An analysis of 118 cases of leprosy in the Tarntaran Asylum (Punjab), and On the arrest and cure of leprosy by the external and internal use of the gurjun and chaulmoogra oils / by J.C. Phillippo ; communicated to the Epidemiological Society of London, January 8, 1890, by Phineas S. Abraham.

  • Abraham, P. S. (Phineas Simon), 1847-1921.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An analysis of 118 cases of leprosy in the Tarntaran Asylum (Punjab), and On the arrest and cure of leprosy by the external and internal use of the gurjun and chaulmoogra oils / by J.C. Phillippo ; communicated to the Epidemiological Society of London, January 8, 1890, by Phineas S. Abraham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    occur, and there is reason to believe that by this expression it is meant that lish was not eaten. In others, again, it is simply stated that the patient lived on the usual food of his class— dal, bread, vegetables, etc. First Symptoms Observed.—The attention of the patients seems to have been first directed to their malady by the occurrence of a whitish eruption in forty-seven cases, blisters on the joints in twenty-three, a reddish eruption in ten, swelling of the face, hands, etc., in nine, and weak- ness and antesthesia of hands and feet in eight. A sensation of heat in the skin, general weakness, fissures on the soles of the feet and toes, a pricking sensation in the throat, and the atrophy of a digit, are variously put down as the first symptoms observed in other cases. Prodromat6«5- if any, appear to have been for the most part overlooked, but pre- vious attacks of fever are mentioned in a few cases. Some three or four of the patients ascribe the origin of their com- plaint to some traumatic injury, such as a snake-bite ; and one man is said to have been pricked on the buttock by a pointed piece of stone, the part inflamed, a large ufcer remained, not healing for four years, and leaving an antes- thetic surface. In nineteen cases it is reported that chaulmoogra and gurjun oils have been used, but only in two is there stated to have been any benefit. Few or no details are given as to the persistency or thoroughness of their application. With reference to one of the successful cases (No. 98), we are told, She is taking chaulmoogra oil from Oct. 1877 ; she says she is stronger than before; the disease is stopped in future'-'; but in the corner of the page is to be seen the ominous word, Died, no doubt subsequently written. As an etiological factor, the reporter seems to attach some importance to the existence of syphilitic taint, for he has evidently inquired into the matter in nearly every case. Of one case (No. 71) he writes, There is history of syphilis in his family and in him, which easily describe the cause of the disease.^' He could find evidence of syphilis only in four others. In one case (43), the disease has subsided since twenty years; and in three others it is said to have stopped its course. In some eight cases it is stated that only the extremities are or have been affected. (I mention this because, in the case of a patient shown at this Society last May, some doubt was expressed as to whether he was really a leper, partly, I believe, on the ground that it was supposed that there were no very obvious symptoms of the disease on other parts of the man's body besides the extremities.)