Modern Indian leprosy : being the report of a tour in Kattiawar, 1876 : with addenda on Norwegian, Cretan and Syrian leprosy.

  • Carter, H. V. (Henry Vandyke), 1831-1897.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Modern Indian leprosy : being the report of a tour in Kattiawar, 1876 : with addenda on Norwegian, Cretan and Syrian leprosy. 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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    inquiries have showed that leprosy is almost as common inland as on the coast, and that the looality just named is not at present especially affected. It would not however be unreasonable to infer that the leprous complaint may be now subsiding on the coast, whilst it is spreading inland : that the local history of the malady is comparatively modern, seems also a not unwarranted supposition, for I have failed to hear of dates of disease earlier than the last 50 years. Before I left Songadh, the following instance of leprosy presented itself :—M., Mussulman, mt. 30, policeman, a native of Waora in the Gogha district, but for 12 years resident at Kumbhai, 6 miles from here; 1 year affected : spots first came on left hand and forearm, then on the face. At present there are numerous pale patches of characteristic aspeot on the trunk and limbs; they are whitish, round with a reddish border hardly elevated, and they are benumbed : there is also nerve-disease of the extremities, the little finger of the left hand being bent, and the forefinger wholly anaasthetio with further change. Denies all taint: has a daughter of li year, well. In the village of Kumbhai there was a Brah- man leper with whom he was acquainted : some of the people there eat fish, but it is very scarce ; it is used both fresh and salted (imported). Had not fever when the spots came out, has had it since ; denies syphilis : glands in groins not percep- tibly enlarged: cannot account for this disease except by contact: he is off duty on account of sickness, 3.— The State of Palitana. A prosperous, minor State occupying an inland, central plain in which culminate the highest hills about here, aud traversed by a large river : there are 99 square miles of territory, 87 villages and 500 persons to the square mile (a number much in excess of the mean). In the Census of 1872, as many as 132 lepers are entered, whilst in a return recently furnished to me, the names of 31 only are given, this discrepancy being explained by the fact that at the former date certain pilgrimages or assemblies happened at Palitana, which led to a large gathering of begging lepers now dispersed to Junagarh, &c. If correct, this statement points to the existence of a floating population of infested persons whose movements certainly claim attention ; yet, as there are undoubted omissions in the later return, I conclude that the latter list is not complete. As far as kuown, however, there is a general concordance in the amount and distribution of leprosy here and around, which illustrates the tendency of this disease, when not very common, to accumulate in and about the larger towns ; thus affected localities are mostly arranged around Gariadhar, the former, and Palitana, the present, capital of the State. Notwithstanding a high density of population, the leprous disease is not frequent, and as its mean duration is now not more than 6 4 years, one might infer that only of late has the malady appeared, or at least that a comparatively recent exacerbation of it has occurred, and at present it may be said to thrive. Known affected localities are the following—Palitana (6), Pertabgurh (3), Loharvar (4), Badurko (2), ltalgond (1), Thadach (3), Ilarmatia (1), War la (1), Mota Rathli (1), Jamanwao (1), Mokada (1), Pithalpur (1), Chonda (1), Gariadhar (8), Parodi (2), Mota Waori (2), Adapur (1), Panchtobra (2), Virdi (1), Yelawadar (2). Note.—Ralgond and Thadach aro outlying villages which form part of a chain of leper-villages in the north of Mhowa and Talaja districts ; and the presence of leprosy in Adapur, &c., seems to be connected with certain distant (and otherwise seemingly unconnected) leper- groups in the Lilia and Kundla districts : the large map should hero be referred to in consideration of these illustrative instances. 10th January.—Reached Palitana last evening ; this morning to the hospital and looked over the register of patients : ' Sun bahiri’ (numbness) is a recent entry, but lepers applying for relief are directed to the asylum at Rajkot. Outside the western gate of the city is the shrine (Datar) of a Pir, where a few lepers congregate to intercede for cure ; and amongst the beggars on the road to the sacred hill of Shatrunjee, I noticed a leper girl of 14, Koli, born a distance but subsisting here, both parents being dead : a deserted leper orphan, who recollects hardly any- thing of her antecedents. The disease has lasted since early childhood ; whether inherited or not is uncertain. A miserable object, and most decided T. L. aggravated by privation : the child lives in a place in the city where she is allowed to shelter by a charitable person, but her proper home would be a leper-asylum. It occurred to me that many of the cases in old England, under the harsh system of public treatment once in vogue, were probably like this one; but in Europe lepers if expelled from society, still had some refuge offered them. In India the barbarism alone prevails, and the humane side of popular practice is too conspicuous by its absence. 12th January.—Went to the village of Gheti, about 4 miles to the west of Palitana : a straggling place of 200 to 300 houses and surrounded by a low mud wall : people chiefly Kunbis. Water from a well, 1 kuwa,’ and drawn up by rope : yet guinea-worm is very common. A poor and dirty village. No leprosy and the people correctly distinguished between Patia (true leprosy) and Kodia (loucoderma) Visited the brother of the patel—an adult affected since childhood with ourvature of the spine, bending and wasting of the limbs ; no hydrocephalus ; a chief noticeable feature is the soaliness and deformity of the hands and feet, the former being extended or retroflexed and laterally twisted, nails turned into claws : ulcers on the fingers. It seems as if psoriasis (?) had been engrafted on rickets ; no numbness, but rather a general hypenesthesia of the skin : the man lies constantly in one position, coiled up ; the spinal cord is probably implicated : duration of disease 25 years : parents and brothers quite well : no other disease. This instance is mentioned because all nervous affections are noteworthy, in connection with the main object of my tour. \?>th January,—To the hamlet of Malapura, about 2 coss to the N.E., situated in a wide plain, isolated, compact and ! gathered around a fort or round tower (kote), which doubtless served as a citadel to the warlike Kolis whose descendants are still here. About 30 houses : people dark, stalwart and independent: drinking-water from a deep well (kuwa), guinea- worm very rare : leprosy unknown. A cleaner place than usual and interesting from its feudal aspect. Within a mile is the larger village of Makurka, about 150 houses, and a population chiefly of Kunbis ; water from both river and a deep well; the latter has a wooden framework at its mouth. Guinea-worm very rare. Saw a case of Kodia—the thing is rare here—a young man has largo patches on the hands, feet and legs, and on the lips, of some years’ dura- tion ; ho is a Sonar, and none else of his family (a brother and six sisters) is marked in this manner. The lad was living