Four years in Upper Burma

by W. R. Winston

On the contrary, another expert, Dr. MacLaren, who has been in charge of a leper asylum at Dehra for many years, and has very carefully studied the question, has come to the conclusion, after an exhaustive inquiry into the antecedents of all the inmates of his asylum, that 36·4 per cent. of the cases were distinctly traceable to heredity. A curious light has been thrown on these mutually contradictory conclusions, by the contrast in the experience of two different homes for lepers shown in the following quotation from Mr. Bailey’s book. At Tarn Táran there is a large Government Institution, supported by the different municipalities that send lepers to it. Here no restriction is placed on marriage, and there is no attempt at the separation of the sexes, consequently many children are born in the asylum. The missionary of the Church Missionary Society stationed there says:—

“Of all the persons born at that asylum during the last thirty years, I know of only two men who up to the present have not become confirmed lepers. But even these, when last I saw them, began to show signs of the disease upon them. How different is the history of the asylum at Almora, which is largely maintained by the Mission to Lepers in India! There, for many years past, this plan of separating the children from their parents has been adopted with most gratifying results. Of all those who have been thus separated, only one child has shown any signs of the disease. Many more are now out in the world, and gaining their own livelihood. Surely we have here a most striking proof, that in one direction at least a great deal can be done towards stopping the spread of leprosy. What a wide field for the exercise of Christian love is thrown open to us in this branch of work! The followers of Jesus no longer possess the power of curing ‘diseases and all manner of sicknesses’ by a touch or a word; but in these who may soon be lepers, the ‘least’ of Christ’s little ones, there is given to all an opportunity of stretching forth the hand of loving compassion, and of saying, ‘Be clean.’”

At the time the public mind was greatly exercised on this leprosy question, and the Leper Bill for India was being considered, the Bombay Medical and Physical Society met to discuss the subject. There was a general consensus of opinion amongst these medical men that heredity is a mode of propagation, though some were of the contrary opinion. As regards contagion as a means of propagation, the majority of the medical men considered it was. It seems, however, to be not easily communicable by contagion, but due to continuous and lengthened contact, together with predisposing general causes. So far no cure for leprosy has been discovered.

Some authorities have expressed the opinion that in some way fish-food, especially when either salted or decomposed, is largely to blame for its origin. The Burmese ngapee, which consists of partly decomposed fish made into a paste, can hardly be a healthy article of diet, and may have something to do with predisposing to this and other diseases in Burma.

As the disease advances, mutilation and wasting of the fingers and toes set in, extending in time to the whole hand and foot. The sight is often dimmed or lost, and a kind of horny substance grows over the eyeballs. The skin of the face becomes thickened, giving the countenance a peculiarly heavy, morose expression. Thus the disease progresses, and the constitution becomes enfeebled, until the leper falls a victim to some other malady; for leprosy is not often the immediate cause of death. In the anæsthetic form of leprosy all feeling leaves the part specially affected. Mr. Bailey tells of a case of this kind. “One poor fellow was pointed out to me who had burnt himself fearfully, in burning the dead body of a comrade. He knew nothing of it at the time—the dead burning the dead!”

In the institution at Madras, out of 233 inmates, no less than 34 were Europeans or Eurasians, chiefly the latter.

The leper’s lot in India and Burma is a terribly sad one. The following picture of his condition is drawn by Colonel E. H. Paske, late Deputy Commissioner of Kangra, Punjab:—

“Leprosy is a slow, creeping disease, seldom or never immediately fatal, though shortening life. It is accompanied by a great deal of physical pain and suffering, and an amount of mental torture varying with the natural sensibilities of the victim. The leper’s life is burdensome to himself, and his presence loathsome to those around him; no object can be more pitiable, more repulsive, or more terrible.

“While the living body is undergoing a process of perceptible waste and decay in a manner the most loathsome, the mind is subjected to the most depressing influences, aggravated by the life of separation and isolation which the sufferer is forced to lead. As soon as the leprous taint becomes apparent, the victim is shunned by those around him, even members of his household avoiding his touch. For a time he leads a life of separation in his own home; but as the disease progresses, and his appearance is rendered more repulsive, he becomes an outcast, wandering through the country, subsisting by beggary, or else located in a small hut at a distance from all other habitations. A truly piteous sight it is to see the leper crouching outside his hovel, holding out wasted stumps that once were hands, and crying for alms from the passing traveller. When the leper resides near his home, his relatives, or fellow-villagers, make provision for his wants, but for a time only; they soon tire of the burden of his support. Too frequently, when police reports announce that a leper has been found dead, has committed suicide, or has been burnt to death in his hut, there is reason to believe that those who have been responsible for the maintenance of the sufferer had adopted sure means of freeing themselves from the burden. In one instance where a leper had been murdered by his own sons and brothers, the prisoners on their trial pleaded that they had put an end to the man’s existence at his own request, to spare him from further suffering. In another instance, where a leper had been buried alive by his next-of-kin, it was urged that this mode of death would prevent the disease from becoming hereditary. Such are briefly a few particulars of the life of the poor crippled leper in India. An outcast, he still clings to life in a condition the most helpless—an object so repulsive that charity almost loathes to approach it.”