Under normal conditions, malaria is, perhaps, the most common disease in Korea. It prevails in all parts of the country, but it is specifically localised in sections where there are numerous rice-fields. Small-pox is nearly always present, breaking out in epidemic form every few years. Nearly all adults, and most children over ten years, will be found to have had it. Leprosy is fairly prevalent in the southern provinces, but it spreads very slowly. While this disease presents all the characteristics described in the text-books, the almost imperceptible increase, which distinguishes its existence in Korea, is strong presumptive evidence that it is non-infectious.
The great enemy of health is the tubercle bacillus. The want of ventilation, the absence of sanitation, and the smallness of the houses, foster this little germ. Tubercular and joint diseases are common; also fistula, hare-lip, diseases of the eye, throat and ear. The most common disease of the eye is cataract; of the ear, suppuration of the middle drum, in the great majority of cases the result of small-pox in childhood. Cases of nasal polypi are also very numerous. Hysteria is fairly common, while epilepsy and paralysis are among other nervous disorders which are encountered. Indigestion is almost a national curse, the habit of eating rapidly large quantities of boiled rice and raw fish promoting this scourge. Toothache is less frequent than in other countries; diphtheria and typhoid are very rare, and scarlet fever scarcely exists. Typhus, malarial remittent fever, and relapsing fever are not uncommon. Venereal disease is about as general as it used to be in England.
In short, there is a preponderance of diseases which result from filthy habits, as also of those produced by the indifferent qualities of the food, and the small and over-crowded houses. Most of the diseases common to humanity present themselves for treatment in Korea.
AN IMPERIAL SUMMER HOUSE
Erected to mark the spot where the corpse of the late Queen was burned by the Japanese.
CHAPTER XXII
The missionary question—Ethics of Christianity—Cant and commerce—The necessity for restraint
The history of missionary enterprise in Korea abounds in illustrations of the remarkable manner in which French missionaries may be relied upon to offer up their lives for their country. It may be cynical to say so, yet there is much reason to believe that the Roman Catholic priests in the Far East of to-day are the agents provocateurs of their Government. They promote anarchy and outrage, even encompassing their own deaths, whenever the interests of their country demand it. From the beginnings of Christianity in China they have wooed the glory of martyrdom, and they have repeated the process in Korea.