CURE OF LEPROSY

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 253, 24 September 1929, Page 2

CURE OF LEPROSY

INVALUABLE WORK BY MISSION.

ADDRESS BY DOMINION SECRETARY. The Mission to Lepers is now working at 100 stations in fifteen different countries, mainly in India and the Far East. In its own 48 homes and 30 aided institutions there are 10,500 lepers, and upwards of 800 healthy children; all these need constant support and Christian care. The wonder! ul work that is being carried out amongst these sufferers was graphically described last evening at the Baptist Church, where Rev.. F. A. Crawshaw, the New Zealand secretary to the mission, gave a lantern lecture illustrating the operations of a mission that is now working in co-operation with 37 Protestant missionary societies —British, American and European. In his introductory remarks Mr Crawshaw stated that the mission was inter-denominational and international. When the mission was founded in 1874, its work was confined to India, but chiefly through the noble work of Wellesly C. Bailey, the founder, it had enlarged its activities, and now carried on its work in eight tropical countries from no less than 100 stations. The mission provided shelter, food, clothing and looked after the spiritual needs of the lepers, in addition to giving them the very best medical treatment. Marvellous results had been obtained with a very recent treatment. For many years it had been realised that the oil from the ripe fruit, of the chaulmoogra tree was proving beneficial to lepers. When taken by the mouth this oil often caused sickness and vomiting, and, therefore, large doses could not be given. It had been found that, if the oil were injected, provided it was pure and sterile, it neither caused pain nor sickness. It was most benevcial if mixed with creosote to the extent of four per cent, of creosote. The injections were given by a method called subcutaneous infiltration or intramuscularly, twice a week, commencing with small doses and gradually increasing the dose, whilst a careiul watch was kept for reactions. A disease such as leprosy, which took a long time to manifest itself and develop, would take in the majority of cases a long time to clear up. The treatment seldom lasted under six months and sometimes extended over a period / of six years. The cost of the injection treatment alone was £1 per leper per annum. During last year the mission had, in India alone, discharged 312 natives free from all signs of the disease. The origin of the disease lay in the mist of antiquity, and from time immemorial it had struck terror into the hearts of men. With his hooded gown and wooden clappers, the leper had been a common sight in Western Europe in the Middle Ages. To-day, however, the most densely affected areas of the world were the equatorial belt from West to East Africa, China. Japan, India and South America. In Russia there were small foci of the disease, and in the Baltic States of Esthonia, Latvia and Lithuania the disease was endemic, as it was in a few scattered areas of the Italian and French Alps. The total number of lepers in the world had been estimated at 3,000,000. Mr Crawshaw went on to state that the mission had no less than 10,600 lepers in its stations at the present time. Leprosy had been proved to be non-hereditary, and tho need of saving the children of lepers from contracting the disease was an urgent one. Four pounds sterling -were needed to support each child, and £5 for each adult. And. for the relief of these victims of the patriarch of disease the speaker made a strong appeal. Leprosy was essentially a disease of the unhealthy. The bacillus might be introduced into the body in many ways, such 'as through cuts and abrasions of the skin and the lining membrane of the nose; infection by swallowing the bacilli in food or water played no very small part in the transmission of the disease. If the bacilli entered the body and the conditions were favourable, they began to increase; if not, they were either killed or else hid in some lymphatic gland, or other tissue space, until the conditions became more suitable and then multiplied. It was this property of being able to lie latent in the body that accounted for the varying incubation period of the disease; that period might be anything from three months to twenty years or more, the average being from two to three years. The new treatment of leprosy opened up great fields for missionary endeavour, for the early leper, if treated and sent out whole in body and saved by the Grace of God, could_ be one of the most powerful evangelistic forces in the world, reaching people and lands beyond the sphere of missionary influence. It would take decades bo rid a country such as India of the dread plague, but tho day when the disease would be brought completely under control had sufely dawned. In conclusion Mr Crawshaw stated that owing to the large number of cures now being effected the stations had attracted so many lepers that they were becoming overcroivded. Rev. Mr Matthews introduced Mr Crawshaw before the commencement of the lecture, and Mr A. E. Whitehead voiced the general appreciation of the congregation at its conclusions A prayer was recited by Rev. Ford Carlisle.