one time there were thousands of lepers m Europe ; even in 

 Great Britain it was a common .disease in the Middle Ages, 

 whereas now very few cases are known there. Is it then reason- 

 able to believe that a disease which has long since been practically 

 banished by the application of very imperfect remedies is so 

 greatly to be dreaded as some persons persuade themselves it is? 

 It very rai'ely happens that medical men, and others whose habits 

 are cleanly, who are brought into contact with lepers are attacked 

 with leprosy ; and, although segregation is commonly recom- 

 mended as a precautionary measure, the means by which the 

 disease is communicated — as is shown by papers forwarded 

 to and published by the Leprosy Investigation Commission — has 

 not yet been definitely determined. Drs. Hansen, Arning, and some 

 others are convinced that it is conveyed by direct communication, 

 while apparently equally reliable authorities hold an opposite 

 opinion. Dr. Woodhead indeed, with a full knowledge of Dr. 

 Arning's inoculation of the convict Keanu and his subsequent 

 fate, writes in 1891 — " Even the inoculation of fragments of 

 leprous tissue gave rise in all recorded experiments to no true 

 leprosy, unless the patients were already the subjects of the 

 disease." The leprosy bacillus is, however, a factor which is 

 common to all forms of the disease, and although its agency in 

 the communication of leprosy has not been positively traced, 

 -" we must, from what is known of the presence and action of 

 bacilli in other diseases, assign to it the role of leprosy-producer, 

 until much stronger evidence than we have yet obtained can be 

 adduced in favour of any other cause." 



And in connection with the question of communicability of 

 diseases by means of bacilli, I venture to assert that the fear of 

 this will very soon moderate, as the public become more familiar 

 with the subject. We all Know how terrible is tetanus, or lock- 

 jaw as we commonly call it. This, too, has a bacillus, and 

 persons who are the victims of lockjaw must be attacked by the 

 bacillus before they can contract the disease. Well, if we were 

 told that we meet with this bacillus almost every day of our lives 

 and that its contact with a wound exposes us to the risk of dying 

 from lockjaw, nervous people, unless the danger was explained 

 away, would begin to conjure up all sorts of horrors ; and yet 

 thousands or even millions of these bacilli must come into con- 



