Report on the parangi disease of Ceylon / prepared by W.R. Kinsey ; ordered by His Excellency the Governor to be printed.

  • Kynsey, William Raymond.
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the parangi disease of Ceylon / prepared by W.R. Kinsey ; ordered by His Excellency the Governor to be printed. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    6/88 (page 6)
    and diet cause in it. For example, when travelling during last year in the Tamankaduwa-pattu of the Eastern Province, I wss struck by the contrast between the evident healthiness and vigor of the indigenous Moors and the haggard, sickly appearance of the Sinhalese, their neighbours. What is the cause of this contrast ? It seems necessary that the same person or persons should visit all the localities which may be chosen for the collection of data, in order to be in a position to form an accurate estimate of such data and of their relative value. The experience gained by the enquirer as he proceeded with his task would, it may reasonably be hoped, enable him to note many minor points which might escape the attention of a person newly engaged in the investigation, and still uncertain as to the best mode of conducting it. Dr. Loos furnished a valuable report, which will be found in the appendix, and on his recommendation hospitals were established at Mullaittrvu and Vavuniya-Vilankulam. Little else seems to have been done towards investigating the disease until the term in use attracted the attention of Dr. Gavin Milroy, when in 1872 he came across it in reading the hospital reports sent home to the Colonial Office. The following correspondence will indicate the course of the enquiry up to date. Too much credit cannot be given to Dr. Gavin Milroy for the interest he has always taken in the investigation of the epidemic diseases of the colonies. It is mainly to his writings and to the valuable work of Drs. Tilbury Fox, T. Farquhar, and V. Carter, On the Skin and other Diseases of India and Hot Climates generally, that the present report on the Parangi Disease of Ceylon is due. Dr. Milroy, writing to the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies in August, 1872, acknowledges the receipt of Ceylon Hospital Returns, and remarks :— The ' olonial Surgeon of Colombo, Dr. Loos, writes that opinions have been freely expressed in this country that the Parangi disease, endemic here, is capable of being propagated by vaccina- tion, &c* I am unacquainted with the nature of the malady by that name. The technical or medical appellation of it should be given. Dr. Charsley, writing in March, 1873, in reply, says :— With regard to Dr. Milroy's enquiries into the nature of the Parangi disease, I have the honor to state that it has no technical appellation, but it is a form of disease which pervades certain parts of the interior of the Island and very seriously affects the population. There is a difference of opinion among medical men as to its real nature and origin, some believing it to be of a syphilitic origin, while others think that it is of the nature of a land scurvy, aggravated by scrofula. Dr. Loos was appointed, on my recommendation, to travel through those portions of the interior where the disease most prevailed, and was said to be depopulating the country. I cannot do better than attach to this communication copy of Dr. Loos's report. An effort is being made by Government to check the progress of this disease by direct treatment, and a very intelligent medi- cal officer has been stationed in its centre. He has furnished an able report on the histology of the disease, which will be attached to my annual report for last year. Dr. Milroy, writing in June, 1873, to the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, acknowledges letter from Dr. Charsley and report by Dr. Loos, and remarks : — On perusing the last named document, I have been much struck with the marked analogy, in various respects, of this Ceylon endemic with the disease of Yaws in the West Indies. Whatever throws light on the one, will d oubtless serve to elucidate the other, and I therefore venture to suggest that Dr. Charsley's attention be drawn to the account of the latter malady, in the description of it by Dr. Imray of Dominica ?tnd Dr. Bowerbank of Jamaica, given in my recent report. Dr. Loos, writing in October, 1874, in reply to Dr. Milroy, says:— Previous to Dr. Charsley's departure from the Island he sent me Dr. Gavin Milroy's Report on Leprosy and Yaws in the West Indies,'' and copy of a letter addressed by the latter to the Under Secretary of State for the ( olonies, wherein he says that, having read my report on the Parangi disease, he was much struck with the marked analogy, in various respects, of this Ceylon endemic with the disease of Yaws in the West Indies, and suggests that Dr. I harsley's attention be drawn to the description of Yaws by Dr. Imray of Dominica and Dr. Bowerbank of Jamaica, as given in Dr. Gavin Milroy's report. Dr. Charsley. in his letter to me, desired that as he had not time to give attention to the subject, I would express my views for the information of Dr. Gavin Milroy. I have read the portion of the report relating to Yaws with much attention and interest. I may, however, state that I was not altogether ignorant of the existence of Yaws, and the possibility of Parangi disease being allied to it. One of the medical practitioners at Jaffna actually called it Frambasia, and before drawing up my report I consulted, among other authorities, Dr. Copland's Dictionary of Medicine and the Treatise on Diseases of Skin by Dr. Schedel in Dr. Tweedie's Library of /Medicine, in both of which I thought there were good descriptions of Yaws. The late Mr. Russell, then Government Agent of Jaffna, had suggested the resemblance of Parangi disease to Pellagra; and others called it Land Scurvy. I thought that it corresponded to descrip- tions of Sibbens or Sivvens, which formerly prevailed in the south-west of Scotland. Dr. Imray, in his report, states that Yaws, in the West Indies, was compared to the same complaint. After careful consideration, however, I dismissed the idea of any very close resemblance of Parangi * I may here state that there is absolutely no foundation for the statement that Parangi is propagated by vaccination. The disease prevails most extensively in districts where, owing to its presence, it » impossible to carry on vaccination. [50] PARANGI DISEASE. Jhteoductios to Pepobt.