Directory_and_Chronicle_1842 — Page 687

1842.

Report of the Medical Missionary Society.

665

and is very similar in many cases to the inflamed skin from a blister, before the cuticle is raised by the effusion of serum; in others it is smooth and shining. On pricking it, instead of any limpid fluid is- suing as might be supposed from its appearance, blood flows. The ears soon become swollen, thick, and permanently red; usually the affected part loses its sensibility, and if the disease advances, the hair falls off from the eyebrows and head, the tendons of the hand or feet contract, and the skin ulcerates and discharges a thin purulent secretion. In the worst cases there is sometimes much swelling of the extremities, with the toes or fingers ulcerated off. The distin- guishing characters of the leprosy is the thickened integument, the reddish hue, elevation of the patches, and its invariable tendency to spread. The children of leprous parents are at once recognized by the coarse thickened expansion of the features, a broad nose, large ears, and a dry shriveled skin on the arms and legs. The Chinese consider the disease to be a poisonous breath or wind that has entered the body, and profess to distinguish thirty-six kinds, but these include some forms of lichen psoriasis, scabies, and syphilis, and some mere varieties of the same disease.

The true leprosy is believed to be incurable. And although the quacks in their placards boast of their success, no intelligent person places the slightest confidence in what they affirm. In order to try the effect of remedies, I took three persons with this disease into the house. One was a young man, a student, who was brought to be cured of what is called hiue sien, or the bloody lichen, which in some respects resembles the leprosy, but it does not spread and is curable. The true nature of the disease was soon apparent, for the patch on his forehead spread to the eyebrows and nose, and soon the legs were similarly affected. The liq. arsenicalis was a long time administered, and topical applications, as the white precipitate of mercury, blue ointment, sulphur, chloruret of sulphur, &c., were used, and alterative medicines and saline aperients given internally, but all of no avail. A boy similarly diseased, was much benefited for a time by the above line of treatment, but the disease quickly returned, and was worse than before. Another man was taken in, but the other patients being certain of its nature, they all threatened to go home if he remained; of course he was dismissed, but every- thing he had touched was looked upon with suspicion, so strong is the aversion and dread of this disease. The use of remedies will be persevered in, with the hope that something may yet be discovered to lessen this evil.

XI NO XH

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