LEPROSY IN NORWAY.

Evening Star, Issue 3211, 5 June 1873, Page 2 (Supplement)

LEPROSY IN NORWAY.

The following account of a visit to the Leper Hospital at Bergen, by the Rev. Frederick Metcalf, M. A., will be read with interest by those of our readers who have perused the recent papers on Immigration, by Dr. Bakewell, which have appeared in our columns. The rev. gentleman says “Under the auspices of a German physician, I visited the Leper Hospital, on the hill above the town. It is a magnificent building of wood, lately constructed by the State, at an expense of 60,000 dollars, and kept up from the same source, private donations being unusual. In 1855 the old hospital was burned down at dead of night, and eight unfortunates were consumed. The present spacious building can accommodate 280 patients; at present there are only 180 inmates. In the Jorgen Spital there are 130, and a few in another hospital in the town. This disease is generally supposed to be incurable. About twenty-five per cent, die in the course of the year. The chaplain, a burly, good-looking man, was in his canonicals, and about to bury a recently deceased Eatient on our arrival; he descanted on the errors of the place. With these I became personally acquainted on the arrival of Dr. ‘ Now, gentlemen, if you please,’ said that functionary, putting on a blouse of black serge; ‘ but I warn you it is a terrible sight,’ Well, thought I to myself, I will go notwithstanding. The best antidote to the imaginary ills of life is to become acquainted with the real ones. Walking along the spacious corridors, we first entered a room devoted to male cases. Here, as in all the other rooms, there were si* beds, I conversed with one man. This case was not yet at a bad stage. He had suffered much hardship in his youth as a seaman, was often wet, and badly fed withal. By dint of industry he became owner of a j igt, and h$ said he hoped to get out again, and be well enough to the command of it. Another

man, in a bed close by, was affected with the smooth leprosy. He attributed it to his having slept in the samo bed with a man affected with the disease. He was worn to the bone, and hia face and body were blotched and copper-colored. But before pursuing our melancholy walk, I will, just glance at a small tract which has been published by the Government in respect to this foul and mysterious disease, which, after having been driven out of the other countries of Europe, still holds its ground on the sea-coast of Norway, especially from Stavanger northwards.

There are two sorts of leprosy, which are so very dissimilar in their outward symptoms, that one would hardly imagine that they aro the same disease ; the one is called the knotted leprosy, the other the smooth leprosy. The first indications of the poison being in the system are lassitude and stiffness in the limbs. The body feols unusually heavy and disinclined to exercise. Sharp pains rack the frame, especially when it is warm, or on the eve of a change of weather. Cold shudderings also stipprvene, succeeded presently by fever, together with pains in the head, thirst, and loss of appetite. All this is accompanied by general listlessness and depression of spirits. Another symptom is a strong inclination to sleep, though sleep brings no refreshment to the limbs. In knotted leprosy, red spots and sores break out upon the body, especially on the face, which becomes much swollen. These are not accompanied with pain, and often disappear again, but with a new attack of fever they reappear, and at last become permanent. They now grow larger and larger ; some of the knots attain the size of a hazel-nut, and are generally of a yellow-brown color, with occasionally a tint of blue. They are most frequent on the arms, bands, and face, but most of all about the eye-brows, which fall off in consequence. After a period of time —which is shorter or longer as the case may be—pain is felt in these knots, and they then either turn into regular sores or become covered with a brown crust. The eyes, mouth, and throat are next attacked, and the eyesight, breathing, and swallowing are affected In smooth leprosy the symptoms are large blisters and white spots, together with great pain and tenderness in various parts of the body. These vesicles are from the size of a hazel-nut to that of a hen’s egg, and are filled with a watery fluid. They aro situated about the elbows and knees, occasionally under the sole of the foot and elsewhere, and soon burst. The spots which, in the smooth leprosy, occur on the body, are not brown as in tbe knotted leprosy, but white and of a larger size, sometimes being as big as a man’s hand ; they are covered with white scales. The pain and tenderness which occur in this kind of leprosy gradually disappear, and are followed by utter absence of feeling. At this stage fire or the knife can be applied to the parts diseased without the patient feeling it in the least. A large portion of the body can be thus affected. The patient now begins to get thin, his skin is dry, and his countenance distorted. He cannot shut his eyes, and he is not able to bring his lips together so as to cover the teeth ; besides this, the toes and fingers become contracted and rot off. Curiously enough, symptoms of both these horrible phases of a most loathsome disorder occur in one and the same person ; in that case, the knotted leprosy occurs first, and the knots gradually vanishing, the smooth leprosy supervenes. This frightful malady has been ascertained to be hereditary, that is to say, it can be transmitted by either parent to their offspring. At first the children seem to be quite healthy, bub they conceal within their system the bidden germs of the complaint, which may at any time break out, Sometimes such children never do betray the presence of the poison, certain defective sanitary conditions be'ng necessary for its development. But, notwithstanding, the disease may come out in the third generation. The most favorable circumstances for its development are an irregular way of life, defective clothing, bad lodgings or diet, want of personal cleanliness, and mental anxiety. Under such circumstances, persons who have no hereditary tinge may take the complaint. It is not contagious in the strict sense of the word, but experience seems to show that persons who live in intercourse with leprous persons are very prone to become so themselves. A remarkab’c illustration of this occurred in NordFjord. The owners of a guard took the leprosy, and died. The farm was inherited by another family, who became infected with tbe disease, and died of it. A third family, who succeeded to the dwelling, also perished of the malady. On this, the owner of the house burnt it down. The Government authorities finally recommended, as a means of getting rid of this dreadful disease, personal and household cleanliness, proper apparel and lodging, wholesome diet (especially abstinence from half-rotten fish), moderation, particularly in the consumption ol spirituous liquors; and, above all, they deprecate intermarriage among those so affected. The present number of lepers in Norway is two thousand and fifty odd, or about one in every seven thousand.

But to proceed with our walk through the hospital. In another ward set apart for males, I addressed a lump of what did not look like humanity, and asked how old he was. The answer was sixteen. He looked sixty. His voice—oh heavens Ito think that the human voice divine could have become degraded to that hoarse grating, snuffling sound, the dry husk of what it ought to be ! Close by this case was a man whose face was swollen immensely, and over the brows huge knots and folds of a dark tint congregated together. His face looked more like the knotted clump in the hole of a tree than a human countenance. Sitting on a bed in another room was a boy whose face was literally eaten through and through, and honey-combed as if by malignant cancer. Nobody can witness all this without realising to himself more completely the power of Him who could cure it with a mere touch. Crossing the passage, I saw a nice, pretty little girl playing about. * She is all right at present,’ said the doctor, ‘ but both her sisters showed it at her age, and her parents died of it. She is here to be taken care of.’

On the women’s side, one of the first cases that caught my attention was an old woman with the septum of the nose gone. She was groaning with intense agony. Near her was a woman whose toes and fingers had disappeared, and for the present the complaint Was quiescent. Indeed, one of the not least frightful symptoms of the disease is, that after a toe or finger is gone, the sore heals up, but suddenly breaks out afresh higher up the limb. Unlike a person in an adjoining bed, who shrieked out for fear she should be touched—so sensitive was her flesh—this poor thing had lost all sense of feeling. One blue eyed girl, with a fair skin and well combed hair, looked well in the face, but the doctor said her body was in a terrible state. As I walked round the room, I observed another young woman, stretched on a bed in the corner, with dark luxuriant hair—very un-Norwegian in tint—and with peculiarly bright flashing eyes, with which she gazed at me steadfastly. ‘ Come hither,’ said the doctor to me. ‘Shut your eyes, Bergita.’ The poor thing gave a faint smile, and slighjy moved her lids ; but this was all. She will never shut those eyes again, perhaps, not even in death. In another bed was a woman with her teeth uncovered and lips apart, ‘ Now, mother, try and shut your lips.’ A tremulous movement of the lower jaw followed, but the muscles would not work ; the disease had destroyed the hinges, and there she lay, mouth open, a spectacle of horror.

In some cases—indeed, very many— when the disease has seriously set in, it throws a white film over the iris of the eye, the pupil becomes contracted, the ball loses its color, becomes a whitish mass, and gradually roti out of the socket. Each patient bad a religious book by his side, and some sat on the bed or by it reading. They all seemed unrepining at their lot. One poor woman wept tears gladness when I addressed a word

or two ef consolation to ter. Indeed, tlii amount of pain felt by these poor sufferer* is very small in comparison with; what might have been expected from the marks n£ the fell talons imprinted on their frames. Ihe doctor said (h;y were chiefly carried off at last by hectic fever. Scurvy ointment is used in many cases, frequent cupping in others. One poor woman, with a leg like an elephant’s, so deformed and shapeless was it, declined amputation. And there she will go en, the excessive sensitiveness to pain succeeded by an utter anaesthetic state, and one extremity rotting off after another, till she i? loft a mere bleached trunk, unless a merciful death relieves her before. One poor woman had been afflicted for no lees than fifty years; her parents, if I remember rightly, were free from the malady, but her grandfather and grandmother had Buffered from it. But we have seen enough of this melancholy place. It is a satisfaction to know that, at all events, although the disease eaxmot be cured by medicine or any other remedy, yet as ranch is done as possible to alleviate its miseries. The surgeon and chaplain are in daily attendance; abundance of active young women —not old gin-dnuking harridans discharge the office of nurses. The diet is much better than these people would obtain at Home. I examined the spacious kitchen, and learned that meat is served thrice a-wcek to the patients, not to mention soups, puddings, &o. It has been asserted that the disease has lately been on the increase in Norway ; but this statement is based most likely on insufficient data. In the rest of Europe, Scotland especially, to judge from all accounts, it was at one time as bad as it is now in this country. Neither was it confined to the lower classes : Robert Bruce died of it. But as it is now almost, if not altogether, exterminated in Scotland, there seems no reason why, if the advice of the Government above-mentioned is followed, it should not also die out in Scandinavia. In other respects, the population is healthy and strong, and is not affected by goitrd or any of the mountain complaints. We now took leave of the doctor; my friend, the German physician, who was specially interested in the effect produced on the sight by the disease, appointed the next day for a microscopic examination of some of the patients’ eyes in early stages bf the disorder.” We believe that Professor M‘Gregor, when recently on a visit to Stewart’s Island, made diagnosis of a disease, some of the features of which bear a striking resemblance to those described in tbs foregoing paper. The sufferer in this case was a Maori —indeed, the disease is not known to have extended in New Zealand beyend the Aboriginals. Possibly a similarity in the habits of the Maoris and the Norwegians living on the coast-1 ; ne indicates a similar pre-disposing cause of the disease. We find the Norwegian Government enjoining “ especially abstinence from half-rotten fish.” This abstinence might be exercised by the Maoris with good effect, for those persons who are bast acquainted with their habits have particularly noticed the avidity with which they seize the lips and other tit-bits of a casfc-ashore whale, ignorant or regardless of the fact of the carcase being in an advanced stage of decomposition.