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inception, at which period it may easily be confounded with many other diseases of the eye; throughout the second period, during which it presents certain well defined symptoms, and in its final stages, when the characteristics are so marked as to leave no room for doubt even in the mind of a non-medical observer who has ever seen a single case.
This concatenation of circumstances has caused Dr. Valenzuela to become exceptionally competent in the diagnosis of trachoma, enabling him to recognize the disease in its earliest stages and to differentiate it with certainty from all others which more or less closely resemble it at this period.
It is for this reason that on his first visit of inspection to the ships, he was able to separate those immigrants in whom signs of the disease were well established, although it had not yet reached its final stages. The thorough knowledge of trachoma which he possesses, led him to place under observation in the barracks those sick persons in whose cases the disease, being just at its commencement, might be mistaken for other affections of the visual organs. Dr. Valenzuela has never been a pupil of Dr. Grone.
Now that mention of this gentleman has been made I propose to clear up a point which has been made use of by the complainants in support of their objections to our action.
Dr. Grone is one of the assistants of Dr. Jordan, the Medical Officer of the Port of Hongkong. Dr. Grone caused himself to be appointed Delegate of the (Mexican) Superior Board of Health in Hongkong by our Consul at that place, in order, under that character, to exploit the Chinese immigrants, from whom he was in the habit of collecting a fee of ten dollars for the issue of a Health Certificate.
The Mexican Consul has no authority to appoint Medical Delegates. This is a power which, in Mexico, is vested exclusively in the President of the Republic, and any such appointment which has not been made by him is an altogether illegal one, and the Government are not obliged, nor can they be obliged to sanction the appointment of one of his employees by an official, whomsoever he may be, who is not empowered.
has empowered
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