author
A. A. St. M. (Arthur Albert St. M.) Mouritz
1861–1943
A British physician turned medical historian, he is best remembered for writing about leprosy and influenza in Hawaii after years of firsthand experience there. His work captures both the urgency of public health and the atmosphere of the islands in a time of major change.
1 Audiobook
"The Flu": a brief history of influenza in U.S. America, Europe, Hawaii
by A. A. St. M. (Arthur Albert St. M.) Mouritz
About the author
Arthur Albert St. Mouritz (1861–1943), often credited as A. Mouritz, was a British physician who became closely associated with Hawaii's medical history. Sources describe him as traveling from England to Hawaii in 1883 and serving as resident physician at the Kalaupapa leprosy settlement on Molokai in the 1880s.
He is best known today for The Path of the Destroyer (1916), a detailed history of leprosy in the Hawaiian Islands built on what he presented as decades of research, and for The Flu (1921), a short history of influenza in the United States, Europe, and Hawaii. Those books reflect the same practical, documentary style: he wrote not as a distant commentator, but as someone deeply engaged with disease, public health, and the local history of the islands.
For modern readers, Mouritz is an interesting figure because his books sit at the crossroads of medicine, colonial-era Hawaii, and historical storytelling. Even when his perspective is very much of its time, his writing preserves valuable contemporary observations about epidemics, isolation, and the human realities behind public health debates.