Not So Was The Leper And His Greatly Misunderstood And Feared
Disease Treated During The Middle Ages In Europe.
At that time the
leper was considered legally and politically dead.
He was placed in
a funeral procession and led to the church, where the burial service
was read over him by the officiating clergyman. Then a spadeful of
earth was dropped upon his chest and he was dead-living dead. While
this rigorous treatment was largely unnecessary, nevertheless, one
thing was learned by it. Leprosy was unknown in Europe until it was
introduced by the returning Crusaders, whereupon it spread slowly
until it had seized upon large numbers of the people. Obviously, it
was a disease that could be contracted by contact. It was a
contagion, and it was equally obvious that it could be eradicated by
segregation. Terrible and monstrous as was the treatment of the
leper in those days, the great lesson of segregation was learned.
By its means leprosy was stamped out.
And by the same means leprosy is even now decreasing in the Hawaiian
Islands. But the segregation of the lepers on Molokai is not the
horrible nightmare that has been so often exploited by YELLOW
writers. In the first place, the leper is not torn ruthlessly from
his family. When a suspect is discovered, he is invited by the
Board of Health to come to the Kalihi receiving station at Honolulu.
His fare and all expenses are paid for him. He is first passed upon
by microscopical examination by the bacteriologist of the Board of
Health. If the bacillus leprae is found, the patient is examined by
the Board of Examining Physicians, five in number. If found by them
to be a leper, he is so declared, which finding is later officially
confirmed by the Board of Health, and the leper is ordered straight
to Molokai. Furthermore, during the thorough trial that is given
his case, the patient has the right to be represented by a physician
whom he can select and employ for himself. Nor, after having been
declared a leper, is the patient immediately rushed off to Molokai.
He is given ample time, weeks, and even months, sometimes, during
which he stays at Kalihi and winds up or arranges all his business
affairs. At Molokai, in turn, he may be visited by his relatives,
business agents, etc., though they are not permitted to eat and
sleep in his house. Visitors' houses, kept "clean," are maintained
for this purpose.
I saw an illustration of the thorough trial given the suspect, when
I visited Kalihi with Mr. Pinkham, president of the Board of Health.
The suspect was an Hawaiian, seventy years of age, who for thirty-
four years had worked in Honolulu as a pressman in a printing
office. The bacteriologist had decided that he was a leper, the
Examining Board had been unable to make up its mind, and that day
all had come out to Kalihi to make another examination.
When at Molokai, the declared leper has the privilege of re-
examination, and patients are continually coming back to Honolulu
for that purpose.
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