The sanitary progress and vital statistics of Hawaii / by Frederick L. Hoffmann.

  • Hoffman, Frederick L. (Frederick Ludwig), 1865-1946.
Date:
[1916]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The sanitary progress and vital statistics of Hawaii / by Frederick L. Hoffmann. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    far in claiming for these and other islands of the Pacific an absolute immunity from the disease. The view was probably based upon an imperfect understanding of the topography, or, in any event, the conclusions were arrived at before the extensive introduction of rice and taro planting in low-lying, overflowed areas, best shown upon the maps appended to the annual report of the Governor for 1906. The introduction of tuberculosis, and its rapid spread among the native races of the Southern Pacific, according to numerous authorities, dates from the time of the settlement by the Europeans, when the natives were induced “to make considerable changes in their mode of life.” Previously to contact with Europeans, according to the “Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition,” 1838-42, “the prac¬ tice of medicine was not known in Hawaii in ancient times. They had then no physicians, and the only medical treatment, if such it may be called, was, when they had eaten too heartily of food, to drink sea¬ water in large quantities, to produce a cathartic effect.” They also appear to have practiced massaging to a considerable extent, consisting of the kneading of the flesh with their hands in cases of fatigue, over¬ eating and pains. This practice continued for many years. By this time the decrease in the native population was becoming quite notice¬ able, and in the narrative referred to mention is made of the fact that the venereal infection “brought to these islands by the first voyagers may now be said to pervade the whole population and has reduced the natives to a morbid, sickly state; many of the women are incapable of child-bearing, and of the children who are born only a few live to come to maturity.” The earlier writers frequently make mention of the injurious results of overeating, and the common occurrence of diarrhea, dysentery, inflammation of the viscera, and cutaneous eruptions. With reference to the population of a district on the island of Kauai, it is observed that “immoderate eating and fasting, living in damp huts, long exposure in the water, and sleeping on the ground, are all assigned as causes for the many sick and weak among the natives.” All authorities are agreed that at the time of the first visit of the Europeans, and for many years thereafter, the native Hawaiians were physically of a distinctly superior type. Featherman, in his work on Oceano-Melanesians, points out that “the physical constitution of the ancient Hawaiians, especially of the superior classes, had reached a high degree of development. They were generally above medium stature, and some of the chiefs were over six feet high, remarkably stout and sometimes even corpulent. They were generally well formed, had fine, muscular limbs and small feet, and they were not