FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB. 119 



"to its increased 'recognition now by medical men as compared 

 "with former years. The possibility of introducing leprosy by 

 '• vaccination, which has n agooddeal discussed during the 



r, is bo the question of contagion ; thai is the 



" communicability of Lep i any means from one person to 



"another. This again is bu1 a pari of a far Wider subject. The 

 "point to be examined :Iilus is the cause of 



"leprosy. Iffurthei ild show that the pure cultivation 



bacillus can pr< sprosy in animals We shall only 



"have advan tep. The next question would be the 



tditions under which the bacillus gains admission to the body. 

 "Tubercle bacilli as Cohnheim hasprovedare daily entering the 

 '•Inn ; y town-dweller but there must be general or special 



u influences depressing bhe vitality or damaging the structure of 

 "lung before they can multiply and set up irritation and 



"proliferation of endothelium, blocking of alveoli and growth of 

 '• lymphoid material. So with leprosy : It is possible that the 

 " leprosy bacillus is c instantly entering the body though whether 

 '.' in air, water or food we do not yet know seeing that its presence 

 "or multiplication outside bhe body has not vet been satisfactorily 

 rated. There must, however, be other factors at work 

 " to determine what individuals shall become lepers. Here the 

 "influence of hid food, wan! of ventilation, tilth and wasting 

 "diseases such a-; phthisis and syphilis would seem to come in. 

 "The igion then resolves itself into that of ihe 



" possibility of deri i icillus from another individual rather 



"than from air, water, or other sources. Here the question 

 "must halt until further discoveries throw more light on it." 

 This report also deals with the operation of nerve stretching, 

 which he performed 100 times on sixty patients, and in cases of 



ation it was, as a rule, attended with more or less good effect 

 ers often healing in a few days. ]\\ several eases the 

 operation causer! a relief Erom pain, but its results in cases of 

 anaesthesia were nol so encouraging and no effect could be traced 

 in tuberculatum. Of the LOO cases, roughly speaking, good 

 ed in half. The report which !>r. Hake wrote in February 

 1889 gives a short account of his visit to several asylums in 

 Southern Europe. He then writes : "During the past year the 

 " contagionists have had great foo 1 for i elf-congratulation in the 

 "announcement in the British Medical Journal of November 

 "24th of the development of tubercular leprosy in the Hawaiian 



ivict ECeanu inoculated with leprous material by Arning on 

 "September 30, L885. When, however, we come to examine 

 " this question disp ly, what do we find? That- a man 



" living on an island inf( i lej was inoculated three 



" years ago with the disease and now has developed it. But in 

 " that time he may have acquired leprosy in a dozen different 



