246 NATURAL HISTORY 
dines, do never leave this island at all, but partake 
of the same benumbed state ; for we cannot sup- 
pose that, after a month’s absence, house-martins 
can return from southern regions to appear for one 
morning in November, or that house-swallows 
should leave the districts of Africa to enjoy, in 
March, the transient summer of a couple of days 
LETTER XXXIII. 
Selborne, Jan. 8, 1778. 
Dear Sir,—Tuere was in this village, several 
years ago, a miserable pauper, who from his birth 
was afflicted with a leprosy, as far as we are 
aware, of a singular kind, since it affected only 
the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. 
This eruption usually broke out twice in the year, 
at the spring and fall, and left the skin so thin and 
tender that neither his hands nor feet were able to 
perform their functions, so that the poor object was 
half his time on crutches, incapable of employ, 
and languishing in a tiresome state of indolence 
and inactivity. In this sad plight he dragged ona 
miserable existence, a burden to himself and his 
parish, which was obliged to support him, till he 
was relieved by death at more than thirty years of 
age. 
"We knew his parents, neither of whom were 
lepers; his father, in particular, lived to be far ad- 
vanced in years. 
In all ages the leprosy has made dreadful havoc 
among mankind. ‘The Israelites seem to have been 
