1446 THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 2ND SEPTEMBER, 1899.
Very interesting observations have been brought forward in connection with the elimination of the bacilli in large quantities by means of the skin and the nasal and buccal mucous membranes of lepers; it is desired that such observations be confirmed where opportunities occur.
The question is of very great importance to those who are entrusted with the care of the public.
health, as leprosy is now acknowledged to be a contagious disease.
Every leper is a danger to his surroundings, the danger varying with the nature and extent of his relations therewith, and also with the sanitary conditions under which he lives.
Although among the lower classes, every leper is especially dangerous to his family and fellow workers, cases of leprosy frequently appear in the higher social circles.
The theory of heredity of leprosy is now further shown to have lost ground, in comparison with the at present generally accepted theory of its contagiousness.
The treatment of leprosy has only had palliative results up to the present time.
Serum therapy has so far been unsuccessful.
In view of the virtual incurability of leprosy and the serious and detrimental effects which its existence in a community causes, and considering the good results which have followed the adoption of legal measures of isolation in Norway, the Leprosy Conference, as a logical issue of the theory that the disease is contagious, has adopted the following resolution proposed by Dr. Hansen and amended by Dr. Besnier.
1. In such countries, where leprosy forms foci or has a great extension, we have in isolation
the best means of preventing the spread of the disease.
2. The system of obligatory notification, of observation and isolation as carried out in Norway, is recommended to all nations with local self-government and a sufficient number of pyhsicians.
3. It should be left to the legal authorities after consultation with the medical authorities to take such measures as are applicable to the special social conditions of the districts.
Secretaries of the Conference.
ED. ARNING, Hamburg.
PHIX. S. ABRAHAM, London.
A. VON BERGMANN, Riga.
J. J. KINYOUN, Washington.
E. DUBOIS-HAVENITII, Bruxelles. G. THIBIERGE, Paris.
EDV. EHLERS, Copenhagen, General Secretary.
ENCLOSURE No. 2.
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.
LEPROSY COMMITTEE REPORT.
Committee appointed by the College, October 27th, 1898, to consider the following Communication from the Colonial Office :-
SIR,
Downing Street,
25th October, 1898.
With reference to your letter of the 16th of August, 1887, communicating to this Department the opinion of the Royal College of Physicians on the subject of Leprosy, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to request you to be good enough to move the College to consider and report whether, in view of the Report of the Conference on Leprosy held at Berlin in October of last year, they have found reason materially to change their previously expressed opinions, or to modify the advice which they have given to the Secretary of State, either as regards the question of segregating lepers, or on any other point which is of practical importance in the regulation of the disease in Colonies where Leprosy is endemic.
The Registrar to the
Royal College of Physicians.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
C. P. LUCAS.
Members of the Committee.
DR. HERON,
SIR DYCE DUCKWORTH, M.D.
DR. ROBERT LIVEING.
DR. PAYNE.
DR. HEBB.
DR. JOHN Anderson.