, and how Stevenson thrashed 
 and lacerated his cuticle ! 
 
 Shortly after Father Damien's death a memorial 
 fund was started in England, headed by the Prince of 
 Wales, to erect a monument at his grave in IMolokai, 
 and endow a ward in a London hospital to his 
 memory. 
 
 Quite recently the old Catholic city of Louvain by 
 popular subscription erected a magnificent group in 
 bronze to his memory. The ceremonies were elabo- 
 rate, the officers of government being present; also 
 
Sayidcvich Islands. 89 
 
 many dignitaries of the church, prominent among 
 whom was Cardinal Goosens, of Mechlin. Father 
 
 
 MONUMENT TO FATHER DAMIEN AT KAI^AUPAPA. 
 
 Built by subscription headed by the Prince of Wales, and placed by the 
 Hawaiian government near the seashore, where it can be seen from the decks 
 of passing vessels. 
 
 Damien's brother was celebrant of the Mass that pre- 
 ceded the outdoor ceremony. The bronze group rep- 
 
QO Leprosy, and the Charity of the Chicrch. 
 
 resents Father Damien "erect, his look heavenward, 
 in the calm attitude of his deliberately accepted sac- 
 rifice; with one hand he holds the crucifix that rests 
 upon his breast, with the other he presses to his bosom 
 an adopted brother, a leper, resting upon a stone and 
 sheltered beneath his mantle." 
 
 One of Father Damien' s customary expressions — 
 he had a habit of talking to himself — was, "Joseph, 
 my boy, here's work for your life," — and another 
 found in his letters was, "Induce others to come and 
 join us here, but train them for a missionary life." 
 His wishes have been followed out, and at yErschot, 
 near his native place, has been established the 
 "Father Damien Institute," with about eighty stu- 
 dents. A branch has recently been opened in Eng- 
 land, at Hadznor, which, strange to say, in da3'S past 
 was a leper settlement, and there yet can be seen in 
 the walls of Hadznor church a hole, through which 
 the lepers could see to assist at mass. This branch 
 has, however, quite recently removed to Edgbaston, 
 Birmineham, and from this house is issued monthlv 
 "The Father Damien Institute Magazine" — for which 
 Miss E. Harper, 585 Greene avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y., 
 is the American agent. 
 
 Such is the story of Father Damien' s life, simple 
 in detail, humble in its motive, yet heroic in its re- 
 sults, an example of Christian fortitude perhaps un- 
 surpassed in this century. 
 
 Rest on then, Father Damien! Rest on to await 
 the great resurrection morning! Rest on in thy island 
 home, made sacred by thy life and hallowed by thy 
 death ! Rest on where the waving branches of thy 
 
Sandwich Islands. 9 1 
 
 pandanus tree are as muffled music, and the sighing 
 
 the leper colony. There he is yet; his hands helped 
 dig his friend's grave, he ministered to him in life 
 
92 Leprosy, a7id the Charity of the Church. 
 
 and serves him yet in death. Some extracts from a 
 
 few of the letters he finds time to write may prove of 
 interest, though I feel assured he would deprecate any 
 
Sandwich Islands. 93 
 
 notice of them. In one of his early letters, in 1887, 
 he says: " The principal graveyard back of my cabin 
 has about two thousand graves and nearly one thou- 
 sand are buried elsewhere. In addition to outside 
 work, I look after the church as sacristan, serve Mass, 
 and attend to the medicines with Father Damien. I 
 am now painting the church and building a fence 
 around it. Take it all in all, this is a fine locality 
 for meditation, surrounded by the best symbol of 
 eternity, the boundless ocean." A later letter says: 
 "Many of the lepers are very low now. Ten funerals 
 last week, three to-day, and two are now being pre- 
 pared for death. Yet the number increases from day 
 to day, every vessel from the other islands bringing us 
 patients." Again — "I do not often have time now 
 to write letters — increase of duties, particularly the 
 addition to what has become my regular occupation, 
 that of dressing the ulcers, leaves me little time. The 
 spare moments are usually occupied in looking after 
 things about the church, as Father Damien grows 
 weaker every day, and about fifty orphan boys to look 
 after. My cabin is ten by fourteen feet, painted inside 
 and whitewashed outside, and connects with the pas- 
 sageway to the church. So I live near the Blessed Sacra- 
 ment; without this and hearing Mass daily I would be 
 lost. I have painted the church pretty thoroughly inside 
 and built a neat fence about it, and planted a few 
 trees, shrubs, and flowers, but I do not get much time 
 to look after them, but am trying to interest the leper 
 boys in the care of the yard. My special work is 
 dressing the sores, and I am learning to be interested 
 in it. The Government has at last allowed us suf- 
 
94 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 ficieiit supplies for this purpose, and now I can dress 
 about one hundred sores a day. But it is now lo 
 o'clock, and having to be up at 4 o'clock to make my 
 meditation, ring the Angelus at 5 o'clock, waken the 
 
 MAJOR JOSEPH BUTTON. 
 
 boys and get them ready for Mass at 6 o'clock, must 
 close, as I have had a busy day — have dressed nearly 
 two hundred sores, some of the lepers waiting their 
 turn in the line for four or five hours." 
 
 In this same letter he mentioned one patient as 
 having, when he first took charge of him, forty-six run- 
 ning sores or ulcers, but by using the carbolic acid 
 baths, he has reduced the number to twenty-two. He 
 writes as one not broken down by the awful scenes he 
 
Sand-iVich Islands. 95 
 
 daily witnesses. Father Damien and himself enjoy 
 their little joke now and then. One day it was sug- 
 gested that a certain boy had his catechism at his 
 finger-ends, when Father Damien responded, " Oh, 
 no ! the poor little fellow has no finger ends/' 
 
 Another time, two lepers ran a foot-race, not very 
 fast, but over the prescribed course; one of the toes of 
 one of the boys dropped off" during the sport, and 
 Father Damien said: " I guess he lost the foot-race, 
 as he did not toe the mark. " 
 
 There is a thread of the simple and yet heroic in 
 almost every line. In a later letter I\Ir. Dutton says: 
 " By the last mail I had an invitation to the re-union 
 of my old army regiment, to be held at my old home 
 in the States, I replied ' that I had entered another 
 army since, enlisting for life, or rather death.' " 
 
 Writing of leprosy he says: "In the two principal 
 divisions, tubercular and anaesthetic, there are many 
 grades, and though some general rules, of course, may 
 be laid down differing according to the form, yet each 
 case has its own peculiarities. In one form longer 
 life is generally looked for, with little pain after the 
 first few years, an almost entire insensibility during 
 the last years, hooking of the fingers, twisting of the 
 eyes and of the mouth, dropping off" of the joints of 
 the fingers and toes. In other forms more ulcers and 
 lumps and knobs, a general rotting of the body, 
 blindness and so on. Some of the most learned of 
 the medical faculty have made for years a special 
 study of leprosy. Every mail brings us written and 
 printed matter, much more than we have time to 
 read, giving accounts of steps taken, progress made, 
 
96 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 and reports of investigations made by command of 
 different governments thronghout the world. I have 
 not the time or talent to go into them. The rest of 
 my days must be spent in trying to help the leper, 
 clean the sores, trim, dress, bandage, patch and keep 
 them alive as long as may be. 
 
 " This Government has expended thousands of 
 dollars in experiments: the Japanese plan — then this, 
 then that; but nothing yet has been found to be a 
 real remedy. Dr. Baker, of New Zealand, has put 
 his plan forward — a result of inquiry made by com- 
 mand of Queen Victoria. No doubt some good will 
 eventually come out of all this. But for the present 
 our work must be to try to help the lepers to die well 
 and peacefully. They do not wish to be tortured 
 with every new remedy. The people are generally 
 contented with what we do for them; the boys 
 especially — a crowd of them are now under my win- 
 dow, near the edge of the graveyard, playing ball 
 and yelling like good fellows. The poor little fellows 
 seem to have a real affection for us. Some of them 
 are not able to run about very much and many of 
 them can drop down anywhere on the grass and go to 
 sleep at once, they are so weak. Four of them are 
 blind; one of the blind has learned to walk about in 
 safety, and so leads the other three. ]\Iany of the 
 boys sing well and give us all the church music that 
 we have. Speaking of ball-pla}-ing, the small boys, 
 and some of the larger ones too, any who are yet spry, 
 have a great way with their games. For about a 
 week they will play at nothing but ball — then w^hat- 
 ever any of them introduces next, say stilts, will be 
 
Sandwich Islands. 
 
 97 
 
 all the go for the next week; then a week of kites, 
 then of arrows, then of marbles, and so on, like boys 
 the world over. Father Damien is suffering very 
 much now, though he is out and about every day. 
 He says Mass every day, has missed only two morn- 
 insfs since I came here and these on account of his 
 
 FATHER WENDELIX'S CHURCH AT KAI.AUPAPA. 
 
 eyes — they are growing very weak — in fact, he has 
 but one now and that is much inflamed. One of his 
 ears is swollen to an enormous size and covered with 
 lumps of many colors; on his forehead ridges and 
 lumps, also on the face, hands and arms, and yet he is 
 very active and cheerful, one of the most powerful 
 men physically to be found, But I must now close. 
 
g8 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 this letter, as it is time to ring the bell and fix things 
 for five or six baptisms which the Father has in the 
 church. Very few seriously sick now — a calm after 
 the spell — losing about seventy-five last week." 
 
 The next letter, written in 1889, tells of the death 
 of Father Damien. " Father Damien's death has 
 thrown upon me much additional duty. Those of a 
 temporal character, that he performed so well, have 
 almost entirely fallen to me. Father Wendelin lives 
 at Kalaupapa, the other leper village, and comes here 
 occasionally. Father Conrardy lives here now, and 
 attends to all spiritual matters. 
 
 FATHER DAMIEX'S DEATH. 
 
 "^Mother Marianne, the Franciscan Sister from Syra- 
 cuse, Xew York, is in charge of the Girls' Home at 
 Kalaupapa. She has four other sisters with her. 
 She came a few months ago and is a great aid in the 
 Avork. Father Damien's grave is just beside the rock 
 part of the church, and almost under his old panda- 
 nus tree. We have a little flower garden around it, 
 and the grave itself is a mound of earth with numer- 
 ous plants growing over it. This letter is a patch- 
 work done at all sorts of odd times. In fact, what I 
 should have written before is of his death, for I am sure 
 that subject is of the most interest to you. Yet I 
 don't know that there is very much to say. He lay 
 for the last three weeks of his life unable to say ]\Iass, 
 much of the time quite helpless, and died April 15, 
 at 8 o'clock, the ^Monday after Palm Sunday. For 
 about a week I had encouraged him to expect a relief 
 on Palm Sunday, and at 11 o'clock that night he was 
 
Sandwich Islands. 99 
 
 nearly gone (as if he was trying to make my word 
 good), but rallied and held out until the following 
 morning. He was patient and resigned. Several 
 times, when we were alone, he asked me what day he 
 would die (I always said Palm Sunday), and wanted 
 me to move into his room and occupy it as soon as he 
 was gone. In the last period of three weeks the dis- 
 ease, thus far very pronounced in outward manifesta- 
 tion, alm.ost left the surface, retreating, or, I might 
 say, advancing to the interior for the last attack, and 
 ravaged in a fearful manner the throat, lungs and 
 stomach. May he rest in peace! 
 
 " The day before his death, I raised him up in bed 
 for the government physician to get a photograph. It 
 is the most striking picture I have seen of him. The 
 doctor has made some copies, and I send you one. 
 Applications to become inmates increase, so I am 
 making estimates for the enlargement of the estab- 
 lishment to get more dormitory space. Three years 
 ago to-day I landed here. July 26, 1886 — ^July 26, 
 1889." 
 
 A letter written in 1891 says: "The priests are 
 now restricted to ordinary parish work, so that, while 
 formerly all my work was under the direction of the 
 priest, now it is not; that is, the daily routine is com- 
 posed of duties under the Government Board of 
 Health. Certainly I do a great many things for the 
 mission outside of these regular duties, keeping some 
 of the accounts, looking after the church property, 
 etc. Am counted as a regular ' settler' — a 'Kokua. ' " 
 
 A letter written quite recently tells us of the many 
 improvements that are nearly finished; construction 
 
lOO Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 of a new house for the orphan boys, and for helpless 
 cases of all sorts, male; about twenty buildings; over 
 four thousand feet of walls and fencing; grading 
 grounds, constructing sewers, etc. Now that the 
 place is complete (about $10,000 cost), new responsi- 
 bilities are threatening. iVll this constitutes extra 
 work, as I still keep up my care of the sick, the 
 dressing of sores, etc., as I have for the past nine 
 years nearly; hence have had little time for writing. 
 The Board of Health want me to take charge, entire 
 control, with brothers from Belgium to assist. The 
 Bishop has consented." Thus, now and then, writes 
 this brave soldier of the cross, full of hope and ambi- 
 tion to do for the helpless of ^lolokai. " Greater love 
 than this no man hath, that he lay down his life for 
 another," 
 
 The following press dispatch appeared in the papers 
 of May 13. 1895: 
 
 Sax Fraxcisco, ]\Iay 13. — Bishop Gulstan Ropert 
 arrived in this city from Honolulu, en route to Rome, 
 where he is going to induce the Pope to send more 
 missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands to care for the 
 lepers. He will also visit France on the same mission. 
 With one thousand two hundred lepers on the island, 
 he says, the sight is too sickening to discuss. The 
 Bishop will visit the Brothers of ]\Iary at Dayton, O. 
 
 The writer, through the courtesy of the fathers at 
 St. Clary's Institute, Dayton, O., had the pleasure of 
 meeting Bishop Ropert the following Sunday eve- 
 ning. He is a charming character, simple as a child, 
 with all the marked suavity of the French race. He 
 speaks English with a Breton accent, and when he 
 
Sandwich Islands. lOl 
 
 grows interested is a most entertaining talker, espe- 
 cially when conversing about his "dear islands in the 
 Pacific." He is small of stature, iron-gray hair, 
 pleasing face, and evidently a hard worker. He is 
 fifty-five years of age, and has been on the islands for 
 twenty-eight years. 
 
 He was nine months reaching the scene of his 
 labors when he made the voyage from France in 1867. 
 Before his consecration he was pastor at Wailuku, 
 and established a parochial school for boys under the 
 care of the Brothers of IMary, from Dayton, O., and 
 also one for girls under charge of the Franciscan Sis- 
 ters, from Syracuse, N. Y. While pastor there, in 
 the words of one of the brothers, "he never tired." 
 When the Bishop was shown the press dispatch from 
 San Francisco concerning the object of his visit to 
 Europe, he enjoyed a hearty laugh when he reached 
 the words that ' ' he was going to Rome to induce the 
 Pope" to do certain things. He is simply going to 
 make his visit to the Holy Father — what is known 
 as ad limina. 
 
 While in Europe he will endeavor, and he thinks 
 successfully, to procure the services of some brothers 
 to take charge of the Leper Home for the boys and 
 men on the island of Molokai, thus enabling the 
 Franciscan Sisters already there to devote their entire 
 time to the lycper Home for girls and women on the 
 same island. The Government has requested this of 
 the Bishop, and as of late years the work has grown, 
 he is only too glad to comply. He says that the num- 
 ber of lepers is now one thousand two hundred — one 
 hundred in the Boys' Home, one hundred in the Girl's 
 
I02 
 
 Leprosy, and the Charily of the Chtirch. 
 
 Home, and the remaining one thousand scattered 
 about in the various houses in ' 'The Leper Settlement' ' 
 of INIolokai. The boys' home is called Kalawao; 
 the girls' home Kalaupapa. The Board of Health of 
 the islands has expended lately almost $10,000 at 
 Kalawao, putting up new buildings and adding to old 
 ones. Mr. Joseph Button, an American, and a con- 
 
 INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH AT KAI^AUPAPA. 
 
 vert, who has been there for nine years, has had 
 charge of the work. Since Father Damien's death, 
 the care of financial and material affairs has been in 
 his hands. The Board of Health wish at least four 
 brothers of the same order that Father Damien 
 belonged to, and have promised to pay their passage 
 from Belgium to the islands. The new home for men 
 and boys is to be a very complete affair in every way, 
 and shows that Father Damien's efforts to interest the 
 
Sandwich Islands. 103 
 
 Government in treating the lepers humanely and in 
 
 ^^v^^^ w^^ ^.x j.u±/, aiiu 111 1025 rope ivco Xil. sent 
 some of its members to preach the Gospel in the 
 islands of the Pacific, and there they have labored for 
 
104 Leprosy^ and the Charity of the Ch2irch. 
 
 the past seventy years. How appropriate that they 
 
 should have the care of lepers, the most malignant of 
 skin diseases, and tlnis again in this centurv fulfill 
 
Sandwich Islands. 105 
 
 the meaning of the name "Pic-pus" At present 
 there are on the islands thirty-five Catholic churches, 
 fifty-nine chapels, one college with five hundred and 
 six pupils, three academies and ten parochial schools, 
 with one thousand five hundred and fifty pupils. Last 
 year there were one thousand two hundred and thirty- 
 five infant baptisms and one hundred and sixty-eight 
 adult baptisms ; one hundred and forty-four marriages 
 and six hundred and ninety-six burials. 
 
 The Catholic population is about thirty-one thou- 
 sand, out of an entire population of ninety thousand. 
 Ninety per cent of the native population can read and 
 write, and most of this remarkable work is due to the 
 energy and zeal of Catholic priests, brothers and sis- 
 ters. The Brothers of Mary have over five hundred 
 pupils in their College of St. Louis, at Honolulu; the 
 Sisters of the Sacred Heart have over three hundred 
 and fifty at their boarding and day school in the same 
 city. The Franciscan Sisters from Syracuse, New 
 York, have a school at Wailuku, and also have charge 
 of the Government hospital at the same place. This 
 hospital does not receive lepers. They also have an 
 orphan home called " Kapiolani Home'' at Honolulu, 
 and a receiving station for lepers, or those suspected 
 to be, at Kalihi. 
 
 Besides these institutions, the Franciscan Sisters 
 also are at the Leper Settlements at Kalawao and 
 Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai. This was the 
 scene of Father Damien's labors and death — here are 
 the victims of that awful scourge, the leprosy. 
 
 BISHOP ROPERT RETURNS HOME. 
 
 Since the above was written, information has 
 
lo6 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Onirch. 
 
 readied us that Bishop Ropert was successful in his 
 European trip. Father Damien's brother, Father 
 Pamphile, has also gone to Molokai to take up the 
 work which his heroic brother laid down with his 
 
 THE REV. EATHER PAMPHII^E, vSS.CC. 
 
 life seven and a half years ago, a work which Robert 
 Louis Stevenson called "among the stumps and butts 
 of humanity. " Twice before Father Pamphile had 
 arranged to go to Molokai, but each time severe ill- 
 ness prevented. He is by no means a young man, 
 
Sandwich Islands. 
 
 107 
 
 thousfh he enters on his mission with all the ardor 
 of youth. He is now 58 years old, and for years had 
 been a professor at the University of Louvain, Bel- 
 gium. At present there are two priests and a num- 
 
 FATHER CONRARDY 
 
 ber of brothers and sisters engaged in carrying on the 
 great work commenced by Father Damien. Father 
 Conrard}', who spent some years at this leper settle- 
 ment, is at present in China, and the following letter 
 sent to one of the Jesuit Fathers of Detroit and pub- 
 lished in their Parish Bulletin tells of his work: 
 
io8 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 Mission Catholique, 
 
 Shanghai, China, July 7, 1896. 
 Dear Rev. Father in Christ: 
 
 Rev. Father Conrardi, the worthy successor of 
 Father Damien at the leper station of Molokai, is 
 acquainted at Detroit, where I think he spent some 
 time, or at least paid a visit, before his heroic visit to 
 the lepers. I remember having been shown by a 
 friend of his in Detroit a letter written by him from 
 his mission at Molokai. He has now, it seems, 
 undertaken the direction of leper missions all over 
 the world. I don't know whether he received the 
 charge from Rome, or was prompted to undertake it 
 by his own zeal and devotion. 
 
 He visited Macao in May in order to inspect the 
 leper stations of that colony. He found room for 
 improvement in certain particulars, and after repre- 
 senting the matter to ecclesiastical authorities, and 
 leaving instructions for proposed reforms, he promised 
 to return in two years. I hope to be back at Macao 
 before that time, and I may have the pleasure of 
 meeting him. 
 
 There are two leper stations at Macao, one for men 
 and one for women, on two separate islands, not far 
 from the city. Each station may have fifteen or 
 sixteen lepers. The stations were established by the 
 Portuguese government, which cares for their material 
 wants and does not entirely neglect their spiritual 
 welfare. A steam launch of the government is always 
 at the disposal of the clergy and of the good sisters, 
 when they desire to visit the unfortunate little 
 colonies. 
 
Sand-ivich Islands. 109 
 
 The lepers of Macao have no priest living with 
 them, for they are not so strictly secluded from com- 
 munication with the rest of the world as are the 
 lepers of Molokai. The reason for the difference is 
 that the Chinese have no unreasonable fear of the 
 dread disease, whereas, in the Sandwich Islands, I 
 was told at Honolulu, a single fresh case in the city 
 is almost enough to cause a panic. At Macao the 
 priest may pass freely between the city and the leper 
 islands, without exciting any fear and with no pre- 
 judicial consequences. 
 
 Formerly the leper women were kept in an apart- 
 ment adjoining the Chinese Church, separated by 
 only a glass casement, through which they could 
 hear mass. A few old women, indeed, are still left 
 there, but no fresh cases are to be placed there for 
 the future. 
 
 I have never visited the leper stations of IMacao, 
 and I don't know what improvements Father Conrardi 
 may have suggested. But for a person of his experi- 
 ence, it cannot be difficult to suggest reform for the 
 spiritual and temporal well-being of the poor creatures 
 to whom he has so nobly devoted his life. 
 
 Your reverence's devotedly in Christ, 
 
 William Hornsby, S. J. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE TRINIDAD I.EPER COLONY. 
 
 Molokai is not the only leprosy-stricken place 
 where the sons and daughters of the Church are wear- 
 ing out their lives in this sublime charity of taking 
 care of lepers, and this work would be incomplete 
 without a passing reference to another place in a dif- 
 ferent part of the world — the leper colony of Cocorite 
 on the island of Trinidad, one of the British West 
 Indies, off the northeast coast of Venezuela and oppo- 
 site the mouth of the Orinoco River of South Amer- 
 ica. This island was discovered by Columbus in 
 1498, occupied by the Spanish in the i6th century, 
 captured by the French in 1676, bat soon restored 
 and taken by the British in 1797. Before 1869, the 
 care of the lepers on this island was confided to negro 
 nurses of both sexes. This island is called ' ' The 
 Paradise of the Antilles" on account of its delight- 
 ful climate and picturesque scenery. Their cases 
 were most deplorable, their sores were so neglected 
 that deaths were numerous, and the government doc- 
 tor, after making his first visit, declined to enter the 
 lazaretto a second time, saying that it could be com- 
 pared to hell, and above its doors should be written, 
 " Leave hope behind, all ye who enter here." This 
 remark having come to the ears of the governor of 
 the island — a 'Protestant gentleman — he thought of 
 
The Trinidad Leper Colojiy. iii 
 
 appealing to the charity of the Catholic Church, and 
 hence called upon the Catholic Bishop of the Port of 
 Spain, Trinidad, who, with five Dominican friars, 
 was preaching the Gospel in this far-off land. The 
 English Governor explained matters to the Bishop, 
 who promised to write to France and obtain the ser- 
 vices of some Dominican Sisters. He succeeded, and 
 six sisters landed on the island in 1868. The Sister 
 Superior had been, when a child, under the direction 
 of the Venerable Cure D'Ars, and always said she 
 felt she v/ould die a martyr's death. She fell a 
 victim to yellow fever six months after her arrival 
 on the island. The band of sisters heard their first 
 Mass in the Rosary Chapel at Port of Spain, and 
 two days after their arrival began their work. They 
 found the hospital in a frightful condition. They 
 began the work of washing the lepers' sores at 3 
 o'clock on the afternoon of Good Friday. The day 
 and hour could not have been more appropriate, and 
 just as they had finished the work the physician was 
 announced. He had never seen a Catholic sister, 
 and was anxious to interview these "ladies from 
 Paris," as he called them. 
 
 He was amazed that they intended to stay, and 
 said that the place w^as a perfect hell. "Well!" 
 said the old sister, " we intend to stay, in hopes that 
 by remaining at the gates of hell with these poor 
 creatures, we may save some of them for heaven." I 
 am indebted for these facts to the "Rosary Maga- 
 zine," in whose columns some time since appeared an 
 extended account of this lazaretto, by an American 
 Catholic lady, who visited the island. She says 
 
112 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 that the doctor, now an old man, told her that when 
 listening to those heroic words he could hardly 
 refrain from falling on his knees and worshiping 
 these women. The sisters received a message from 
 the Governor that they were not to mention religion 
 to any of the non-Catholic patients. The writer tells 
 the following touching incident : One young man 
 about eighteen years old made his profession of faith 
 before all the authorities with charming frankness 
 and simplicity. The sisters told him that before 
 becoming a Catholic it was necessary to have the 
 Governor's permission. With admirable patience, 
 he waited until the Governor paid his quarterly visit, 
 when, requesting an interview, he fearlessly entered 
 the room. "Governor,'' he said, " I want to be a 
 Catholic. I have but a short time to live. I see peo- 
 ple die here every da}', and I want to die like the 
 Catholics." Two non-Catholic clergymen and 
 former prominent citizens of Trinidad were present, 
 as well as two of the sisters. One of the gentlemen 
 present stepped forward and asked : ' ' Who told you 
 to make this speech ? One of these ladies, I 
 presume,'' pointing to the sisters. "No," he said, 
 " these good women take care of what is left of my 
 poor body. They have never asked me to enter their 
 chapel ; it is my conscience, my heart," placing the 
 palm of his hand on his bosom. The fingers of both 
 hands had been eaten away by the disease and he had 
 to be fed b\- the sisters like a babe. "I\Iy heart," 
 said he, " keeps telling me to ask leave to die in the 
 same religion as these holy Vv-omen. Do, Governor, 
 grant my last wish." ''You are free to follow your 
 
The Trinidad Leper Colony. 113 
 
 own inclination," answered the Governor. "Oh! 
 thanks, good sir, I will pray for you here and when I 
 go to heaven." Thus goes on the great work. Some 
 sisters are carried away by yellow fever, some by lep- 
 rosy, but the work lives on and all classes of people 
 on the island praise and admire it. 
 
 These words concerning this work were written by 
 an English Protestant editor: " If the 19th century 
 has its honors, it also furnishes many examples which 
 v/ould have made the Apostles weep with joy. How 
 divine is this religion, which preserves such vigor 
 through a period of nearly two thousand years. The 
 world asks how these frail women can summon the 
 courage to live and die among such awful scenes. 
 This is a mystery to the world, but to them the solu- 
 tion is very simple. Under the exterior of those 
 leprosy-stricken bodies, they see souls and they know 
 that Jesus Christ loves the lepers." The reports of 
 the medical superintendent of the leper asylum at 
 Cocorite are painful reading at all times. We doubt, 
 however, says the "Catholic News," of Port of Spain, 
 whether anything is more calculated to stir painful 
 surprise than the passage in last year's report on the 
 subject of the accommodation of the sisters in charge 
 of the leper asylum. It amounts to nothing less than 
 a charge of inhumanity against the government in the 
 matter of their treatment of the heroic sisters who 
 play the part of ministering angels to the leper out- 
 casts of the colony. Following is the passage referred 
 to: 
 
 "Several members of the Legislative Council visited 
 the asylum in the course of the year to investigate the 
 
114 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 question of urgently needed increased accommodation 
 for the sisters of the new chapel. It is to be hoped 
 that as 6,000 pounds has been voted out of the con- 
 templated loan for additions, alterations, and repairs 
 at the asylum, the work will soon be put in hand. 
 The overcrowding in the sisters' quarters is most 
 serious. Some of their bedrooms are situated above 
 the storeroom, and as this room has to be used for 
 keeping the recently reaped vegetables, as well as 
 the ordinary stores, the mixed effluvia rising from the 
 fermenting mass and penetrating through the chinks 
 in the floors of the rooms above, can be better imagined 
 than described. 
 
 "Other bedrooms are over the chapel, and an odor 
 which even incense is powerless to subdue ascends 
 during a crowded service. The health of the sisters 
 is thus seriously endangered, and the necessity for an 
 infirmary in cases of illness among them is more and 
 more felt as their numbers increase. The proposed 
 erection of two new wards will entail the addition of 
 two more nurses to the staff. The asylum badly 
 wants painting throughout. No painting, except to 
 the new buildings, has been done for ten years to my 
 certain knowledge, and probably for a much longer 
 time. It would be economy to paint the buildings, 
 especially the older parts, which are beginning to 
 decay, and neatness and cleanliness would be greatly 
 promoted. ' ' 
 
 The following well-deserved tribute is also paid by 
 the government doctors to the sisters: 
 
 " It is impossible to describe in words the devotion 
 of the sisters, to whom falls all the more arduous 
 
The Trinidad Leper Colony. 115 
 
 work. Next month (April, 1893,) they celebrate their 
 twenty-fifth anniversary in Trinidad. Of the original 
 band of sisters only one survives — the dispenser — Sis- 
 ter Mary Augustine. During a period of twenty -five 
 years, she has only spent eight days outside the convent 
 wall — a record probably never approached in the his- 
 tory of leprosy. That she may long continue to adorn 
 the post she so worthily fills must be the wish of all 
 who have the privilege of her acquaintance. When 
 we remember the chaos which reigned at the leper 
 asylum twenty-five years ago, we may well say of her, 
 as of all the sisters of Cocorite, ' Si quaeris momi- 
 mentum^ circmnspice ' — ' if you seek their monument, 
 look around.' " 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 IN CANADA AND ICELAND. THE LAZARETTO IN NEW 
 
 BRUNSWICK. 
 
 The Sisters of St. Joseph, from Montreal, have 
 charge of the Government Hospital for lepers at 
 Tracadie, Gloucester County, New Brunswick. The 
 following was kindly sent in answer to a request for 
 information: 
 
 Lazaretto, 
 Hotel Dieu of St. Joseph, 
 
 Tracadie, N. B. 
 Rev. Iv. W. Mulhane, 
 
 Mt. Vernon, Ohio, U. S. A., May 31, 1896. 
 
 Rev'nd Monsieur: — In reply to your letter of the 
 24th inst. , I have the honor to say that we have only 
 twenty lepers now — thirteen men and seven women. 
 This lazaretto was established in 1844, and was con- 
 fided to our care in 1868. Our lazaretto is the only 
 one in Canada. 
 
 Soliciting the favor of your prayers, I have the 
 honor to be, with profound respect, 
 Rev'nd Monsieur, 
 
 Your humble servant. 
 Sister St. Jean de Goto, 
 
 Superioress. 
 
 IN ICELAND. 
 
 Father Sveinsson, the Jesuit missionary, writes that 
 
 leprosy is increasing in an alarming manner. In 
 
 1894, Copenhagen was horror-struck on hearing that 
 
 116 
 
In Canada and Iceland. 117 
 
 there were 50 lepers in Iceland. The Danish Govern- 
 ment at once sent out an expedition to Iceland under 
 the leadership of Dr. Bhlers to ascertain the extent of 
 the disease. He visited one third of the island and 
 found 149 cases of leprosy among the sparse popu- 
 lation. Last year, 1895, the commission renewed 
 their labors and made an official report, which declares 
 that there are several hundred cases, that the disease is 
 increasing, and suggesting a hospital in which to segre- 
 gate all victims. Under the direction of Bishop Euch, 
 Bishop of Denmark, Father Sveinsson, S. J. , is about 
 to build a lazaretto and is now collecting funds for 
 that purpose. Writing quite recently he says: " The 
 frightful misery of lepers abandoned in this land 
 of snows may well appeal to every tender heart. We 
 need not recommend the work; it commends itself to 
 all." Four sisters of the congregation of St. Joseph 
 of Chambry have gone to this country, who will 
 have care of the lepers. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 IX JAPAN. 
 
 In a letter just received, while compiling this book, 
 from Kumamoto, Province of Nagato, Japan — a letter 
 that was nearly two months in reaching its destination, 
 Father J. M, Corre, Missionary Apostolic, writes of 
 the awful scourge: " Of course there are many kinds 
 of sick. There are the adult sick and dying, and 
 there are little children who have not 3^et the use of 
 reason. There are the sick and dying in the hospitals, 
 the sick and dying in their homes, the sick and dying 
 who have no homes but are lying by the roadside or 
 in abandoned huts. These are the ordinary diseases 
 — dysenter}', small-pox, typhus, and cholera, the con- 
 tagious or epidemic diseases which so often desolate 
 Japan, but, above all, leprosy and syphilis, two evils 
 no less terrible. Close by Kumamoto, there is a 
 hamlet called Honmioji, the rendezvous of all kinds 
 of sick, especially of lepers, who gather hither from 
 all parts of the empire. The greater part of these 
 wretched creatures are outcasts forever from their 
 families. As the people of Kumamoto are very tolerant 
 in their regard, many end by establishing themselves 
 for good in the hamlet, where they form one of the 
 most pitiable collections of beings to be seen in the 
 whole world. The state of these wretches is really 
 terrible. They are piled one on top of the other in 
 
 li8 
 
In Japan. 
 
 119 
 
 miserable hovels belonging to other poor people, to 
 whom they pay about a fifth or two-fifths of a cent each, 
 daily for their lodging. In general, they have only 
 one garment, but what a garment ! 
 
 I have seen in one of these wretched holes a poor 
 mother who had no feet, scarcely any hands, and no 
 
 TWO JAPANESE I.EPERS. 
 
 other clothing than an old piece of rag, which scarcely 
 covered half of her shoulders. With her little naked 
 baby she strove to cover the rest of her person. 
 
 Those who can still walk, go about the city and 
 the country begging. The more skilful succeed on 
 good days in getting as much as three or four cents. 
 If they have not gone too far, they return in the even- 
 ing to Honmioji, and sleep in the hovels just de- 
 scribed. Some go a great distance and do not return 
 
120 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 for days or weeks. The villagers treat them with 
 considerable humanity, but they cannot get a lodging 
 anywhere; they have to sleep in the vestibule of a 
 temple, in a corner of a field, or in the forest on the 
 naked earth, or on a plank of wood. To cook the 
 few handfuls of rice which they have begged, they 
 carry a little saucepan, worth about four or five cents, 
 and prepare their poor meal far away from dwelling 
 houses, wherever they can find a bit of dry wood to 
 make a fire. Those who cannot walk, get themselves 
 carried or drag themselves to the wide avenue or the 
 steps leading to the pagoda, where from morning to 
 night they implore the charity of pilgrims and passers- 
 by. The maximum of their daily receipts is said to 
 be from two to three cents. But, often enough, 
 through fewness of visitors or other causes, they get 
 only a few centimes, sometimes nothing, and many of 
 these remain two or three days without eating. 
 
 As said above, they sleep in huts or common sheds. 
 But when their disease reaches a certain stage, they 
 exhale such an odor that they become insupportable 
 to their neighbors, and then they are expelled. From 
 this moment they no longer appear with the rest; 
 they sleep outside, abandoned by all, without mat or 
 cover, exposed to wind and rain, weeping, groaning, 
 sighing for death, which generally is not slow in com- 
 ing. Then nothing is left but to bury them. Four 
 or five of their campanions dig a pit. An old barrel 
 is bought, the corpse is thrown into it, and the whole 
 deposited in the ground, without priest or ceremonies. 
 A burial costs eighteen or twenty cents. But where 
 is the money to come from ? As I have said, some of 
 
hi Japan. 12 1 
 
 them have a little saucepan; this is sold. Each has 
 also a rag of clothing; of course this cannot be left in 
 . the bier, so it is sold, too, and may fetch eight or ten 
 cents. Then, there are, beside the hovels, dung- 
 heaps, which are regularly sold to poor farmers of the 
 neighborhood as manure, and the produce serves to 
 complete the cost of the funeral. 
 
 Some time ago I was desirous to ascertain the 
 history of a certain number of these wretched inhabi- 
 tants of Honmioji. Here are some of the details I 
 obtained : 
 
 I. — Furuya Ukichi, of the province of Nagato, 
 aged twenty-eight, a leper. Has three brothers, all 
 very wretched, who are unable to keep him. Has 
 been at Honmioji for two years. Came from home 
 penniless, begging on the way. If he gets better, 
 says he will return home. Adds that he has never 
 seen anybody cured since he came. Says that he 
 suffers very much in body, and that " his soul is very 
 sad." Whilst speaking big tears roll down his 
 cheeks which are all eaten away with leprosy. 
 
 2. — Uyeda Masuzo, province of lyo, aged thirty- 
 four. Has had leprosy since he was twenty-one, and 
 has been three years blind. Efforts were made to 
 cure him at home, and his parents have spent upon 
 him about $200, constituting their all. 
 
 3. — Ayuwara Otohe, of the same province, eighteen 
 years old; of poor family, who are quite unable to 
 attend to him. Has had leprosy only two years, but 
 is already frightfully disfigured. 
 
 4. — Fukuzawa Kanekichi, of Sagami province; 
 aged twenty-eight. Eldest of a poor family, whose 
 
122 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 support he has been. Has been a leper three years. 
 Thinks only of his parents, and wonders what they 
 now do to live. Sleeps in the woods, on the bare 
 earth, or on a stone. 
 
 5. — Chikaha Teru, town of Shimabara, a girl of 
 twenty-three years of age, has had leprosy three years. 
 Says her people were comfortably well off, but have 
 spent all on trying to get her cured. 
 
 6. — Kato ]\Iatazo, province of Tajima, aged thirty. 
 Has only his mother, who brought him herself to 
 Homnioji. Ashe can't walk, she goes about begging 
 for him. 
 
 7. — Nakamura Xami, of district of Akita, in Higo, 
 girl of twenty-two years of age. Has had leprosy 
 since she was fifteen; has no relations. 
 
 8. — Tanaka Rihe, province of Sanuki, aged thirty- 
 three. Has had leprosy for six years. Nobody can 
 remain near him on account of offensive odor, so he 
 sleeps in the open air. Cannot walk; often has noth- 
 ing to eat. Appears to long to die. 
 
 9. — ]\Iikado Ukichi, of Chikugo province, aged 
 twenty-five. Has had leprosy since age of twent}'- 
 two. Can walk a little, but cannot go beyond pre- 
 cints of pagoda; begs alms from pilgrims, eats when 
 he can, and sleeps outside. 
 
 10. — ]\Iatsubura Kanshichi, province of Sanuki, 
 aged eighteen. Can no longer walk, and sleeps out- 
 side. Seems discontented that he has ever been 
 created. 
 
 Here, then, are ten specimens of lepers, in honor 
 of the ten lepers of the Gospel. I think they will 
 suffice. From them you can form an idea of the rest. ' ' 
 
In Japan. 123 
 
 Father Corre is making heroic efforts to establish a 
 hospital or lazaretto at an expense of $8,000. He 
 .proposes to have nurses to go into the hospital and 
 private houses to visit and nurse the sick, instruct and 
 baptize them. 
 
 AT GOTEMBA. 
 
 The French missionaries have already established 
 a leprosy hospital in Japan. About six years ago a 
 Catholic missionary, Father Vestevuide, met in the 
 neighborhood of Fuji-Yama, commonly called by the 
 Japanese Fooseyama, a woman no more than thirty 
 years of age, attacked by lepros}^ Abandoned by her 
 husband and banished to an obscure hut, she was the 
 embodiment of misery. Her bed, a few logs of wood 
 covered with straw, her garments, scanty and ragged, 
 her food, a cup of rice; such was her condition. She 
 had, moreover, become blind. 
 
 The missionary pitied the poor soul, and longed to 
 help her. He knew, too, that near Fuji-Yama there 
 were many lepers. He had often encountered them 
 when on visits to his own parishioners. He deter- 
 mined to found a hospital. In response to his appeal 
 for aid the foreign residents of Tokio and Yokohama 
 gave generously. The countries beyond the sea, 
 especially France and Belgium, sent contributions. 
 Thanks to this liberality, the good father was able to 
 buy land, build several houses, and gather together a 
 small number of lepers. Others were added to the 
 original number, and when Father Vestevuide died, 
 three years ago, and left the work to Father Vigroux, 
 the number had reached thirty-five. At present there 
 
124 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Chzirch. 
 
 are eighty, which seems a large number for one hos- 
 pital, but still many remain uncared for. Certain 
 villages are overflowing with them. They have their 
 favorite quarters where they assemble. 
 
 "I have already made three journeys to Kusatsu, 
 where there are baths which restore a degree of health 
 to the poor lepers," writes Father Vigroux. "The 
 lepers are eager to come to Gotemba, but unhap- 
 pily I can take in no more at present. I hired a house 
 and left a catechist among them, and when I returned 
 eight lepers were ready for baptism. But if their 
 physical state is pitiable, not so their moral condition. 
 Those who become Christians are resigned and even 
 happy. About fifty are already baptized, or prepared 
 for that sacrament, and the later comers are studying 
 the doctrines." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IN MADAGASCAR. 
 
 A writer in the September (1895) number of " The 
 Messenger of the Sacred Heart," says in an article on 
 "The Madagascar Mission": "The treatment the 
 lepers receive to-day in Madagascar is about the same 
 which they formerly received in Europe, and which 
 is still meted out to the lepers of the East; that is to 
 say, the unfortunate victims of this frightful malady 
 are hunted from their homes and their villages, the 
 law strictly prohibiting any intercourse with them. 
 The greater number of them having lost the use of 
 some of their limbs, would be incapable of finding 
 food for themselves, did not the mission come to their 
 aid and build, almost without funds, a home for those 
 afflicted beings. A few miles from Tananarive stands 
 the asylum for these lepers. The first buildings 
 erected were but mere sheds, as the mission, with the 
 small sum of money at its disposal, could not afford 
 to provide any better. To-day, thanks to charitable 
 contributions, the new quarters are sufficiently com- 
 fortable. Two large structures, covered with tiles and 
 a white-washed building in the center, which serves 
 as a church, compose the buildings known as the 
 Leper House of St. Camillus at Ambahivoraka. " 
 
 A writer in the "Journal des Debats, " of Paris, 
 
 writes of this leper house as follows: "I visited the 
 
 Leper House one Sunday evening at the hour of 
 
 125 
 
126 
 
 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Ouirch. 
 
 devotions. Those among the lepers who were still 
 able to move had assembled in church, when they 
 were singing hymns. As leprosy is a well-known 
 
 disease, I shall not stop here to describe the dreadful 
 spectacle presented by these poor wretches, deprived 
 of one or several of their members, whose faces are 
 often one large wound, nor of the fetid odor which 
 
hi Madagascar. 127 
 
 exhaled from them. The men who devote them- 
 selves to the care of these repugnant beings, are cer- 
 tainly deserving of all our admiration, and it is but 
 just that we should give credit to the abnegation of 
 our missionaries, who were the first to think of put- 
 ting up this asylum, and who have had but one 
 thought since they began the good work, namely, 
 how best they might ameliorate the condition and 
 increase the comforts of these afflicted beings, with 
 the small sums at their disposal." Bishop Cazet, 
 Vicar-Apostolic of Madagascar, visited these lepers 
 and spent ten days among them. He writes: "I 
 arrived at the leper home on the morning of Decem- 
 ber 14. I had hardly arrived when some one came 
 to inform me that a Catholic had died the previous 
 day, and was about to be buried. I hastened to the 
 cabin where the corpse lay, to offer some prayers, 
 and here I found a large number of lepers reciting the 
 rosary for the departed. In the evening, all the 
 lepers assembled in the church. I was delighted at 
 the spirit with which they sang their hymns, and 
 especially at the way they recited their prayers. 
 
 "Sunday, December 15. — I baptized a little girl 
 two months and a half old. What a sickly little 
 creature! Already devoured by the disease. It will 
 not be long until she will be called hence to a better 
 world. — A few days after my departure I heard of her 
 death. 
 
 "Monday, December 16. — To-day, according to cus- 
 tom, the weekly allowance of rice came from Tanana- 
 rive, then Jean Marie, the chief of this little village, 
 gave to each a portion, 
 
128 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 "Wednesday, December i8. — Jean Marie came to 
 me and said : 'There are two women, whose condition 
 prevents them from ever going to church ; they would 
 very much like to see you.' 'Are they very ill?' I 
 asked. 'No,' he replied, 'but they are too infirm to 
 walk.' I went immediately to visit them in their 
 cabins. The feet of one of these women were entirely 
 devoured by leprosy; she could neither stand nor walk. 
 The other was bed-ridden. 
 
 "Friday, December 20. — Great distribution of 
 laniba.^ cotton cloth. Twice each year each leper 
 receives enough cloth to clothe him; five yards of 
 American stuff suffices for each one. One ought to 
 witness with what patience and interest they assist at 
 this distribution. For two hours they sat in lines, 
 the women on one side, the men on the other, while 
 the cloth was being cut in lengths. 
 
 "Sunday, December 22. — Closing of my mission. 
 Although Mass was not to be said until 9 o'clock, by 
 7 o'clock all the lepers had assembled in the chapel, 
 dressed in their new lamba. After Mass I baptized 
 thirty-nine adults and confirmed forty-nine persons 
 who had recently received baptism; eight of these 
 last also received their First Holy Communion. At 
 this leper-colony over a hundred lepers are fed, 
 clothed and lodged by the Mission. No less than 
 forty die yearly at this leper home alone." 
 
 A writer in the October (1895) number of "The 
 Sacred Heart Messenger," continuing the article on 
 "The Madagascar Mission," says: "Some months 
 ago, a hospital for lepers, like that of Imerina, was 
 established at Betsileo. Without beingr a larg^e or 
 
In Madagascar. 129 
 
 imposing structure, this hospital provides at least a 
 comfortable home for the poor lepers. It is a build- 
 ing sixty meters long, with a chapel in the center 
 and a pavilion at each end. There are twenty-eight 
 rooms, which can supply accommodations to about 
 sixty lepers. Not far from the asylum a little tem- 
 porary lodging has been erected for the use of the 
 chaplain and the infirmarian. It is built on a very 
 picturesque site. Already there are twenty-three 
 lepers in this establishment; it is capable of accom- 
 modating sixty, but the funds are low. At the wish 
 of the principal benefactors of the home, it has been 
 dedicated to St. Lawrence — hence the name, Saint 
 Lawrent de Marana^ 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 IX SOUTH a:\ierica. 
 
 In the United States of Colombia, South America, 
 there is a leper colony at Agua de Dios. The Rev. 
 ^Michael Unia, the leper-apostle of this colony, has 
 given up his life for the victims of this dread scourge. 
 He died last December at Turin, the headquarters of 
 the Salesian missionaries. On October 14 last he 
 left South America by order of his Superiors and doc- 
 tor. While attending the lepers he contracted a dis- 
 ease that it was certain would cause his death. In 
 fact when he started for Turin he was almost in a 
 dying state. His departure from his unfortunate peo- 
 ple caused him to grieve even more than the}'. They 
 loved the good man, for he went to them ready to lay 
 down his life for them. 
 
 Father IMichael Unia, or Don Unia, as he was 
 called, was in the prime of life at the time of his 
 death. He would have been forty-six years old had 
 he lived until December 18 last. Six years ago he 
 left Turin, the headquarters of the Salesian Mission- 
 aries, to labor in South America. The lazaretto of 
 Agua de Dois is about three days' march from Santa 
 Fe de Bogota. From the latter place in 1891 Don 
 Unia wrote to his Superior in Turin that he longed to 
 devote himself to the service of the lepers. A letter 
 written ten days later reports Don Unia already at the 
 
In South America. 131 
 
 lazaretto and feeling "quite happy." He describes 
 the rejoicing among the lepers at his coming, adding: 
 
 "As we drew near about a hundred little boys in 
 Sunday clothes and shining faces advanced with many 
 little banners flapping above their heads. These 
 were followed by white-robed little girls bearing 
 palms and flowers and singing hymns. It was a sim- 
 ple scene and yet so touching that it drew tears from 
 my eyes. But the sight soon changed for me when I 
 visited those lying in the lazaretto. God help them! 
 ■ — breathing carcasses in a long protracted putrefac- 
 tion. One without hands, another without arms, an- 
 other has no feet. Here is one whose flesh is drop- 
 ping off piecemeal, and in this awful condition they 
 drag out a miserable decade." Don Unia confesses 
 his " heart sank " at first. But as he found these af- 
 flicted beings brighten at his presence he felt that 
 " ghastly smile " a great reward for weakness over- 
 come ! 
 
 Though he was at the outset " stunned and stupe- 
 fied," the very misery of his terrible congregation 
 made the irresistible force of its appeal to him, and he 
 resolved more firmly than ever to live with and for 
 the lepers. Between infected and non-infected the 
 lepers numbered upward of 1,200 souls. He was the 
 only priest there. He looked after his 1,200 charges, 
 celebrated ]Mass, administered the Sacraments and con- 
 soled the poor tortured creatures by visiting them sev- 
 eral times a day. 
 
 ' * Taking everything into account, ' ' wrote the noble 
 priest. "I think work won't be wanting, so my life 
 will be a happy one," If he should become a leper, 
 
132 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 he added, and cease to be able to say Mass, he could 
 still confess and console the afflicted ones, though he 
 should be covered with ulcers. Meantime he always 
 declared himself "happy" — though the temperature 
 (86 to 95 degrees F.) was "unpleasantly high." "His 
 habitation," he said, "consists of a shed divided into 
 two little chambers and covered with palm leaves, 
 through which the rain passes beautifully; but, with 
 the burning heat one suffers, a little water will do no 
 harm. A fine little boy has been told off to attend to 
 my few wants. He brings me something to eat twice 
 a day, just as the crow used to do by the old hermit." 
 His oft-repeated expression was: " My lepers — my 
 poor lepers — that is my mission." Other Salesian 
 missionaries will continue the work among the lepers 
 of Agua de Dios. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IN INDIA AT MANGALORE. 
 
 Father Zauetta, S. J. , writes of this mission in the 
 April, 1896, number of the "Sacred Heart Messenger," 
 and among other things gives the following description 
 of St. Joseph's Leper Asylum at that place: "Of the 
 many maladies peculiar to the tropics, leprosy is, un- 
 doubtedly, one of the most frightful. One of its 
 species is not only most loathsome to the sight, but 
 also very noxious in its nature. It does not attack 
 merely the skin, but goes on gnawing to the very 
 bones. It makes its first appearance on the extrem- 
 ities of the body — the ears, the nose, the hands and 
 the feet — and often reduces its victims to a deformed 
 trunk with mutilated limbs, thus rendering them un- 
 able to help themselves in any way. Besides the great 
 physical sufferings, occasioned by this disease, and 
 the universal abhorrence in which they are held, they 
 have to endure the additional pang of life-long separ- 
 ation from kith and kin. In other places, the com- 
 passionate heart and the skillful hand of the Sisters 
 of various religious congregations have done all that 
 Christian charity could inspire them with, to alleviate 
 the sufferings and miseries of these unhappy human 
 beings. Our mission, too, though destitute of such 
 
 religious congregations devoted to such heroic works 
 
 133 
 
134 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 of mercy, could not altogether overlook the wretched 
 condition of these suffering members of Christ, so dear 
 to His Sacred Heart. A sad incident which happened 
 in 1883 hastened the adoption of some measures to 
 bring to these unfortunates what relief we could. 
 
 "In the month of August of that year a little cart 
 drawn by a small bullock, stopped before the gate 
 of our seminary. It was accompanied by two pagans 
 of good caste, who unable to provide separate lodg- 
 ings for their poor mother, already in an advanced 
 stage of leprosy, and hearing that we had an asylum 
 for the poor and sick, had brought her hither in a 
 cart. Having, as yet, no house destined to receive 
 lepers, we were under the painful necessity of telling 
 them to wait for a few days more, till a shelter could 
 be raised for her, at some distance from the dwellings. 
 It was for the first time that we were, to our great 
 sorrow, obliged to refuse admission to a pagan, that 
 sought it in our asylum. 
 
 "But before the completion of the hut, we received 
 the sad intelligence of her death without baptism; but 
 we had, in our grief, the consolation to learn that 
 grace had not knocked at her heart in vain, and that, 
 seeing her end fast approaching,she had sent for a Cath- 
 olic priest from the nearest parish, though, unfortu- 
 nately, none was at hand when the need was sorest. 
 We humbly hope that Almighty God accepted her 
 baptism of desire, and, in his infinite mercy, saved 
 her poor soul. 
 
 "A couple of months after this sad occurrence, an- 
 other leper sought admission into our asylum. Gladly 
 did we welcome him into the poor hut that had been 
 
In India — at Mangalore. 
 
 135 
 
 prepared, but alas ! too late for the other unfortunate 
 leper. 
 
 "This was the small beginning of St. Joseph's leper 
 asylum. As the lepers gradually increased in num- 
 
136 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Chtirck. 
 
 bers it became necessary to increase the accommoda- 
 tion also. But until a new building could be raised, 
 we utilized for this purpose a house with three suf- 
 ficiently large rooms, situated in a corner of our prem- 
 ises. As soon as our scanty resources permitted us, 
 we began to build a house for men, and, a little later 
 on, another for women, at a few yards' distance from 
 the first. On December 3, 1889, the two houses were 
 solemnly blessed, on which occasion, a short discourse 
 was delivered to the lepers and other neophytes that 
 had gathered around. Now that the poor creatures 
 were more comfortably lodged than before, we may 
 be said to have given a more regular shape to our 
 leper asylum. 
 
 "In front of these two houses there was a plot of 
 ground surrounded by a mud wall, where the inmates 
 could come out to enjoy themselves and breathe a lit- 
 tle fresh air. Here such as could do some work be- 
 gan to cultivate a few vegetables, while the children 
 attended to a small flower-garden. This work, while 
 it served to render their daily routine of life less mo- 
 notonous, also gave them a moderate and healthy ex- 
 ercise. 
 
 "The building of the two new houses, and the cost 
 of providing for the inmates, was a heavy strain upon 
 our slender resources. But the sight of these miser- 
 able creatures, dragging their ulcerous limbs along 
 the streets, had urged us to undertake the work of 
 sheltering them in a separate hospital. This was not 
 only an act of charity to the suffering themselves, but 
 also a favor to the general public, since, by so doing, 
 the spread of this frightful disease was to some extent 
 
In India — at Mangatore. 137 
 
 checked. So, confiding in the goodness of God, and re- 
 lying on the assistance of charitable persons, it was 
 determined to receive all those who should ask to be 
 housed here. Nor had we reason to repent of the 
 step we had taken, for God inspired generous souls to 
 come to our aid, and a number of gentlemen, besides 
 their usual subscription to our asylum, sent in special 
 contributions for the support of the lepers. The 
 Jesuit novices, too, who, during their customary pil- 
 grimages, begged alms for the lepers, one and all bore 
 testimony to the readiness with which all classes of 
 men responded to their appeal for help in behalf of 
 the lepers. 
 
 "In these new homes, the number of lepers went on 
 increasing steadily. There were represented among 
 them all the different stages of the malady, from the 
 surface blotches, insensible, even to the pricking of a 
 needle, to the most loathsome and ulcerous wounds, 
 with putrid matter and worms. It could not but 
 move one's heart with the tenderest compassion to 
 witness their sufferings and pain. From the com- 
 mencement of the Asylum at the close of the year 
 1883 till the beginning of 1889, altogether fifty lepers 
 had been received by us, and, at the last mentioned 
 period, there were actually twenty-one under our care. 
 This fact speaks favorably for the treatment they re- 
 ceived in the Asylum, as it is a well-known fact that 
 they prefer a roving to a sedentary life, and would 
 rather eke out a scanty livelihood in their own families 
 than be supported in a hospital. Occasionally, how- 
 ever, we went to considerable inconvenience in get- 
 ting them here, for we deemed our efforts repaid well 
 
138 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 if we could only separate them from the other mem- 
 bers of the family. 
 
 "The Director of the Asylum paid them regular vis- 
 its, to ascertain from them whether those in charge 
 
 GROUP OF MALE I.EPERS- INDIA. 
 
 did their duty, and whether they had any grievances 
 to complain of. The Brother Infirmarian daily vis- 
 ited each patient, and, as far as means permitted. 
 
In India — at Mangaloyr. 1 39 
 
 looked after the wants of each one. The Jesuit 
 scholastics and novices, who went regularly to teach 
 them catechism, as also the Fathers and Seminarists 
 who paid them occasional visits, tried to promote 
 among them the spirit of resignation and contentment 
 under suflFering. And they, on their part, gave us no 
 small compensation for our care and labors by their 
 piety and good behavior. 
 
 ''The earnestness with which most of the lepers 
 took up the practices of the Apostleship of Pra}"er, 
 deser\-es mention, as also their diligence in practising 
 the Treasur}- of the Sacred Heart. For this purpose 
 there was fixed in the wall a small tin box, with sev- 
 eral little compartments, in each of which the lepers 
 put every evening as many small grains as they had 
 performed acts of any particular virtue during the 
 day. This pious practice greatly ser^'cd to foster 
 among them the spirit of resignation, charity and self- 
 sacrifice. 
 
 "According to the goverment statistics of 1SS6, there 
 were 300 lepers in this district of South Canana; i.e.^ 
 one in every 3,000 inhabitants. But the proportion 
 must have been larger still — at least, so it was here, 
 in Mangalore, the chief town of the district. Xe\-er- 
 theless, till 18S6, neither the municipality nor the gov- 
 ernment had thought of opening a hospital to receive 
 them. In that year, the question of the increase of 
 the number of lepers, and the consequent danger to 
 the public, began to occupy the attention of some of the 
 members of the Town Council in ^langalore. Accord- 
 ingly, in June, 1886, one of the members, a Catholic, 
 wrote to the Director of the Asvluni askino- him 
 
140 Leprosy, atid the Charity of the Church. 
 
 he would (on the promise of a municipal grant for 
 their support) admit into our hospital the lepers of 
 the district, irrespective of caste or religion. 
 
 "The Director having accepted the proposal, the 
 question was brought forward and discussed in the 
 next sitting of the Council, which decided to con- 
 tribute at the rate of Ks 2]/2 (about sixty-five cents) 
 a month for each leper, for a number of inmates not 
 exceeding ten. This scanty pittance commenced 
 from December of the same year. At this point 
 other rivals appeared in the field. The Basel Mission, 
 Evangelical Protestants, who always stand in our 
 way, having come to hear of the arrangements of the 
 Town Council, were inflamed with a sudden zeal for 
 the welfare of these abandoned wretches, and burnt 
 with a desire of sharing with us in this work of char- 
 ity. They offered to open another hospital for them, 
 on the same conditions as ourselves, and the Munici- 
 pal Council accepted their proposal likewise. From 
 June, 1887, the allowance was cut down to half the 
 sum; i. <?. , thirty-two cents per head, being still sub- 
 ject to the above mentioned restriction — so that for 
 feeding eighteen persons, we received $3. 20, whereas 
 the Protestants obtained ^1.60 for supporting five 
 lepers. 
 
 "At the time when the civilized world was in admi- 
 ration at the generous charity and self-sacrifice of 
 Father Damien, and a deep sense of piety mingled 
 with a keen interest had been aroused in the hearts 
 of men for these castaways of humanity. Count Mattel 
 proved himself another benefactor of the human race, 
 and in particular, also of the lepers, though in another 
 
In India — at Mangalore. 141 
 
 line, viz.^ by inventing for the relief of the latter a 
 specific based upon the principles of what he termed 
 " Electro-Homceopathy. " For lack of subjects, how- 
 ever, he had not had the opportunity of putting its 
 virtue to the test in his own country of Italy. Rev. 
 Father ]\Iiiller, S.J., who had already opened a liomce- 
 opathic poor dispensary here, determined to give the 
 medicine a fair trial. This he did about the middle 
 of the year 1890, and, encouraged by the partial suc- 
 cess obtained in the case of a few patients, he under- 
 took to make the experiment on a larger scale, so as 
 to include all our lepers. To insure success, he ap- 
 plied to them the profits of the poor dispensar)-, mak- 
 ing up thereby what was wanting to a diet more suit- 
 able to their disease and to the treatment they were 
 to undergo. 
 
 "To enter into the details of the new treatment 
 would be foreign to our purpose. To carry out the 
 prescriptions exactly, it was necessary to engage the 
 services of some faithful ser\^ant. But as such a per- 
 son was not immediately available, on account of the 
 revolting nature of the duties to be performed, we 
 asked some of the most intelligent boys of our orphan- 
 age whether they were willing to undertake the work, 
 staying- a week by turns, in a small shed raised for the 
 purpose close to the hospital. They willingly ac- 
 ceded to the request, and continued to perform this 
 work of charity for a long time, till a grown-up per- 
 son was found to replace them. Each week two bovs 
 remained there from morning till evening, one to dis- 
 tribute the medicines, and the other to see that they 
 were duly taken. The rest of the day they spent in 
 
14^ Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 preparing the medicines, baths and the like. They 
 also used at times to relate or to read aloud edifying 
 stories to console and recreate their poor charges. It 
 is needless to say that we felt no small consolation at 
 these works of zeal and charit}-, seeing that the care 
 and labor bestowed upon the education of their chil- 
 dren but lately rescued from pagan superstition had 
 borne such good and abundant fruit. 
 
 A GROUP OF FEiIAI,E LEPERS —INDIA. 
 
 "The improvements introduced and the hope of a 
 cure under new treatment induced many more lepers 
 to seek shelter under our roof; their number soon 
 rose from twenty-one to forty. A new house became 
 necesf.an.- in addition to the two already existing, and 
 Father Miiller had it built. In a few months the 
 happy results of the treatment, on those who followed 
 it regularly, were clearly perceived. 
 
 ''That the lepers greatly benefited by the experi- 
 ment is undubitable; for, to the truth of it, we have 
 the willing testimony, not only of the patients them- 
 
hi India — at Mangalore. 143 
 
 selves, but that of many experts who, drawn either 
 by curiosity or charity, were frequent visitors at the 
 asylum. Of these, some were persons that occupied 
 the highest stations in the district, and who con- 
 fessed that the condition of the lepers was greatly 
 ameliorated since the introduction of the new specific. 
 
 FATHER MULLER AND A LITTLE LEPER. 
 
 "By this time the fame of the Mattel medicines began 
 to be noised abroad, and awakened in the lepers of 
 other parts of India a desire to undergo the treatment; 
 but, belonging as they do to some well-to-do families, 
 they could not be lodged in the same hospital with 
 the other lepers. In vain did Father Miiller look 
 out for another house, for some time. In this emer- 
 
144 Leprosy, ayid the Charity of the Church. 
 
 geticy, the good Carmelite Nuns came to the rescue 
 and put at his disposal a comfortable house belonging 
 to them, and conveniently situated just outside their 
 premises. It was their charity that urged them to 
 this step, though they knew well enough that, by so 
 doing, they practically surrendered for the future all 
 their rights to the house; for a dwelling once occu- 
 pied by a leper is considered no more habitable by 
 any respectable person — such is the universal dread 
 of the contagion of leprosy. 
 
 "Adjoining this property, there was another large 
 piece of ground, which was considered a splendid 
 site for a new hospital. With the approval of the 
 municipal authorities, he bought up the plot of 
 ground and set to work on it without delay. By the 
 end of February, 1892, the two houses, in which our 
 lepers were to live hereafter under the immediate 
 direction of Father Miiller, were ready to receive 
 their inmates, and on the first of March the shifting 
 took place. Here they are much better off as regards 
 accommodation, the extent of the premises, purity of 
 the atmosphere and healthy surroundings. We cannot 
 but rejoice with our lepers at this improvement of 
 their material condition; but it is a joy not unmixed 
 with sorrow, for it has been the cause of their separa- 
 tion from us. True it is that the very sight of some 
 newcomers is revolting and that their wretchedness 
 causes one instinctively to shrink from them, but we 
 have always found that under that loathsome exterior 
 there were often hearts capable of tender feelings and 
 noble sentiments. We have, however, the good for- 
 tune of still being entrusted with the spiritual care of 
 
In India — at Mayigalore. 145 
 
 their souls. The Jesuit scholastics continue teaching 
 them the Christian doctrine. This is due to the kind- 
 ness of Father Miiller, whose sphere of utility is so 
 widening every day as to preclude the possibility of 
 his attending to any other duties but those immedi- 
 ately connected with his present important undertak- 
 ings." 
 
 AT MANDALAY. 
 
 It is now five years since Father Wehinger, follow- 
 ing the example of Father Damien, consecrated his 
 life to the service of the lepers. The scene of the 
 labors of this heroic French priest, however, is not a 
 lonely island in the Pacific, but a crowded hospital 
 in Mandalay. By small grants from the Government 
 and the gifts of charitable persons in Burma he has 
 been able to undertake the care of 150 lepers. Father 
 Wehinger is happily not alone in his terrible work. 
 Father Matin and a French nursing sister, helped by 
 two Burmese female converts, have associated them- 
 selves, for him and for the love of God, to minister 
 to the sufferers. But to overtake the need efforts on 
 a larger scale are necessary, and Father Wehinger 
 has gone to England to ask for help. 
 
 "It is," he says, " to ensure the permanency of 
 this work, we have begun to increase its efficiency, to 
 enlarge its field of operation, that I come seeking 
 funds in Europe, that I appeal to the English peo- 
 ple. To them, above all, I appeal ; for in assuming 
 the government of Burma with it they assumed the 
 care of all sections of its population. And among 
 these the lepers, alas ! for very numbers sake, cannot 
 
146 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Church. 
 
 be forgotten. Incredible though it may sound, com- 
 petent authorities estimate them at thirty thousand, 
 and by none are they put at less than eighteen. 
 But mere numbers apart, which of all the sections of 
 the people of Burma has needs so generally acknowl- 
 edged, or, by its misery, can more effectually urge 
 them than do these lepers — who, moreover, are no 
 less the children of the Queen-Empress than any of 
 the afflicted dwelling nearer home, whose needs 
 being better known, are never forgotten? For this 
 reason, with especial confidence, I address myself to 
 all in this country ; nor do I come without encour- 
 agement. Gratefully do I acknowledge that my 
 chief help in Burma has come from English hands 
 and English purses. Still, this help has been, and 
 must be insufficient ; for resources in Burma are nar- 
 row and the rich are few. Arrived in England, how- 
 ever, I stand at a disadvantage. In Burma the lep- 
 ers' cause and the leper asylum, familiar to all, plead 
 for themselves ; here these are unknown, and m5^self 
 a stranger." An influential committee, which 
 includes the Duke of Norfolk, Eord Ripon, Lord 
 Dufferin, Lord Roberts and the Lord Mayor, has been 
 formed to promote the success of Father Wehinger's 
 appeal. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 IN LOUISIANA. 
 
 Four daughters of St. Vincent de Paul are in 
 charge of the " I^eper Colony," at Indian Camp, near 
 White Castle, Louisiana: Sister Beatrice, the superi- 
 oress, who came from lyowell, Mass., where she had 
 been in charge of a hospital for 22 years; Sister Anne, 
 who had been for 10 years in the wards of the New 
 Orleans Charity Hospital, and Sister Cyril and Sis- 
 ter Mary Thomas, who came from La Salle, Illinois. 
 The "New Orleans Picayune", under date of April 
 17, 1896, gives such a touching description of their 
 departure that I give portions of the article in these 
 pages. 
 
 "Bound for the leper land !" 
 
 ' 'There was a pause in the busy rush on the levee, 
 men gathered in hushed groups on the river bank, 
 and every hat was doffed as four dark-robed women 
 made their way through the expectant throng to the 
 landing of the Paul Tulane. 
 
 ' 'Who were they? Ah ! who can tell the identity of 
 the Sisters of Charity — those sweet, soft-voiced women 
 who move along the rough paths of the world, mak- 
 ing no louder noise than the rustle of an angel's 
 wings, with the light of heaven in their eyes and the 
 touch of the unseen world in their gentle hands. 
 
 "And these four nuns? They were heroines, every 
 
 147 
 
148 Leprosy, atid the Charity of the Church. 
 
 one of them, albeit they went so quietly on their way 
 yesterday afternoon, taking up with willing hands and 
 of their own volition a work at which the heart of the 
 strongest man might quail. It was the sunset hour, 
 the last rays lit up with an aureole of splendor the 
 big ships lying at their moorings, as the little group 
 of nuns swiftly stepped over the plankway of the Paul 
 Tulane, and again were heard in hushed whispers the 
 words which sealed their fate, 'They are bound for 
 leper land. ' 
 
 "Presently the four nuns were joined by Sister 
 Agnes, the veteran superioress of the corps of charity 
 hospital nurses, and Sister Mary Jane, the equally 
 heroic directress of the Louisiana Retreat. 
 
 "And in this trio of forces was at once represented 
 the most exalted and self-sacrificing devotion of the 
 Daughters of St. Vincent de Paul — the care of the 
 sick and insane and the outcast ones of the earth. 
 Since its organization the Sisters of Charity have had 
 the care of the New Orleans Charity Hospital and 
 the retreat for the insane; to these self-appointed 
 duties they have now taken up the care of the lepers, 
 those unhappy, God-forsaken people, whose pitiable 
 and unfortunate condition some four years ago, as 
 first revealed by the Picayune, roused the indignation 
 of the entire community and brought forth the 
 reforms in the leper management which have 
 redounded so much to the betterment of the condi- 
 tion of these suffering outcast ones, and which cul- 
 minated yesterday in the fruition of a cherished hope 
 — the placing of the lepers under the kind and watch- 
 ful care of the Sisters of Charity. 
 
hi Louisiana. I49 
 
 " Then as the hour drew nigh for the departure of 
 the steamer, with a full consciousness of the difficul- 
 ties and pains, deprivations and dangers of the life to 
 which they had pledged themselves, they boarded 
 the vessel, and here the Picayune reporter met them, 
 and almost the first words put to their brave leader. 
 Sister Beatrice, were these: 
 
 " ' Is there no feeling of hesitancy, now that the 
 critical moment has arrived and you must leave all 
 those associations which time has made so dear, to 
 take up your life among a sad, desolate and outcast 
 people ? Do you feel no fear ? ' 
 
 " ' Hesitancy? " she inquired, with an heroic chal- 
 lenge in her soft eyes. 'Why should a Sister of 
 Charity hesitate? Are we not pledged to a life of 
 self-sacrifice and devotion to humanit}- ? And asso- 
 ciations ? Dearer ties were broken long ago to follow 
 the voice that called from within to higher things — - 
 and ' — she faltered, ' you spoke of the sad and deso- 
 late ? An experience of twenty-two years in a charity 
 hospital has brought me face to face with so much 
 sorrow, so much suffering, that I think even in a 
 leper land no deeper chords of human woe could be 
 sounded. And fear? — fear,' she smiled, ' why should 
 we fear ? Is not God watching over the leper home, 
 and will He not take care of His children — we and 
 they, for they are our brothers — we are children of a 
 common Father.' 
 
 "'They!' there was a world of meaning in the 
 word; it brought up the picture of loathsome diseased 
 beings whom the world had shunned, and whom, for 
 fear of contagion, the law confines to a common iso- 
 
150 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Ch2irch. 
 
 lated home. And thither these brave women were 
 going — without a fear, without one tear of regret — 
 and they lovingly called them ' brothers. ' That 
 word struck the keynote of the line of duty they had 
 laid down for themselves. With such sentiments 
 animating their hearts, we who have worked and 
 prayed for the amelioration of the lepers' condition 
 may rest secure they are in safe and trusted hands, 
 and loving hearts have assumed this trust as a call 
 from above. And so it was as the reporter went from 
 sister to sister; every face wore a smile, every lip 
 echoed a joyous note; one would have thought they 
 were going to a pleasant reunion of home and friends, 
 so happy did they seem. And those from the various 
 houses of the Sisters of Charity in New Orleans who 
 had come to bid them good-bye had only one regret 
 — :that they were not going too — for when the cry 
 went up that the Sisters of Charity be asked to take 
 charge of the lepers, from every community came the 
 volunteer answer: 'I am ready and anxious to go.' 
 Those who were finally chosen were looked upon by 
 their sisters as privileged beings, for the more painful 
 and difficult the mission the more it is sought and 
 prized by these women who left, all to follow Christ. 
 " Mr. Joseph Reynes, Secretary of the Board of the 
 Lepers' Hospital, and Mr. Phelps, of the Board of Di- 
 rectors, were present to see the sisters off. Mr. Phelps 
 was very enthusiastic at the consummation of a much- 
 cherished plan. ' We will do better work now, and 
 it will not be long before we will have gathered in all 
 the lepers scattered throughout the State. There are 
 at least one hundred lepers in Louisiana — some hiding 
 
Ill Lo7cisiana. 15I 
 
 away where the law cannot find them. We have 
 thirty-one in the Indian camp; as soon as it becomes 
 known that the Sisters of Charity are actually there, 
 the others roaming at large will take confidence and 
 come into our retreat. The very name of the Sisters 
 of Charity implies confidence — and that is what we 
 need in our work. The board alone could not inspire 
 this. The Sisters of Charity can. We rejoice at our 
 success in getting such able members of the order. 
 The sisters will be in entire control in the household 
 management, and everything except prescribing for 
 the patients, for, of course, the resident physician 
 must attend to this. No! there is no danger of their 
 contracting the disease except by inoculation. But it 
 requires heroism to go, and the sisters have that — the 
 work requires love and devotion almost superhuman, 
 and the sisters have that, too. The board is de- 
 lighted, and in a short time we intend to go before the 
 lycgislature for a greater appropriation, and will have 
 the best kept leper home in the country. The sisters 
 will help the board to accomplish this.' 
 
 "At this juncture a large delegation of gentlemen 
 boarded the vessel and respectfully approached the 
 sisters. 
 
 " ' Oh, they are members of the press, I suppose,' 
 said Sister Beatrice. 
 
 " ' No, sister,' answered one, who for the moment 
 acted as spokesman for the delegation. ' We are only 
 a delegation of lay Catholic gentlemen, and we have 
 come to bid you God-speed in your mission.' 
 
 " ' Thank you,' answered the sister, deeply touched, 
 and then Sister Agnes and Sister Mary Jane, of the 
 
152 Leprosy, and the Charity of the Chicrch. 
 
 Charity Hospital and Louisiana Retreat, respectively, 
 came forward and presented the gentlemen to the de- 
 parting nuns. The delegation was largely composed 
 of members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and 
 the Society of the Holy Spirit and other prominent 
 laymen. 
 
 "And then the gong sounded, the gentlemen with- 
 drew, and quietly took up their position on the wharf 
 at the vessel's moorings. The delegation of nuns 
 who had come to bid God-speed to their sisters said to 
 each in turn as they pressed their hands, perhaps for 
 the last time, 'Good-bye. God bless you.' And 
 even then in this last leave-taking there was no shrink- 
 ing, no hesitancy ; they had taken up the work, they 
 would follow it to the end. Sister Agnes and Sister 
 Mary Jane remained on board to accompany the sis- 
 ters to their new home and see them installed. The 
 other sisters descended the stairway and took up their 
 places on the landing to watch the vessel steer away. 
 And then the last bell sounded, the ropes were hauled 
 in; and the Paul Tulane started toward its destina- 
 tion. With uncovered heads, silently, reverently, the 
 men ashore looked upward at the little band of Sisters 
 of Charity. They stood on the deck waving their 
 handkerchiefs smilingly at their sister group, who 
 looked with prayerful hearts, perhaps for the last 
 time, upon their retreating figures. Then a waving 
 of hats and handkerchiefs went up from the gentle- 
 men. It was something of the tribute that a hero re- 
 ceives when he goes forth with deathless courage to 
 battle to the end, and wrest victory in a cause that is 
 all but lost. And were they not heroines, those wo- 
 
171 Louisiana. 153 
 
 men that were going forth to battle in a hopeless 
 land? And the evening Angelus rung, while far in 
 the east gleamed the last lingering ray of the setting 
 sun. It rested like a parting benediction on the little 
 band of Sisters of Charity, and the last glimpse of 
 them was the smile on their faces as they turned their 
 eyes toward the leper land. 
 
 "Coming down Canal street, wrapped in many 
 thoughts, the reporter met Archbishop Janssens. 
 
 " 'Well, L have seen the Sisters of Charity depart- 
 ing for the leper settlement. Are they not heroines?' 
 said the reporter. 
 
 ' ' ' From your standpoint, yes, ' said the archbishop. 
 ' But not from the standpoint of the Sister of Charity. 
 The great act of heroism for her is when she makes 
 her vows; what follows afterward is merely the natural 
 consequence of those vows of obedience and self-sac- 
 rifice. These sisters who are going to the leper set- 
 tlement would disclaim the title of heroine; they are 
 working for the love of God. They see no heroism 
 in the self-sacrifice and devotion which they have 
 made the rule of their lives.' 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 Just as I am closing these pages, the following tel- 
 egram appears in the columns of the daily press : 
 
 I.EPROSY IN MONTREAL. 
 
 "Montreal, Sept. 30. — Leprosy in its worst 
 form exists in Montreal. Lee Tung, a Chinaman, 
 who died of a mysterious illness, has been found to 
 have been a victim of it. An inspection of all Chi- 
 nese boarding and lodging houses and stores has been 
 ordered. ' ' 
 
 Similar telegrams appear now and then which con- 
 clusively proves that leprosy is not some disease of 
 past ages or one that only thrives in far-away lands, 
 but is a dread, mysterious, loathsome monster, of 
 whose origin little is known, whose deadly grip sci- 
 ence has never yet been able to more than loosen for 
 a moment, but which has always afterward tightened 
 with a closeness which neither wit nor power nor 
 device of man has ever been able to relax, and where 
 shall the victims turn for help when stricken with 
 this "curse of God?" They must watch their life 
 slowly ebbing away, their bodies wasting away, piece 
 by piece, joint by joint, shunned by all, revolting to 
 sight and smell, from whom men fly in pitying hor- 
 ror, whose very shadow is avoided, whose name is 
 unclean ! unclean ! their lot is the most awful that 
 
Conclusion . 
 
 155 
 
 can be conceived. Of this world, yet denied associa- 
 tion with all but lepers like themselves, what an 
 awful curse ? But lo ! Christ's charity is not dead — 
 He lives again in the person of his sons and daugh- 
 ters, and the Gospel is fulfilled that the lepers are 
 cleansed — washed as to their bodily sores, purified as 
 to their souls with the sacraments of the Church. 
 Father Damien is dead, the sisters die one by one, 
 and yet the work goes on, the ranks fill up, recruited 
 from the great army of Christian soldiers onward 
 marching. Men and women die, priests, brothers 
 and sisters die, but as long as leprosy exists, God's 
 charity will touch with its coal of fire the hearts of 
 men and women, and they will nurse and console 
 and watch and clean and wash and bandage the lep- 
 ers, whether it be amid the islands of the balmy 
 South Sea, where the Pacific woos to sleep, or amid 
 the Indies, where the odor of lemon and orange and 
 date refresh, or amid the ice-bound coasts of Iceland 
 and New Brunswick, where dread winter holds per- 
 petual sway. 
 
 A.M.D.G.