The etiology of leprosy : a criticism of some current views / by P.S. Abraham.

  • Abraham, P. S. (Phineas Simon), 1847-1921.
Date:
[1889]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The etiology of leprosy : a criticism of some current views / by P.S. Abraham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    statements of lepers will appreciate the value of family history and in a country where leprosy is rampant are we sure that it can be shut out by four walls ? I repeat what I said in my last report, that an experiment of this kind, to be scientifically per- fect, must be performed in a country free from leprosy, and in an individual who has never left that country, and whose immediate ancestors have always stayed at home. Mr. C. Macnamara, then of Calcutta, discussing, in 1866, the Indian Reports on leprosy in an able article in the Indian Medical Gazette, stated, in addition to other arguments in favour of the view of its contagiousness : (1) A large proportion of the civil surgeons in this Presidency believe, from personal observa- tion, that the disease is contagious. (2) The instances quoted from this Report can only be explained by supposing the disease to be contagious. Any opinion, however, which was favourable to contagion prior to the year 1867 went for nothing ; for, in their celebrated and authoritative report of that year, the Royal College of Physicians of London made the sweeping statements, so often quoted, that:— The all but unanimous conviction of the most experienced observers in different parts of the world is quite op- posed to the belief that leprosy is contagious or communicable by proximity or contact with the diseased. The evidence de- rived from the experience of the attendants in leper asylums is especially conclusive on this point. The few instances that have been reported in a contrary sense either rest on imperfect observation, or they are recorded with so little attention to the necessary details as not to affect the above conclusion. More than 250 replies to the interrogatories of the College Committee had been received from medical men and others located in the various leper centres, and a large majority of these were undoubtedly in the negative with regard to the com- municability of leprosy from person to person. Some thirty-two or so, on the other hand, gave a more or less affirmative answer in reference to the question, and several qualified men actually cited cases in support of their views, e.g., amongst others, Dr. Aquart, of Grenada, Dr. Manget of British Guiana, Dr. Regnaud of Mauritius, Drs. Jackson and Harris, and Messrs. Macnamara and Rose, of India. On looking over the report, it is difficult to