IMMIGRATION.—No. II.

Evening Star, Issue 3198, 21 May 1873, Page 3

IMMIGRATION.— No. 11.

To the Editor.

Sib, —There were two points with regard to the selection of immigrants, which I omitted to notice in my first letter —one is a suggestion •which I have to make as *to their medical examination in the district wdiere they reside. It is obviously of the utmost importance that this preliminary examination should be thorough and complete, so that there shall be as few as possible to send back at a subsequent stage. There ought, therefore, in my opinion, to be two test questions, to which the country medical examiner should be required to give distinct and unquivocal affirmative replies, before any person is received as an immigrant at the expense of the Colony. The first is : “ Do you think that A. B. is in such a state of health as to, be’ able fo do the ordinary out-door. yrork of a laboring man without breaking down”? And the second should be accompanied by a copy of the dietary used on board ship, and should be to this effect: “ Do you think that A. B. and all the members of his family are able to live on such a dietary as the accompanying during a four months’ voyage, without detriment to their health”? Of the two I think the latter the more important. I am certain that persons in any stage of consumption except the earliest are most seriously injured by a long vyyage as steerage passengers! Many of the emigrants in the Charlotte Gladstone professed not to know that their only meat diet would be salt and preserved meats, and there is no doubt that many of them suffered very much from the want of fresh meat. Nevertheless the diet is good and ample, and though there may be some slight improvements effected in it, such as a larger supply of preserved meat, yet it is quit? evident that it is not possibly to give steerage passengers" fresff meat for a long voyage nke that from Britain ’to Australia or New Zealand ; and people of sound constitution and in good health do very well Ofl the regufaliori dietary. I n\ay state, too, that the New Zealand scale is somewhat bettor than that required by the Act of Parliament. And now for another iroint, to which my attention was directed by the perusal of a paragraph in the Lancet of January 4 last. The paragraph states that in the New South Wales Medical Gazette there is an article by a medical man of that Colony on leprosy in the Colony, in which he asserts that he has found no less than six cases of leprosy among the children of persons of pure European blood. It immediately occurred to me that this Colony receives a large number of immigrants from two nations among whom leprosy commits frightful ravages —the Chinese and the Norwegians. It may not be generally known that Norway is now Ihp only country in Europe where leprosy largely prevails. Whole districts on the 96a coast of that country are inhabited by lepers and their families, and so fearful is the amount of disease among them that the Government takes special measures for their treatment. The best book on the subject of leprosy is that written by Drs Daniellsen and Boeck—two Norwegian physicians. , . r This frighful disease excites an amount or hoi Tor when it is prevalent, of which none but those who have lived in such countries .can form any idea. It combines all the worst feai turcs of cancer and consumption' It is hereditary, and, I believe, inoculable. At any rate, it i can be traced in several places to the introduction of persons from other parts of the woijd, who were suffering from the disease. In Surinam its introduction is within the memory of persons living ; and I have a work by a physician of that Colony, in which he proves clearly, to my mind, that the disease can bo communicated from the sick to the healthy, I would

not horrify your readers by a full description of the malady ; but I may just s'.ato that it commences in the most insidious manner: by a few red blotches, generally on the face or hands, which become after a while insensible, increase in number and size, ulcerate, &c., and ultimately, after a lengthened illness, destroys life in the most horrible way. The unfortunate victim of the disease is an object of horror to even bis dearest friends, and is often for years such a hideous object that he has to be kept isolated from all society.

This disease is spreading so rapidly in the East and West Indies, that it has been made for some years past the subject of official investigation by tho Colonial Office. In 1863 the Secretary of State requested the College of Physicians of London to draw up a scries of questions as to the causes, nature, nnd symptoms of the disease, which were sent to all our Colonies and to our Consuls in foreign countries where the disease prevails. The replies to these queries form a large blue book wnich was laid before Parliament in 1866. In 18(58 I was sent by the Governor of Trinidad to investigate a reported case of leprosy in Venezuela. I had been previously Visiting Physician to the Leper Asylum there, aud had re-organised the establishment. I was, therefore, well acquainted with the disease, and knew tho utter hopelessness of all -kinds of treatment. My report on this cure was communicated to the College of Physicians, and at their suggestion the Secretary'' of State requested me to make a second visit to Venezuela, and a further report ou the cases treated. In consequence of the facts disclosed in my first report, the French Government also sent a physician to Venezuela, and the discoverer of of tho treatment, Dr Bcauperthuy, showed us all his method. We each made a report to our respective Governments, and mine was laid before Parliament in the form of a blue book. Since then Dr Gavin Milroy has been sent out to make further reports on tho whole subject. His reports have not yet, I believe, been printed. But the Colony of Demerara, on the strength of my reports, engaged Dr Beauperthuy, at a large salary, to go over there and undertake the treatment of forty cases at their Leper Hospital. Soon after he commenced the treatment he died of apoplexy. I mention these facts to show what a serious question tliis is. The extension of our Empire, and tho means of rapid communication with Europe, have re-introduced this disease into England, where it had been extinct for ages. I have seen the most shocking cases among people of pure white blood. When I was at Home on leave in 1870, I was called in to see two young ladies, daughters of English people, who were in the last stage of leprosy. One was bom in the West, and the other in tho Ea<t Indies. Another case that I treated for a time was the son of an Indian general officer. His mother, who was the daughter of an English officer, bom in India, was also a leper. I know numbers of white families in tho West Indies who are tainted by this disease. The consequence is, that no one, unless they belong to families similarly tainted, wiil marry any member of them. Such is the horror entertained of leprosy that, during the recent epidemic of small-pox in ‘'rinidad, although at one time it was very difficult to obtain vaccine, no one would be vaccinated, or allow their children to be vaccinated from any person related, however remotely, to lepers. I remember in one instance I had vaccinated a beautiful and perfectly healthy child, and I was surprised to find that a number of persons refused to allow their child: cn to be vaccinated from this child. At length I made inquiries as to the reason, nnd found that it was because the child’s grandaunt had been a leper! Its parents and grandparents were all healthy, but still the child belonged to a leprous family. Just before I left I was attending an exceedingly pretty young girl, who was only disfigured by a few blotches on her face. A young Englishman, distantly related to her, had fallen in love with her, nnd engaged himself to marry her, and then came to me to ask me if she had leprosy ! Such a marriage is perfect madness. The children are almost certain to be lepers, I have seen a mother and five children, all in different stages of leprosy. I think, therefore, that before any further Scandinavian immigration takes place, the subject of the probable introduction of leprosy into the Colony should receive the most serious consideration of the Government and the public. When, once it is introduced, it will be almost impossible to eradicate it. The disease, like consumption and cancer, lies hidden for years in tho constitution, and sometimes even skips a generation; but even where there is no positive disease existing, the instructed eye can distinguish who will ultimately become lepers. If any one would wish to see what the disease is I can show them some photographs of all its stages, taken from former patients of mine in Trinidad.

I regret that I have left myrelf no room to discuss some other matters connected with immigration, more especially the position and duties of the surgeon-superintendent. These will, if you permit, be the subject of another letter.—l am, &c., R. H. Bar swell, M.D.

Belgrave Chambers, Princes street, May 15. P.S.—I have just found a letter in niy desk Dr Daniellsen, of Bergen, Norway, in which he acknowledges the receipt of my reports, in which he expresses great doubts of the efficacy of Dr Beauperthuy’s treatment, but says : —“ A$ in my long practice I never have left, any remedy untried which has recommended against this awful disease I shall not omit to try this one too, and I shall not fail in time to send you a report on the results.”