52 LEPROSY 



Mexico were infected with this disease in pre-Columbian days is still 

 a matter of dispute, with the evidence clearly in favor of the negative 

 side. Leprosy was probably introduced into what is now the terri- 

 tory of the United States by slaves from Africa in the last quarter 

 of the eighteenth century, and first appeared in Florida. Since that 

 time and even up to the present there are occasional fresh importa- 

 tions from Norway, China, Russia and the islands of the Pacific. 



Present Distribution. This ancient disease is still distributed over 

 all tropical and temperate regions. There is no nation wholly free. 

 There are colonies or nurseries here and there and every century some 

 seed from at least one of these finds growth in some other locality. 

 Some of these nurseries have been in continuous existence since the 

 dark ages. Such is the colony at Bergen where, according to Hansen, 

 there was leprosy as early as the eleventh century and probably earlier. 

 The seeds have never been entirely destroyed and the number of lepers 

 fluctuates with the effectiveness of restriction. From 1836 to 1856 the 

 number of lepers in Bergen multiplied more than three times. This 

 led to stricter regulations and by 1907 the number had fallen to about 

 two-thirds of what it was in 1836. From this nursery at Bergen, seed 

 has been scattered to the furthermost parts of the earth and daughter 

 colonies have been established in Russia and in the United States. 



The guess as to the number of lepers now living runs from one 

 to two million. These are mere guesses and it is not probable that 

 the exact number of lepers in any country is known. Certainly we 

 do not know how many there are in the United States. According to 

 Brinkenhoff there were, in 1909, 146 officially reported cases, but this 

 includes only 50 in Louisiana where, according to Dwyer, there are 

 at least 300. Pollitzer makes the number in this country 530 and 

 Ashmead thinks it reaches 3,000. The former is undoubtedly too low 

 and the latter probably too high. We should have a national lepros- 

 arium. To longer neglect to provide one is not only short-sighted but 

 well-nigh criminal. It is true that state laws provide that lepers shall 

 be isolated, but this is only on paper and without the possibility of 

 enforcement. Neither state nor nation has any provision for the 

 isolation of these unfortunates, and the way in which some of them 

 have been tossed from pillar to post is not a credit to our civilization. 



