EDWARD CHRISTIAN ARNING

At the age of twelve Edward was sent to Hamburg, Germany, to attend the Gymnasium Johanneum from which he graduated in 1874. The next two years were spent as a medical student at the University of Heidelberg, and he completed his training and received his M.D. at the University of Strassburg in 1879. He began his career in Berlin as a gynecologist, but he became interested in dermatology and venereology and in 1881 became a member of the Dermatological Institute of Breslau.

It was here that the study of leprosy claimed his special attention. In 1883 Dr. Arning received a grant from the Humboldt Institute of the Royal Prussian Academy of Science to make a study-tour of Hawaii which was to combine investigation of leprosy and the acquisition of an ethnographic collection. In order to supplement the grant and receive approval of the proper authorities in Hawaii, Dr. Arning got Dr. William Hillebrand (an outstanding physician in Honolulu from 1851-1871), who was then living in Switzerland, to write to Mr. Walter M. Gibson, Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Board of Health, on his behalf. With Mr. Gibson's assurance of a warm welcome from the medical authorities in Hawaii, and the promise of a salary of $150 a month and his return passage to Germany, Dr. Arning left Germany and arrived in Honolulu aboard the "Mariposa" on November 8, 1883.

With the equipment which he brought with him, added to what little was available locally or could be made to his specification, he set up a laboratory for his experiments at the Branch Leper Hospital at Kakaako. At the end of some five months Dr. Arning submitted a report to Mr. Gibson describing the progress made during that time. Thereafter two events followed which were to bring him into world prominence. First, he transplanted leprous flesh into the right forearm of Keanu, an Hawaiian who later developed leprosy. Secondly, he examined Father Damien and made the diagnosis of leprosy. According to Dr. Mouritz's account in his book, "A Brief World History of Leprosy", Father Damien scalded his foot and leg while on a visit to Honolulu in January 1885. Dr. George Trousseau was called and his examination found there was no feeling in either foot or leg, which suggested leprosy. Dr. Trousseau immediately called in Dr. Arning, who, using a powerful current of electricity passing through a platinum needle pushed deeply into the flesh of the foot and leg, caused the priest no pain, indicating that the peroneal nerve and its branches were dead due to leprosy. Arrangements were made for Father Damien to be treated by Dr. Arning at the Kakaako Hospital, but he refused.

By January 1886, Mr. Gibson was getting very anxious to have something to report to the Legislature to justify "the very liberal expenditure of public monies" ($4,300) spent on the investigation up to that time and "to aid in the consideration of the ultimate value of such investigations to the Hawaiian people and to the world at large". Dr. Arning's answer to this was a lengthy, cautious, and scholarly report in which he was not above some asides about not receiving much help from the Board of Health and the Kingdom. He also hinted at developments which he was not ready at that time to reveal. (See "Dr. Edward Arning, the First Microbiologist in Hawaii" by O.A. Bushnell, Hawaiian Journal of History, vol. 1, 1967.) This was not at all what Mr. Gibson had in mind, and he was quick to spot the inference that information not ready to be divulged at the present might later appear in medical publications. In an exchange of letters, Dr. Arning firmly established that fact that he was not ready to present a full scientific report since his investigations were far from completed and also made it clear that any notes, specimens, etc. were his own and were being collected for future scientific information and publication. He did concede that, in any publications dealing with his work on leprosy, due credit would be given to the Hawaiian government for its assistance. On December 22, 1886 Dr. Arning was notified that as of the 31st his services would be terminated.

In the doctor's defense, a committee was formed which undertook to raise by subscription Dr. Arning's salary for a two year period and to act as an intermediary to get permission from Mr. Gibson so that the doctor's work with the lepers could be continued. At first Mr. Gibson seemed inclined to grant permission for Dr. Arning to continue his work. However, when he was presented with a detailed list of Dr. Arning's demands, they were so excessive that Mr. Gibson termed them an ultimatum and flatly refused to consider them. This ended any chance of reconciliation between Dr. Arning and the Board of Health; and on July 1, 1886, he left the Islands.

On his return to Germany he settled in Hamburg. In 1888 he married Miss Helene Blohm, and, susequently, one son and two daughters were born to the doctor and his wife.

Early in 1888 the Reform Government's new Board of Health headed by Dr. N.B. Emerson wrote to Dr. Arning to inquire if he would be willing to return to Hawaii and continue his work. Flattering as this offer was, with his marriage but a few weeks away and his own practice being well established, he refused. Dr. Arning went on to achieve distinction as a dermatologist and ended his career as Professor of Dermatology at the University of Hamburg.

He was an amateur photographer and was also interested in art, collecting contemporary German paintings and also having an outstanding collection of wood sculptures from the Middle Ages and the baroque period.

Dr. Arning died in Munich, Germany, on August 21, 1936, at the age of 82.

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