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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    wrinkled and numbed ; nails converted into knobs, little finger of right hand bent. Feet in a similar state—bronzed and tumid : sores on the toes ; nails deformed: numbness here, too; nipples enlarged. In fair condition: slow of un- derstanding. Father dead : mother alive and well: an elder brother and a younger sister are well: family long resident here and, hitherto, free from leprosy. Married, but does not cohabit with his wife; denies contact: cannot account for the disease: was beggiDg as usual when it came on : lived in the common way : now occupies a room with his mother ; the brother’s children are well. The disease is advancing. llfA February.—To Bhuwa, about 3 coss to the N. of Kundla, in the open plain, dried salt-marshes in neighbour- hood : 190 houses, 837 people who in caste are Kunbi, Sagar, Koli, Kathi, with artificers, graziers, &o. Food—bajra, jowra; urid and mung : water from a tank. Filaria-disease very common of late (see below); no ‘rnphi.’ Leprosy is rare, the two cases seen are the first known within living memory, it is said; the earliest was thatof the carpenter’s wife. 1. —F., Sutar caste, set. 32, born at a distant village, here for 25 years, has not travelled. Leprosy for 8 years, it began with burning sensation in the hands and feet; then vesicles appeared. At present she shows all the signs of N. L. (anaesthetic leprosy), a pallid visage; trunk not inspected, but eruption denied : there is great deformity of the hands, all the fingers being more or less destroyed, numbness in them and in forearms: feet in a similar state, the great toe on right side is quite gone. Parents dead (free), brothers living and well, and an elder sister. F. F. (paternal grand- father) is said to have had the disease ; he lived at the village (Libdi) where she came from, and died long before her birth. Married; two sons of 20 and 12, well; a daughter died very young. There was a Wani leper also in her village. She does not admit contact with other lepers, cannot account for the disease, was living in the usual fashion when it came on and was residing in her present home : since it began she lives apart from her husband and children : there are excoria- tions : general condition weak and thin : she used to do field work until quite disabled. Here the disease may have been acquired or derived. 2. —M., Sagar, ret. 40, drawer of water, &c., born here, has not travelled far, but has visited Bhaonagar, &c., and still goes about selling cotton. Leprosy for 3 years; it began in the cold season with numbness of the four fingers of the left hand, then the feet were affected, then skin of trunk. Now, the face is tanned, sebaceous ducts blocked : front of chest and abdomen of a deep bronze colour, red, rough, in large irregular patches (a peculiar appearance) ; nothing un- usual visible on the face : nipples enlarged (gun-cap shape) ; hands bronzed and wrinkled, numbness still limited to both surfaces of the four fingers (whole length) of left hand, ex- coriations on back of ring-finger ; no mutilation. The feet are benumbed in front; right great toe much absorbed and excorjated (? from vesicles) on the back : condition of sole doubtful. Parents dead (free), 2 brothers and 3 sisters living and well: donies all taint. Is married ; daughter dead, 3 sods (from 16 to 10 years) well. Contact with lepers is denied (N.B.—Sutarsand Sagarseat together.) Was subject to fever (ague) before this disease, not since : lived and worked as others, cannot account for it, it is spreading ; has been living apart for a year. Has a peculiar haggard look, but is yet stalwart and works at his trade. Origin of the disease quite obscure, if not from contiguity. Memo, on guinea-worm in Bhuwa. This pest was unknown until 1871, and it has become frequent (in an in- creasing ratio) only since the construction of a tank, which is formed by banking up a stream, in a depressed piece of ground. At the beginning of March the tank dries up, and then water is procured by digging shallow pits in its bed. At a lower depth than 5 feet or so, the water which exudes is everywhere brackish, hence wells are useless. The parasite shows all its usual characters : the number of worms counted last rains was above 1,000 ; it affects horses (in the feet) and dogs (at the back of the ears), but not cattle. Tho people attribute the complaint to drinking the tank-water, but washing the body is a common practice. On cursory , inspection the water now looks of tolerable quality, but for thorough search it should be examined at every season of the year, i.e., throughout an entire natural cycle of changes, Water from the bed of a stream does not, in this neighbour- hood, cause guinea-worm, but water stagnating in certain soils seems to do so. The present instance would be a favourable one for scrutiny : the people are now suffering so much, that they have petitioned the Durbar for relief. 12(/t February.—To Nesdi, three coss to the N. W. in the plains, on banks of a river, of usual construction, about 300 houses and having 1,400 inhabitants, whose caste is Kunbi Wani, Brahman, Koli, Rajput, Lohana, artificers, graziers, low-castes. Food—jowra, bajra ; urid, mung. Water from the stream and from pits scooped in its bed. No guinea-worm here. Three lepers (two in Major Watson’s list) : 25 years ago there was only one (a Kunbi), so that the disease has increased of late: the village has remained much the same, but traffic and intercourse are greater than formerly. 1. —M., Kunbi, at. 35, drawer of water, born and resi- dent, has not travelled. Has had M. L. (severe disease) for 10 years, it began on the feet with vesicles, then on the hands. Now, it is much advanced : on the face are marks of T. L., ears much enlarged ; trunk the site of reddish marks or stains, and lately (within 2 years) the back has become covered with two large, lateral, symmetrical scaly patches, of ichthyoid aspect and not so defined as psoriasis; nipples enlarged ; skin of upper extremities similarly affected—scaly patches in front of axilla, outside of arm and elbows, back of forearm, &c.: hands greatly mutilated as in N. L., most of fingers greatly [ destroyed, others swollen, cuticle thickened, horny and scaly ; sores on right thumb ; numbness from elbows downwards, no loss of muscular power; feet even more affected, metatarsus on both sides gone and remnants of toes transferred to tarsus; integument of legs covered with scaly patches; numbness as high a3 knees. Here is marked M. L. complicated with scaly eruptions, which render the subject more than ordinarily repulsive to the eye. Father alive and well: mother dead, she was not leprous; he is the fifth of 8 sons who are all here and, with this one exception, all well ; 3 sisters, 2 older and 1 younger, well. Family taint of all degree is denied: he is not married, denies contact with lepers, cannot account for his disease, was living and working as usual when it came on, it is spreading; there are running sores; general condition not worse than usual in such subjects : syphilis is denied. He is a large, stalwart man, taller than any of the four brothers whom I saw, whether younger or older than he. A singular spectacle, one afflicted out of many. Since the scaly eruption became extensive, he has left his home with the rest and now lives in a hut in the fields (see plate at end); until a year ago, he occupied a single room with his old father and two brothers. When tho disease began in this man, there was living in the village the motherof No 2; her residence is at a distance from his: the earliest leper recollected here died some 30 years ago and had similar symptoms, and the woman, who died 8 years ago, had something of the same. A case seemingly inexplicable in origin, if not from con- tagion . 2. —F., Rajput, ast. 50, a field-labourer, born at Lakimadi (not far off), here for 30 years and has not travelled. Leprosy ior2J years, it began in the cold season: she had fever at the time of child-birth, which was followed by the eruption on i the face, and to this part the change is still mostly limited. It presents all the characteristic signs of decided T. L..- brows thickened and bare, eyes rounded, skin everywhere tumefied, j bronzed and shiny, ears enlarged : the trunk shows traces | of an eruption, nodules in loins (front, not inspected); hands hardly changed, but fingers tumid and glossy ; no numbness but possibly hyperesthesia, the hands are tremulous : feet also hardly changed in aspect, no numbness here. Father dead, free: mother died 8 years ago, she had been a leper for 8 years; one brother (younger) who is well; no sister. No other family taint is admitted. Is married : husband well ; 2 sons of 15 and 4, and a daughter of 10, yet well. Last | year, her eldest son and child whose age was 22, died of | leprosy, he had been affected for 10 years; he had it on tho 1 face like his mothor, ho lived a little separate, but his mother