A TEKRIBLK DISEASE AND A TOUCHING EOMANCE.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 10 June 1881, Page 2

A TEKRIBLK DISEASE AND A TOUCHING EOMANCE.

« . Much excitement (.*ays the ' Liverpool Journal ') has been caused in London by a letter received from Dr. James Murphy, a physician of great rei nown at San Francisco, adressed to one of the chief physicians of St. ! Thomas' Hospital, warning bimofaterrible discovery just made of the spread of leprosy amongst the whites of California, The horrible disease is well known to have existed for a long ■time among the Chinese immigrants but has been until now confined to the Chinese quarter of the town habited byi Chiuese people. No notice had ever been taken of its existence, it having been considered, until now, an exclusively Mongolian disease ; but at length it has attackei the white population of San Fraucisco, and Dr, Murphy declares that so rapidly has it spread that in the space of two weeks on less than sixteen patients had applied to him for relief from this inexpresssibly loathsome disea?e. ' All of; these cases/ says the doctor's re* port, ' were incurable.' No question but that the Cliiucse ar.3 bringing leprosy to our shores. The d : sease may be propagated in four w.iys — By unrriage with the leprous, by hsredi-

lary transmission, by iimcul^'i^n, an<l close iutimiey. Those per sous so nffl'cted contaminate t lie water in which they bailie, tiio beds on which they sleep, au<l everything they touch. There is also the possibility of con* tracting the disease by inhaling the exhalations from the bo.ly of a leper.' The doctor earnestly implores of all medical men to investigate with the greatest minuteness for all symptoms presenting similitude to those which characterise the first absorption of the disease, and above all to examine the passengers on board the ships arriving from the Placific coast, ns a vast number of Chinese immigrants in whom leprosy had appeared, sent back from San Francisco to China, had contrived to get to tbe Pacific, whence they had taken passage for Europe, as any place appears to a Chinese better than bis own country <vhen once be has quitted it. A sad case is quoted by the doctor. A young German had caugbt the infection from the Chinese porter employed in tbe warehouse where be was eDgaged as book-keeper. How be bad become infected is not known, a? be declared thafe be had never to bis knowledge come into contact with the porter. It can only be supposed that it must have been caught by handling tbe bags of coffee sampler deposited by the leper upon the counter. After a certain treatment at tbe hospital, tbe patient was discharged, relieved in some measure but pronourced incurable. Some little while after bis discharge the young man came to the doctor to ask him if he might marry. His history was romantic. He had left his native place Bremen, to seek a fortune sufficient to return and wed bis fiance, who had waited for him faithfully. He bad written to tell of the woeful affliction wbch bad befallen him and releasing her from ber engagement, but received no letter of condolence for his misfortune or of regret at tbe release be had accorded her. In consideration of tbe distressing circumstances in which he wa3 placed he had been completely borne down by tbe sorrow thus imposed upon him, when one day after waiting in suspense, he was thunderstruck at beholding his sweetheart enter tbe 1 >dgings to which he had been con« fined, in the outskirts of San Francisco, Falling upon his neck and bathed in. tears she d?clared that so far from wishing to break off her allegiance she only loved him all the more for what he was enduring. An uncle of hers had died and left her a consider* able sum which would enable them to live in retirement until be was cured — which she felt quite sure he scon would be — with her good nursing. Alas ! the poor young man, who did marry the faithful girl in spite of the doctor's warning has communicated the leprosy to bis wife, who from a fresh, blooming, healthy, country German frau, has become hide** ous to look upon.