TEN FINGERS FOR GOD

by Dorothy Clarke Wilson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 25, 1965

Paul Wilson Brand was born in 1914, the son of fervent missionary parents, English people who brought the gospel of Jesus to India. Dismayed by his father's failure to make even one convert, Brand decides to concentrate on healing the body, though he retains an ancillary interest in the True Way and is given to medico-religious metaphor. After schooling in England, he goes to Southern India for a residency at the Christian Medical College and Hospital. He is appalled by what he sees. In 1946, there were more than ten million leprosy sufferers in India, but not one orthopaedic surgeon had studied the deformities of the disease. He makes his speciality the hand. The sulfones were being used with some success at the time. His concern, however, were the residuals of the disease. ""To be cured of active leprosy, but left with crippled hands and feet may be a victory over the bacillus, but it is a defeat for the man."" Brand begins at the beginning. No one really knew at the time why fingers dropped off, why ulcers didn't heal, that the tissues of lepers were not bad but subject to the same laws of healing as normal flesh, and that Bunnell's operation used frequently in polio and war wounds could also be used to correct the claw-like hand of the leper.... This is the story of Brand's many victories overcoming the disease and the prejudices. Dorothy Clarke Wilson hasn't probed too deeply but what she has done makes fairly satisfying and informative reading.

Pub Date: Oct. 25, 1965

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1965

Categories: NONFICTION