1900 THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS l6l 



classes, who mrely touch fish, suffer far more from the 

 disease. 



4. The existence of leprosy is often ascribed to insanitary 

 conditions, especially when they are combined with insuffi- 

 ciency of food. Doubtless insanitary conditionswill produce 

 a predisposition to many kinds of disease ; but leprosy has 

 been by no means confined to the poorer classes whose 

 surroundings are more likely to have insanitary taint. 

 Naaman, the Captain of the host of Syria, was a mighty 

 personage in his country. Baldwin IV., King of Jerusalem, 

 relinquished his sceptre in consequence of his leprosy. 

 Constance, Duchess of Brittany, died of it in 1201. Robert 

 the Bruce suffered from it for many years. Henry IV. of 

 England is said to have been a leper, and Henry III. 

 almost certainly was one.*" 



There is a most touching account extant how one 

 Richard Orange, Mayor of Exeter, a wealthy and important 

 citizen of the town, found himself to be a leper, and 

 voluntarily cut himself adrift from friends, relations, and 

 the world, and secluded himself in a leper-hospital. 



Again, that the disease is hereditary it would be difficult 

 to deny in general terms, though much can be urged 

 against it. For one thing, sterility accompanies leprosy. 

 From 2864 lepers of both sexes who in 18 years have 

 been secluded in Molokai, only 26 children have been 

 born, and of these only two were lepers ; but there can 

 hardly be any doubt that a certain predisposition to the 

 disease can often be traced in certain families, though this 

 is a different thing to a definite hereditary taint. 



It is, however, on the subject of contagiousness that 

 controversy has chiefly been raised, and it may be added 

 that uniformity of belief has chiefly existed ; and yet the 

 proofs are by no means convincing. Certainly the opinion 



* Vide Simpson, Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Joitnial, 1841, 396. 

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