At an used book stand just outside the Carioca subway station, I stumbled upon a book in Spanish, called "Alrededor del Mundo". (Around the World.) It is actually a hardbound collection of weekly magazines of the "variety almanac" kind. It has everything from science news to geographical and anthropological curiosities to trivia, crossword puzzles, fashion articles, and short stories. There's 720 pages in total.
It is from 1899. Queen Victoria was still alive.
An excerpt, from page 11 of the July 21, 1899 issue. pardon the sloppy Spanish-English translation:
THE CURE FOR LEPER
After long years of scientific research for a remedy for leper, it seems a very surprising one has been stumbled upon.
Dr. Dyar, who had beed dedicating himself to these works, tired of employing all sorts of treatments with no results, and having made detailed observations of the effects of snake bite antidotes (mainly rattlesnakes), came to believe that leper has certain symptoms similar to those of poisoning by the ofidian's bite.
He decided to inoculate this serum in the leperous (?) under his watch, and results have been surprising.
Of the five treated cases, Dr. Dyar has obtained two positive cures; in other two, there was considerable improvement; in the remaining one the leper went on, more purulent than before.
The United States' government is in negotiations with the Doctor, to have him transferred to the Sandwich Islands, where, as it is known, there's thousands of natives who suffer from this horrible disease.
It is probable that Dr. Dyar will establish a hospital and leper clinic there with the purpose of continuing his experiments.
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