The etiology of leprosy : a criticism of some current views / by P.S. Abraham.

  • Abraham, P. S. (Phineas Simon), 1847-1921.
Date:
[1889]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The etiology of leprosy : a criticism of some current views / by P.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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    V'.\ m THE ETIOLOGY OF LEPROSY* A CRITICISM OF SOME -■CURRENT VIEWS.1 BY P. S. ABRAHAM, M.A., M.D., B.SC, F.K.C.S.I. Lecturer on Physiology and Histology, Westminster Hospital Medical School; Clinical Assistant Hospital for Diseases of the Shin, Blackfriars ; and late Curator of the Museum and Member of the Court of Examiners, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Leaving aside, for the present, the bacillus, which all patho- logists agree is to be found in every leprous neoplasm, the supposed etiological factors of leprosy which have been most considered of late years are three, viz: (1) Heredity, (2) a Diet of fish, (3) Contagion. The theory of heredity has had immense support, both lay and professional, and it is curious to observe how loath some medical authors are to set themselves free from its trammels, or to ques- tion its influence in propagating the disease, even though many of the facts which they themselves adduce seem obviously to lead to quite another conclusion. As Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson points out2 the fact of leprosy occasionally appearing in healthy immigrants, and just as severely as if such persons belonged to leper families, is enough to prove that hereditariness goes for little or nothing in its causation. It is indeed idle to deny the liability of leprosy to attack individuals who have not the slightest hereditary taint. In a recent paper3 my friend Dr. Blanc, who has in late years seen probably more cases of leprosy in the United States than any one observer, shows that of forty-two cases treated by him twelve were natives of foreign countries (seven German, one Austrian, one English, one Irish, one French, one Italian), and 1 Read before the Dermatological Section of the American Medical Association, at Newport, Rhode Island, U.S., June 26th, 1889. 2 Clinical lecture on Leprosy, its Causes, etc, Medical Press and Circular, 4th November, 1885. 3 Leprosy in New Orleans, N. 0. Med. and Surg. Journal, 1888.