23 



-thought he had better take some topic he thought 

 he thoroug'hly understood ( applause ). His 

 thoughts had not only been influenced by the 

 previous anecdot«, but he felt somewhat in the 

 -frame of mind of the little boy who found himself 

 on a voyage in the same vessel as a bishop. The 

 boy stood in {^reat reverential awe of the dignitary, 

 and one day to his dismay he found himself sitting- 

 next to the bishop at the dinner table. The boy 

 wanted the sugar, which was on the farther side 

 of the bishop. He did not know how to address 

 the bishop, and he was in an a^-ony of despair. At 

 last his hunger overcame his timidity, and he 

 blurted out : " In the name of heaven will you 

 please hand me the sugrar ! " (laughter). The 

 kind of sentiment the boy felt towards the bishop 

 he felt towards the grand old City of Canterbury, 

 the home of so many great archbishops and a place 

 so interwoven with the ecclesiastical and (.'eneral 

 history of our nation. He felt a kind of awe in such 

 a place. The inhabitants did not seem to be over- 

 come with that feeling, perhaps familiarity— he 

 would not say what it bred — but it was not wholly 

 onJucive to reverential feeling (laughter). Rut as 

 a stranger he felt inclined to take off his hat in 

 the streets, let alone in their magnificent Cathe- 

 dral (applause). He. therefore, felt that at a 

 meeting in a city of such associations his subject 

 should be no ordinary one, but in keeping with the 

 ecclesiastical institutions. He thought he had 

 rather cleverly chosen "The prevalence of Leprosy 

 in the Middle Ages" as his subject (applause). He 

 defended his choice by saying that the topic was one 

 of great interest for the archceologist.and the social 

 historian as well as for medical men. Even in its 

 medical aspects he held that it was very desirable 

 that the public should be made acquainted with 

 the facts and should take interest in them. It was 

 impossible for the medical profession to guide 

 successfully an ionorant ;tnd very probably a pre- 

 judiced public. He was no advocate for exclusive- 

 ness in professional matters, legislation ought not 

 to be wholly left to lawyers, theology was not a 

 study for clergyman only, and there were many 

 medical topics towards the solution of which 

 the common sense of all well informed 

 men might become of great value. Leprosy 

 was one of these and there was no reason 

 whatever why it should be regarded with the sort 

 of mysterious awe which at the present enshroud- 

 ed it. The main facts respecting it \^ere very 

 simple and might easily be brought within the 

 range of all. It was a subject needing attention 

 in regard to our Colonies and parts wc have recently 

 added to our Empire. He then proceeded to explain 

 that true leprosy was a very distinct and 

 defi,nite disease, unlike any other and easily 

 recognised. It did not branch out into any other 

 disease. It was almo-^t universal all over the 

 / world, but not universally prevalent. It was a 

 I chronic disease, uften lasting ten or fifteen years. 

 Although so unmistakable in the later stages, yet 

 it was not so at first. It beijau with a few little 

 brown spots, or even a little increased redness of 

 the cheeks. From these slight indications the 

 disease gradually spread, and they could not stop 

 it. It had different results in different cases. It 

 had a peculiar effect on the nerves, causing them 



to swell — toes and fingers would gradually perish 

 and drop off. After the disease had got a fair 

 hold on a person it could easily be distin- 

 guished by unskilful persons. Thus it came 

 about that even in remote ages and amongst 

 untrained observers comparatively few mistakes 

 were made in its recognition, and the statements 

 of old authors might be trusted to a very large 

 extent. It was a mistake to believe that leprosy 

 was always fatal, in truth many of its subjects 

 recovered, but such recoveries were always after a 

 very prolonged illnes=i, and often with much per- 

 manent disability. What he had just said applied 

 mainly to the disease in advanced stages, for its 

 early symptoms were often very slight and very 

 difficult of recognition. The disease was, he said, 

 the same in all countries and all races, and it had 

 prevailed almost universally. Although it affected 

 the poor chiefly they were not exclusively its 

 victims. At times Kings and Bishops had suffered, 

 and in the present time not unfrequently wealthy 

 peisons, of cleanly habits, in the enjoyment of 

 every luxury became affected. It was an aristo- 

 cratic malady of very high antiquity. In the Fiji 

 Islands, where the poijulatinn had for many 

 generations been isolated, there existed memorial 

 stones which indicated that leprosy had been well 

 known in prehistoric periods. There was every 

 reason to believe that in other places the same 

 had been the fact, although no record of it 

 remained. An argument of much force might, he 

 thought, be rightly based upon the fact that the 

 disease appeared to have been well nigh ubiquitous 

 and identical in every place. These facts seemed 

 to imply that it wa? capable of spontaneous 

 origination. Such diseases as small-pox and 

 measles, which spread by contaeion only, were not 

 ubiquitous. The advent of Europeans had in 

 many instances introduced them into communities 

 which had been previously wholly free. It was 

 not so with leprosy. We had found it as a native 

 disease in countless localities. Cook, when he 

 discovered New Zealand, found it alrfady there, 

 aud one ^observer had even asserted that it was 

 indigenous in every island in the Pacific. In a 

 great many places it was unknown, and there 

 were facts which appeared to show that neither 

 to the most primitive states nor to highly 

 advanced civilisation was it an appanage. It was 

 to conditions somewhat advanced as regards social 

 comfort, but not very far, that it chiefly belonged. 

 Inasmuch as it was the same in all races, and in 

 all regions it wa3,as he had already hinted, fair to 

 assujie that its cause must be quite definite. His 

 suggestion was that this cause was to be sought 

 in something eaten, and the article under 

 suspicion was badly cured fish. Xow in most 

 primitive times they did not attempt to cure their 

 fish at all, and in the most advanced they cured 

 it carefully and well. It was in the intervening 

 period that the risk of leprosy was run. Following 

 up this idea it was of interest to note that the 

 disease had been most common on islands, or 

 ?ea-shores, near lakes, and on large rivers, and 

 that when it went far inland and away from such 

 districts, it was usually along lines of traffic. It 

 did not appear that it was by any means always 

 needful that a very large quantity of fish should 



