1890-91.] in the Central Himalayas. 399 



Asylum for nearly ten years. The average numl^er of lepers 

 in this asylum was over one hundred. I treated the lepers 

 at first with cashew-nut oil, the South- American treatment, 

 and latterly with Gurjun oil (Biptcroccmyiis ttirhinattis), as 

 recommended by Surgeon-Major Dugald, who was the medical 

 officer of the Andaman Islands Hospital, but without much 

 success. With regard to the origin of the disease, I entirely 

 agree with the great London surgeon, Jonathan Hutchinson, 

 who lately lectured on this subject in Edinburgh, in attribut- 

 ing it mainly to the use of a too exclusive fish diet. The 

 fact that the heroic Father Damian became a leper is gener- 

 ally regarded as a proof that leprosy is contagious ; but it 

 should be remembered that at Molokai, the Sandwich Island 

 leper-settlement, he had to share the poor food of the lepers, 

 aud that, as a Eoman Catholic, he would live during Lent 

 exclusively on a fish diet. 



The origin of cholera has been fully explained by Koch 

 and others, though the explanation has not yet been generally 

 accepted. In popular language, it may be stated as follows : 

 Cholera is a non-infectious disease. Nobody gets cholera in 

 any way except by swallowing cholera germs ; but, curiously 

 enough, even if one does swallow cholera germs, he is none 

 the worse if a sufficient quantity of gastric juice is present 

 in his stomach. The gastric juice kills the germs. For all 

 practical purposes, therefore, a man is pretty safe during a 

 cholera epidemic, provided he never drinks a large quantity 

 of water when his stomach is empty ; but, of course, this is 

 the very thing one is tempted to do in the hot weather in a 

 tropical country like India. The risk is increased if he puts 

 any brandy or other alcoholic spirit in the water. I have 

 seen a case which apparently originated in a single glass of 

 brandy taken in a tumblerful of water by a man who was 

 tired, and who had eaten nothing for some time. Possibly 

 the same effect would have been produced by the water alone, 

 but of two risks it is wise to chose the lesser ; and if a man 

 is very thirsty he is safer, when cholera is about, if he drinks 

 the water plain than if he mixes it with alcohol. Of course, 

 if he can possibly help it, he should do neither. It is thirty 

 years since I came to the conclusion that cholera was not 

 infectious through the air, and I was satisfied of it in the 



